The dark rosettes dotting the golden-brown fur of the jaguar are no longer a rare sight in Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park. In 2010, the prote
by Sarah Brown, 11 Jun 2025
Once on the brink of local extinction, jaguar numbers across the Brazil-Argentina Iguaçu-Iguazú border have more than doubled since 2010 thanks to coordinated conservation efforts.
The cross-border collaboration between groups in both countries has been crucial to restoring jaguar populations across the Atlantic Forest Green Corridor.
Women-led economic initiatives and formal institutional support, like “Jaguar Friendly” certification for the local airport, are strengthening human-wildlife connections.
The long-term survival of jaguars in Iguaçu-Iguazú, a population considered critically endangered, depends on political will and habitat connectivity, as the big cats remain isolated from other jaguar groups.
Jaguars in the Brazil-Argentina Green Corridor have climbed from about 40 in 2010 to at least 105, thanks to projects that pay neighbours to protect, not shoot, them. After a 13% forest loss in Paraná drove cats to prey on cattle, women “Jaguar Crocheteers” turned big-cat crafts into new income, biologists built predator-proof corrals, and joint ranger-rancher patrols spread coexistence training, all of which have been instrumental in restoring local populations.
















