Conservation actions in Venezuela date back to the early 1990s, and have been based mostly on environmental education at several levels and the establishment of protected areas. The effort of several organisations has led to a widespread recognition of the Andean bear in Venezuelan society, raising it as an emblematic species of conservation efforts in the country, and to the establishment of a 10-year action plan. Evidence regarding the objective effectiveness of these programs (like reducing poaching risk, maintaining population viability, and reducing extinction risk) is subject to debate and needs to be further evaluated. Legislation against bear hunting exists, but is rarely enforced. This leads to persistence of the poaching problem, even inside protected areas. In 2006 the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society was established in Peru to study and protect the spectacled bear. Spectacled bear and protected areas To evaluate the protected status of the Andean bears, back in 1998 researchers evaluated the percentage of their habitats included in national and protected areas. This evaluation showed that only 18.5% of the bear range was located in 58 protected areas, highlighting that many of them were small, especially those in the northern Andes. The largest park had an area of while the median size of 43 parks from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador was , which may result too small to maintain a sustainable bear population. Therefore, these researchers stated the importance of the creation of habitat blocks outside protected areas since they might provide opportunities for the protection of these animals. Other suggested conservation strategies Researchers suggest the following spectacled bear conservation strategies: Protect high-quality habitats while maintaining connectivity between their different elevational zones. In reality, it is not possible to manage all the undisturbed habitat the bears need in the long term, so it is important to identify those high-quality habitats that maximize biodiversity gain. Alleviate human-bear conflicts through conflict management, thinking about the spatial configuration of this animal habitat. Mitigate human impacts on protected areas through the design of comprehensive management strategies. Sustain landscape diversity in the bear conservation study areas to ensure them food and seasonal access to resources in all the habitats they frequent. Maintain bear population connectivity, emphasizing those conservation areas that connect different ecosystems, such as the cloud forest and the paramo. Rethink roads: where they are built, how and with what purpose, understanding that they define the macro configuration of bear habitat and