Partnership with WLT

World Land Trust (WLT) partnered with Anfibios A.C.in 2022 to support their flagship project, the Cuetzalan Cloud Forest Amphibian Sanctuary in Puebla State. Anfibios A.C. will be purchasing an initial 8 ha (19.7-acre) plot of land, funded by WLT, that will preserve habitat for 11 amphibians endemic to Mexico.

Deforestation in Puebla is currently being driven by the growth of the agricultural frontier and an increase in illegal logging and mining. The same fate will likely befall our project area if the sanctuary is not established. WLT have also pledged to support initial management activities for the sanctuary by funding two local rangers through our Keepers of the Wild programme.

WLT FUNDED PROJECTS

CURRENT

Please see our Mexico page.

The future members of Anfibios A.C. took part in their first research project together in 2015, funded in part by the EDGE of Existence programme. The focus of the project was Taylor’s Salamander, a Critically Endangered amphibian found only in a single 2.4km² lake in Puebla State. Following two years of research, the team began to roll out an action plan to ensure the salamander’s survival. This included a litter clearance campaign to decrease pollution in the lake; planting more than 12,000 trees around the lake and in neighbouring communities; and achieving the first captive breeding event for the species.

Anfibios A.C.’s members began another research project in 2021 – again with funding from the EDGE of Existence programme – that would lead to the formation of the Cuetzalan Cloud Forest Amphibian Sanctuary. The project aimed to assess the effect of habitat fragmentation on the Cuetzalan Salamander and find suitable strategies that will allow for an equilibrium between amphibian conservation and the economic activities of local communities.