The Andean bear or Jucumari (Tremarctos ornatus), the only bear species in South America, is classified as Vulnerable (VU) by the IUCN. As a flagship species of the tropical Andes, it inhabits cloud forests and highland grasslands that are essential for water regulation and climate stability. Yet in Bolivia, habitat loss and human–wildlife conflict increasingly threaten its survival.
Despite its ecological importance, up-to-date and systematic information on the Jucumari’s distribution and ecology remains limited. In the department of Santa Cruz, the most recent published study dates back 27 years and was conducted near Amboró National Park. This substantial knowledge gap underscores the urgent need to generate updated data to guide effective conservation strategies.
The project by Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ecología FUNDECO/ Programa de Conservación JUKUMARI will assess the presence and distribution of the Andean bear in the municipalities of Mairana, Samaipata, and Comarapa. Through participatory monitoring, trained local residents will document signs of bear presence and identify key threats, particularly conflicts related to livestock.
In parallel, the initiative will implement environmental outreach and awareness activities across the region, including community talks, educational materials, and local engagement events. These actions aim to strengthen understanding of the species’ ecological importance, reduce conflict, and foster a culture of coexistence.
By integrating scientific research, participatory monitoring, and environmental education, this project will generate updated evidence, empower local communities, and reinforce the Jucumari’s role as a key indicator of ecosystem health in the tropical Andes.
Bears in Mind financially supports this project since 2026.
In Ecuador’s northern Andes, Andean bears increasingly traverse fragmented forests, farm lands, and settlements as agriculture expands and climates shift, heightening conflict risks.
This research project by the Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain in Belgium, develops a predictive modeling framework to anticipate bear movements and guide targeted conservation. Using GPS collar data, camera traps, and landscape variables, it analyzes how vegetation, topography, water, and infrastructure shape behavior. Spatial analyses inform an Agent-Based Model simulating bear responses under varied scenarios, revealing conflict arises from multi-scale interactions, not just overlap. The project adds geofencing alerts, rapid responses, community deterrents, and long-term monitoring to identify high-risk corridors and seasonal patterns, supporting evidence-based coexistence strategies.
Diets are an important component of a specie’s ecology and functioning, offering insight to their role in the ecosystem, potential competition with other species, and other important biological parameters including niche breadth, trophic specialization, food selection etc. While a number of research articles are available on dietary composition of large carnivores, there is a scarceness of information on the dietary preference of the elusive Sun bear in the changing landscapes of Southeast Asia.
Sun bears with varied home ranges and highly diverse dietary choices, demonstrate significant adaptations and survival superiority even in degraded landscapes. However, with their shrinking home range sizes and demands for high-caloric food, which often drive them outside of protected areas, the risk of human threats has increased many folds for this little-known species. The increase in human footprints and anthropogenic activities both inside and outside protected areas has made it critical to understand how Sun bears use the landscapes across space and time, where and why they occur most, and knowing what food resources they depend upon to help facilitate coexistence and develop practically efficient conservation plans by protected areas managers.
The project aims to understand the flexibility in diet of Sun bears and develop a community-based conservation model for coexistence of bear and humans in the landscape. The defined objectives include;
Determine the dietary pattern of Sun bears with respect to agricultural practices,
Develop a risk probability map of human-sun bear conflict in and around Dampa Tiger Reserve based on occupancy and distribution,
Understand the community concerns and experiences regarding conflict with sun bears including the nuanced context in which conflict occurs,
Develop a community-based conservation model for best management practices including spatially-explicit diversionary feeding strategies, and share with communities through outreach workshops.
The Sun bear and the Asiatic black bear—both protected under CITES Appendix I and India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972—are classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. In India, limited data on their populations, habitat use, and threats hinder effective conservation, while habitat loss, fragmentation, and poaching intensify risks. Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh presents a rare setting where these two bear species may coexist, yet their ecological interactions, spatial distributions, and niche overlaps remain poorly understood amid increasing forest degradation and human encroachment.
This project by the Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife aims to fill key knowledge gaps by examining niche overlap, spatial distribution, and habitat preferences of coexisting bear species in Namdapha. Using habitat suitability modeling, gap analysis of protected and reserve forests, and threat-zone identification, the study will combine field surveys—line transects, camera traps, and GPS-based presence records—to map current distributions, identify critical habitats, and assess conservation effectiveness.
A central component is community-based conservation through sensitization programs, village meetings, and workshops to raise awareness and reduce human–bear conflict. By integrating ecological research with participatory approaches, the project seeks to inform practical management plans and policy recommendations, supporting long-term habitat protection and the survival of bear species in the Namdapha landscape and across Northeast India.
Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) rely on dens for reproduction, cub-rearing and shelter. Yet their denning ecology remains poorly studied, particularly in Gujarat – India. This new project by the WCB Research Lab and funded by Bears in Mind since 2025, aims to investigate sloth bear den site selection in northern Gujarat, encompassing both protected areas Jessore and Balaram-Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuaries (WLS) and human-disturbed forests (Polo Forest and surrounding areas of sanctuaries).
By examining habitat characteristics, terrain features, and human disturbances, this study will identify key factors influencing den selection. Data collection will include field surveys, sign identification and camera trapping to confirm den usage. Environmental parameters such as slope, aspect, vegetation type, and forest cover will be recorded, along with spatial proximity to water sources, roads, and settlements. Mapping and statistical analyses, including Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM), will be used to evaluate habitat suitability.
The findings will contribute to conservation planning by identifying critical denning habitats and assessing risks posed by human activities. This research will provide science-based recommendations for habitat management and conflict mitigation, supporting long-term conservation efforts for sloth bears in Gujarat.
The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) inhabits the lowland tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, where its secretive nature and difficult terrain hinder population monitoring. Despite recent research, their conservation status remains uncertain due to the lack of systematic population monitoring efforts. Sun bears are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and their populations are increasingly fragmented due to deforestation and poaching.
Traditional monitoring methods like camera trapping and noninvasive genetic sampling face limitations in tropical environments. However, the team at Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) implemented innovative techniques such as invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) sampling using leeches and dung beetles in our previous research at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre demonstrating the successful recovery of sun bear DNA and identification of individuals via these invertebrates, rendering it useful for monitoring sun bear populations in wild. Encouraged by these results, researchers aim to expand this approach through a field trial at Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Malaysia, combining iDNA with other methods like camera trapping, and sign surveys to improve population estimates. Integrating spatial capture-recapture (SCR) with occupancy estimates will enhance the precision of population assessments, enabling more robust estimates to track sun bear population trajectories and conservation planning.
Bears in Mind funds this research project since 2025.
All species of bears are threatened by illegal trade for their parts, used as trophies, for consumption and for use in traditional medicines. The experts at Monitor Conservation Research Society (Monitor) have carried out research and enforcement support to counter the illegal trade in bears, especially, but not limited to, Asia, over the past few decades. One of the greatest obstacles in countering the illegal international trade in bear parts and derivatives is the lack of effective use of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). With 185 members, CITES is the world’s leading convention in place to regulate and control the international trade in wildlife – including all eight species of bears. Conf. 10.8 (Rev. CoP14) in 2007, noted that
“the continued illegal trade in parts and derivatives of bear species undermines the effectiveness of the Convention and that if CITES Parties and States not-party do not take action to eliminate such trade, poaching may cause declines of wild bears that could lead to the extirpation of certain populations or even species”
and recognised that
“long-term solutions for the protection and conservation of bears require the adoption of substantive and measurable actions.” It further urged parties to carry out a number of actions and recommended that Parties “review and strengthen measures, where necessary, to enforce the provisions of the Convention relating to specimens of species included in Appendices I and II, where bear parts and derivatives are concerned and further that Parties and States not-party, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of illegal trade in bear parts and derivatives.”
Monitor has found that at least some Parties to the Convention involved in illegal and/or unsustainable trade in bear parts and derivatives have not taken significant actions to address this problem or to follow up on the recommendations of Conf. 10.8 (Rev. CoP14). There has been no systematic review of the actions taken by Parties on this matter and therefore no accountability. The team has secured funds from Bears in Mind to allow them, working with partners, to investigate this issue and to carry out a review of actions prior to the coming Conference of the Parties of CITES, which will be held in Uzbekistan in November 2025.
We believe that the effective implementation of Conf. 10.8 (Rev. CoP14), and the continued monitoring of progress on this issue is absolutely essential to making CITES an effective tool for bear conservation and that the lack of implementation not only undermines the Convention but also undermines efforts and opportunities to ensure international illegal and unsustainable trade is not a threat the conservation of bears.
The Sloth bear population is declining across their distribution range due to habitat degradation, habitat loss, and facing conflicts with humans. These threats are expected to accelerate with increasing urbanization and demand for natural resources. Over the past decade, human interference in their habitats has led to a rise in Human-Sloth bear conflict in India.
Community outreach program
Rajasthan, the largest state in India, has limited scientific data on Sloth bears. Existing studies focus mainly on distribution, diet within a single protected area, and local perceptions of the species. These studies highlight the urgent need for further research due to increasing poaching and habitat degradation. This study by the Centre of Excellence for Wildlife and Conservation Studies (CWCS) Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta (BKNM) University, supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, aims to investigate occupancy, genetic variability, and population structure across southern Rajasthan in the known distribution range of Sloth bear with an aim to identify local, landscape and genetic data and also contribute to the IUCN Bear Specialist Group’s project on Asian bears range mapping.
Preliminary findings at the end of 2025 already indicate forest-dependent occupancy patterns and highlight important habitat corridors, requiring conservation attention.
Across the Western Himalayas, Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) and Himalayan Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus), live in proximity with people. These people, many of whom are from various indigenous and tribal groups, are primarily either transhumant pastoralist (eg. the Bakerwals and Gaddis) or agriculturalist (primarily horticulturalists cultivating fruit like apples). This proximity of bears with people is increasingly being augmented by climate change which is altering cropping patterns and habitat loss. This is leading to increased negative human-bear interactions which include, but aren’t limited to, increased raiding of crops by bears and depredation of livestock. Most of which is met with retaliatory killing of bears. If the financial impacts of livelihood loss by bears isn’t adequately mitigated, the illegal retaliatory killing of bears can also lead to engagement in illegal trade of bear parts.
Besides this, direct poaching of bears for their gall bladder is a huge conservation challenge, but often under the shadow of welfare and bear-human conflict issues. All of these conservation threats to bears are spatially explicit, hence in collaboration with Dr. Hinsley, the team aims to identify spatially-explicit priorities for bear conservation across the Western Indian Himalayas.
Based on this baseline information, the team also aims to operationalize a local champions network in one region to actively work towards human-bear conservation interventions to ensure bear conservation while protecting people’s livelihoods.
Bears in Mind supports the project since 2024.
Only about 17% of the estimated 17,000 km2 of Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) habitat in Nepal is effectively protected. The unprotected Sloth bear populations are largely confined to the forests of the Churia hills. In the eastern part of the Churia range lies the Trijuga forest which was once a stronghold for Sloth bears, but now faces unprecedented threats.
The team of WILD CARE (Wildlife Conservation and Research Endeavour Nepal) has gained extensive knowledge over the past three years in this area, and it revealed high levels of human disturbance, resulting in low bear density, patchy distribution, and intense conflicts, pushing bears to the brink of local extinction. Having obtained baseline data, the challenge now is improving locals’ awareness, perceptions and ability to coexist harmoniously with sloth bears and foster support for conservation.
This project, supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, is developed to address this challenge through (i) extensive awareness campaigns in local communities and schools, (ii) sensitization of local-level decision makers to include the needs of Sloth bears in forest use/management guidelines, and (iii) empowerment of community forest members on Sloth bear monitoring. By bridging the gap between scientific research and community engagement, the project offers hope for the long-term survival of Sloth bears in this critical habitat.
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