COMMUNITY BABOON SANCTUARY WOMEN’S CONSERVATION GROUP (CBSWCG) Belize
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Empowered lives. Resilient nations. COMMUNITY BABOON SANCTUARY WOMEN’S CONSERVATION GROUP (CBSWCG) Belize Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES Local and indigenous communities across the world are marine, forest, grassland, dryland and wetland ecosystems. advancing innovative sustainable development solutions Selected from 806 nominations from across 120 countries, that work for people and for nature. Few publications or the winners were celebrated at a gala event in New York, case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives evolve, coinciding with Global Goals Week and the 72nd Session the breadth of their impacts, or how they change over of the UN General Assembly. Special emphasis was placed time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with on scalable, nature-based solutions to address biodiversity community practitioners themselves guiding the narrative. conservation, climate change adaptation, disaster risk The Equator Initiative aims to fill that gap. reduction, gender equality, land rights, and food and water The Equator Initiative, supported by generous funding security to reduce poverty, protect nature, and strengthen from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation resilience. (NORAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), awarded the The following case study is one in a growing series that Equator Prize 2017 to 15 outstanding local community describes vetted and peer-reviewed best practices intended and indigenous peoples initiatives from 12 countries. The to inspire the policy dialogue needed to scale nature- winners were recognized for their significant work to advance based solutions essential to achieving the Sustainable nature-based solutions for sustainable development in Development Goals. PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS Led by women from seven communities in the Equator Prize Winner northern coastal plain of Belize, the Community 2017 Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group (CBSWCG) supports the conservation Founded of the black howler monkey, or baboon, in the 1998 Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS), which covers 3,315 hectares. CBSWCG brings together Location 240 landowners, each of whom voluntarily participates in conservation efforts through a Bermudian Landing Village, Belize pledge system. The sanctuary has produced a Beneficiaries sustainable land management plan for 2013-2018 that has environmental, economic, and social 240 landowners in 7 villages, stretching across 5,253 hectares benefits extending well beyond the protected area Areas of focus and include maintaining interconnected wildlife corridor integrity and a comprehensive sustainable Terrestrial conservation; sustainable land management; natural resource management strategy. A micro- responsible consumption and production; protection of grant fund has spawned projects in sustainable oil endangered species; and ecotourism harvesting, tilapia farming, organic agriculture, and livestock rearing while the Bel-Riv Commerce and Sustainable Development Goals Addressed Eco-Tourism Expo, created by the organisation in 2013, offers improved market access for farmers, small-scale entrepreneurs, and artisans. The successful protection of the sanctuary has led not only to an increase in the baboon population from 800 in 1985 to 3,500 in 2017, but also to the recovery of vulnerable populations of jaguar, ocelot, margay, puma and over 200 species of birds. EQUATOR PRIZE 2017 WINNER FILM The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or UNDP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Established in 1985 to protect the habitat of the black howler campechianum), Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), and monkey (Alouatta pigra) – locally called baboons – in the Honduras mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). northern coastal plain of Belize, the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) is a voluntary grassroots private protected area The Community Baboon Sanctuary is the longest lasting covering 3,315 hectares along the Belize River. The Community conservation area in the Belize River Valley. It is immediately Baboon Sanctuary is a Community Conserved Area that falls adjacent to the two main wildlife corridors in Belize: the under Category IV of the IUCN protected area categories. IUCN Belize River Node and the Cox Lagoon/Mucklehany Lagoon Category IV designate areas that aim to protect particular Corridor. Additionally, the Ramsar Site Crooked Tree Corridor/ species or habitats. Wildlife Sanctuary neighbours the outer Community Baboon Sanctuary villages of Lemonal and Rancho Dolores. The Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group (CBSWCG) was founded in 1998 to support the The vast majority of the sanctuary is made up of privately- management of the Community Baboon Sanctuary. The owned lands. The remainder are under long-term lease by initiative is led by women from seven villages located CBSWCG from the Government of Belize. The privately- within the Belize River Valley, in the Belize District. The owned lands that are part of the Community Baboon seven communities are Big Falls/St. Paul’s Bank, Willows Sanctuary are mostly owned by men (250 individuals), while Bank, Double Head Cabbage, Bermudian Landing, Isabella a smaller percentage belongs to women (80 individuals). Bank, Scotland Halfmoon, and Flowers Bank. Together, The reason for this disparity is that, traditionally, men are these villages comprise 365 households with a population viewed as heads of households and are therefore own of approximately 746 men and 704 women. Bermudian the family assets. In recent years, through advocacy and Landing is the central point and is approximately 48 awareness campaigns, women are increasingly heading kilometres from Belize City. households and owning land in the area. The communities that fall within the Community Baboon Economic roles also tend to vary between genders. Men are Sanctuary have a long-held cultural appreciation for black mostly tour guides for activities including river canoe trips, howler monkeys. Villagers in the Belize River Valley have night hikes, horseback rides, and cultural presentations. They rarely hunted howlers for food, or captured them to sell to also earn income through agriculture, animal husbandry, the pet trade. In fact, over generations of co-existence in and the sale of timber products. In contrast, women are the Belize River Valley, black howler monkeys have become more involved in tourism through activities such as catering, a key part of the fabric of rural life. The establishment of handicrafts, production of jams, jellies and wines, home the sanctuary in 1985 thus only reflected a formal, external stays, and cultural presentations. They also engage in fishing, acknowledgement of the reality that a de facto natural animal husbandry, backyard gardening, and cleaning. sanctuary for these animals already existed. Women use the majority of their income to pay for school In addition to the black howler monkey, the Community education and food. Most women earning a wage are single Baboon Sanctuary protects other important wildlife such as parents and must use all their earnings for survival. Only Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii), jaguarundi (Felis yagouaroundi), a limited number are able save and reinvest their income. Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii), green iguana Similarly, responsible men use their earnings to reinvest in the (Iguana iguana), Central American river turtle (Dermatemys farm or products, pay for food and medical bills, and in some mawii), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and over cases for recreation. A few also have minimal savings. However, 200 species of birds. The area also boasts a high diversity the overall income of families is so small that in most cases men of plant species, including logwood (Haematoxylum and women must combine their earnings in order to survive. 4 Origin and structure In the early 1980s, scientists found that the population of run by an elected 8-member board of directors made up black howler monkeys living along the Belize River was of a president and one female representative from each perhaps the most critically endangered population across of the seven villages. One particularly powerful feature of the entire species range, which includes southern Mexico, CBSWCG is that the organisation brings together women northern Guatemala, and Belize. However, because this from all walks of life, including women with different population resided on the private lands of Belizean religions, cultures, and educational qualifications. These farmers, the involvement of these seven villages would be women work well together to promote peace, stability, key to their survival. women’s empowerment, and sustainable livelihoods across their communities. In 1984, with the help of resident Fallet Young, primatologist Robert Horwich (1940-2017) worked with local landowners CBSWCG also has an advisory body comprised by key to develop a voluntary sanctuary to protect and grow the community stakeholders, a scientist, a business person, local black howler monkey population. Across the seven and a member of CBSWCG. The organisation holds villages, landowners