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Watersheds of the Andes COMMODITIES AND BIODIVERSITY IN THE WATERSHEDS OF THE ANDES IMPACTS OF COMMODITY DEVELOPMENT ON BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE WATERSHEDS OF THE ANDES Authors Sarah Ivory, Murielle Misrachi Prepared for John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Acknowledgements Within UNEP-WCMC, support in preparing this report was provided by Marieke Sassen, Matthew Dixon, Sarah Walker; Cordula Epple served as an internal reviewer. Bert de Bievre (CONDESAN) and Wouter Buytaert (Imperial College London) served as 2 external reviewers and provided comments on the draft report. Published: December 2014 Copyright 2014 United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is the specialist biodiversity assessment centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world’s foremost intergovernmental environmental organization. The Centre has been in operation for over 30 years, combining scientific research with practical policy advice. This publication may be reproduced for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission, provided acknowledgement to the source is made. Reuse of any figures is subject to permission from the original rights holders. No use of this publication may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose without permission in writing from UNEP. Applications for permission, with a statement of purpose and extent of reproduction, should be sent to the Director, UNEP-WCMC, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0DL, UK. The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP, contributory organizations or editors. The designations employed and the presentations of material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or contributory organizations, editors or publishers concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries or the designation of its name, frontiers or boundaries. The mention of a commercial entity or product in this publication does not imply endorsement by UNEP. Image credits: P1 - Christian Vinces / shutterstock.com; P11 – Ecuadorpostales / shutterstock.com; P12 – vitmark / shutterstock. com; P13 – Dariatat / shutterstock.com; P 15 – Mikadun / shutterstock.com; P16 – Xiong Wei / shutterstock.com; P19 – Ostill / shutterstock.com; P21 - Anton_Ivanov / shutterstock.com; P22 - LuminatePhotos by Judith / shutterstock.com; P25 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P26 – JeremyRichards / shutterstock.com; P30 – canadastock / shutterstock.com ; P31 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P35 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P37 – Pedarilhos / shutterstock.com; P38 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P41 – ckchiu / shutterstock.com; P42 - Marisa Estivill / shutterstock.com; P47 - Christian Vinces / shutterstock. com; P49 - Ammit Jack / shutterstock.com; P50 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P52 - Ammit Jack / shutterstock.com; P53 - Vladimir Melnik / shutterstock.com; P59 - Vitalii Nesterchuk / shutterstock.com; P60 – guentermanaus / shutterstock.com; P62 – Mikadun / shutterstock.com; P63 - francesco de marco / shutterstock.com; P64 – Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P65 - Dr. Morley Read / shutterstock.com; P69 - Christian Vinces / shutterstock.com; P71 – Jess Kraft / shutterstock.com; P73 - africa924 / shutterstock.com; P75 - hecke61 / shutterstock.com; P76 - Joel Shawn / shutterstock.com UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK UNEP promotes Tel: +44 1223 277314 environmentally sound www.unep-wcmc.org practices globally and in its own activities. Our distribution policy aims to reduce UNEP’s carbon footprint Contents List of Figures, Tables and Boxes 4 Figures 4 3 Tables 5 Boxes 5 List of Acronyms 8 1. Key Points 7 2. Executive Summary 8 3. Introduction 11 4. The Watersheds of the Andes Region 13 4.1 Geographic and Political Boundaries 13 4.2 Geology 15 4.3 Climate and hydrology 16 4.4 Habitats and Ecosystems 17 4.5 Biodiversity Hotspots 19 4.6 Socio-Economic Overview 20 5. Status and Trends of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 27 5.1 Biodiversity 27 5.2 Ecosystem Services 29 5.3 Trends in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 33 5.4 Impacts of Climate Change 36 6. Commodity development 37 6.1 Agriculture 37 6.2 Cultivation of Plants for Drug Production 43 6.3 Forestry and Forest Products 44 6.4 Fisheries and Aquaculture 46 6.5 Hydropower 50 6.6 Extractive industry: Mineral and Hydrocarbon Exploitation 53 6.7 Infrastructure Development 60 6.8 Wildlife Trade 61 6.9 Tourism 63 6.10 Cochineal Insects 64 6.11 Peat 64 7. Initiating and Responding to Change 65 7.1 Land Management and Planning 65 7.2 Environmental Policy and Legal Framework 69 7.3 Transboundary Cooperation 71 7.4 Tenure Rights 72 7.5 Data and Information Gaps 74 8. Conclusions 75 9. References 77 LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND BOXES Figures No. Title Page 1 The Watersheds of the Andes region as defined by the MacArthur Foundation (MacArthur 13 Foundation 2012) 2 Biodiversity Hotspots and the WA region (adapted from Conservation International 2013) 19 3 Percentage of the population living under the national poverty line (World Bank 2014) 21 4 4 Human Development Index for WA Region countries and Latin America (UNDP 2014) 21 5 GDP in constant 2005 USD (Millions; World Bank 2014) 23 6 GDP per capita in constant 2005 USD (World Bank 2014) 23 7 Contribution of Industry, Foreign Direct Investment, Exported Goods and Services and 23 Agriculture to GDP (World Bank 2014) 8 Employment in agriculture, services and industry (% employment; World Bank 2014) 25 9 Map of important biodiversity areas in the Waterheds of the Andes region, including KBAs 27 and IBAs (DIVA GIS 2014; BirdLife International 2013; MacArthur Foundation 2012; NGA 2000) 10 Water yield in the WA region (Mulligan 2014) 29 11 Forest cover in the WA region (Hansen et al. 2013) 34 12 Average forest loss and gain (50% canopy cover) for the areas of countries that fall within the 35 GLR region between 2000 and 2012 (Hansen et al. 2013) 13 Contribution of agriculture (value added) to GDP (World Bank 2014) 38 14 Agricultural land as a percentage of land area (FAO 2014) 38 15 Harvested area of selected agricultural commodities by country (FAO 2014) 39 16 Biodiesel and bioethanol production per year (Barros 2013, Nolte 2013, Pinzon 2012) 40 17 Freshwater capture production in mt in countries of the WA Region (FAO FISHSTAT Plus, 46 adapted from Bennett and Thorpe 2008) 18 Aquaculture production by country (t) (FAO 2014) 48 19 Hydroelectric dams of the Andean Amazon sorted by status and size (Mulligan et al. 2011) 51 20 Existing and planned oil wells in the WA region watersheds (IHS 2013) 55 21 Existing and planned mines in the WA region watersheds (SNL 2013) 55 22 Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP and employment by country in 2012 (WTTC 63 2013a, b, c, d, e, f, g) 23 Overlap of protected areas and important biodiversity areas in the WA region (BirdLife 66 International 2013; IUCN & UNEP-WCMC 2014; MacArthur Foundation 2012; NGA 2000) Tables No. Title Page 1 Countries covered by the study with proportion included in the WA region as defined by the 14 MacArthur Foundation 2 Administrative divisions covered by the WA region as defined by the MacArthur Foundation 14 3 Characteristics of major ecosystem groupings in the northern and central Andes (Anderson 18 et al. 2011)* some differences in definition of the altitudinal range of the puna ecosystems exist, and it is largely considered to occur at altitudes above 3000m ASL (Halloy et al. 2008) or, commonly, 3500m ASL (e.g. WWF, no date). 4 Demographic characteristics per country of the region (World Bank 2014) 20 5 5 Top 10 export commodities and top 3 export partners for WA Region countries (UN 24 Comtrade and UN Service Trade 2013a, b, c, d, e, f, g) 6 Examples of Ecosystem Services provided by Andean Ecosystems (Key: *Relevant; 32 **Important; ***Very important) (Anderson et al. 2011) 7 Number of threatened and extinct endemic species of plant, mammal, bird, reptile and 33 amphibian (adapted from Brooks et al. 2002) Th = Threatened; Ex = Extinct. 8 Forest cover by country (‘000 ha; FAO 2014) 33 9 Value of Carbon stocks in the Amazon forest based on their replacement value in 35 international markets for energy-based carbon credits (Killeen 2007) 10 Illicit coca cultivation 2002-2011 (ha) (UNODC 2013) NB figures for Peru in 2011 in brackets 43 show net area as on 31 December; figures out of brackets for 2011 and all other years are interpreted from satellite imagery. 11 Annual round wood production by country (FAO 2014) 45 12 Marine and freshwater fisheries production in Central and South America (FAO FISHSTAT 46 PLUS and FAO Waicent in Bennett and Thorpe 2008) 13 Existing and planned dams over 2MW by country and capacity (Finer and Jenkins 2012) 51 14 Selected figures for mining, quarrying and hydrocarbon production for countries of the WA 54 Region in 2011;* = minerals and oil and gas combined (USGS 2012 a, b; 2013 a, b, c, d, e; Reuters 2012) 15 Terrestrial Protected Area Coverage 1990 and 2012 (WDPA 2012) 65 16 % of each biodiversity measure within WDPA within the MacArthur region 66 Boxes No. Title Page 1 Decentralised Environmental Management in Colombia 67 2 Watershed-Level Management in Peru 68 LIST OF ACRONYMS ASL Above Sea Level BH Bolivian High CARs Regional Autonomous Corporations CBD Convention
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