FONDO DE MANEJO DE PÁRAMOS Y LUCHA CONTRA LA POBREZA DE TUNGURAHUA Republic of Ecuador
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FONDO DE MANEJO DE PÁRAMOS Y LUCHA CONTRA LA POBREZA DE TUNGURAHUA Republic of Ecuador 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 solutions (NBS) for climate change and local sustainable advancing innovative sustainable development solutions development. Selected from 847 nominations from across that work for people and for nature. Few publications 127 countries, the winners were celebrated at a gala event or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives in New York, coinciding with UN Climate Week and the evolve, the breadth of their impacts, or how they change 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. The winners are over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories sustainably protecting, restoring, and managing forests, with community practitioners themselves guiding the farms, wetlands, and marine ecosystems to mitigate narrative. The Equator Initiative aims to fill that gap. greenhouse gas emissions, help communities adapt to The Equator Initiative, supported by generous funding from climate change, and create a green new economy. Since the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation 2002, the Equator Prize has been awarded to 245 initiatives. and Development (BMZ) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), awarded the The following case study is one in a growing series that Equator Prize 2019 to 22 outstanding local community describes vetted and peer-reviewed best practices and Indigenous peoples initiatives from 16 countries. Each intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to of the 22 winners represents outstanding community and scale nature-based solutions essential to achieving the Indigenous initiatives that are advancing nature-based Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS Fondo de Manejo de Páramos y Lucha contra la Equator Prize winner Founded Pobreza Tungurahua (Fund for the Management 2019 2008 of the Tungurahua Páramos and the Fight Against Poverty or FMPLPT) is an innovative model of Location public-private-community partnership for the Tungurahua Province, Republic of Ecuador páramo (moorland), its water, and its people. Fondo de Manejo de Páramos was created by Beneficiaries the Movimientos Indígenas y Campesinos de Approximately 600,000 indirect beneficiaries mainly in the Tungurahua (Indigenous and Farmer Movements cities of Ambato, Pelileo, and Tisaleo of Tungurahua) with the collaboration of local and provincial governments, private companies, and Thematic areas local communities. The Fund has mobilized US$5.5 Natural climate solutions; Freshwater conservation and million to contribute to the conservation of 33,750 water security; Sustainable livelihoods hectares and the restoration of 389 hectares of páramo through 17 Páramo Management Plans to Fields of work improve water security in the Ambato and Pastaza Ecosystem conservation; Ecosystem restoration; river basins. The alternative livelihood programmes Community-based financial mechanism supported by the Fund have raised incomes by 30 percent in the area, while an environmental Sustainable Development Goals addressed education programme has reached more than 12,000 children. All activities of this unique financial mechanism are implemented in partnership with the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities living in the area, benefitting approximately 600,000 people with water generated through the conservation and sustainable management of the páramo ecosystem. EQUATOR PRIZE 2019 WINNER FILM The depiction and use of boundaries and related information shown on maps or included in text of this document are not guaranteed to be free from error, nor do they imply official acceptance or recognition by the United Nations. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Located in the centre of the Republic of Ecuador (Ecuador) Reserve. The remaining 44,827 hectares are private or between the coast and the Amazon, Tungurahua Province community property. These protected areas are located in has been a meeting place for Indigenous and farmer the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot identified by the cultures that rely on natural resources to survive since Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and, together ancient times. High on the mountains above 3,500 with the Llanganates-Sangay Ecological Corridor, are metres elevation, the landscape is dominated by páramo considered Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and Important (moorland), an ecosystem of open herbaceous and shrub Bird Areas (IBAs). vegetation, located mainly between the upper limit of the forest and permanent snow. This páramo provides habitat for threatened wildlife species noted for population declines by the International The páramo is a vital ecosystem for Ecuador’s water Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of management. Covering approximately 5 percent of the Threatened Species. The Quito stubfoot toad (Atelopus national territory, the páramo’s soils capture and store ignescens), once thought to be extinct, was sighted again in carbon, while also retaining large amounts of water. The 2016 and classified as critically endangered. The mountain rivers and basins of the páramo conserve the absorbed tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) is classified as endangered, water and release it through sustained base flow, thus while the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is listed as ensuring a stable water source. Many of Ecuador’s cities vulnerable. receive their domestic water supply from the páramo, which can build climate change resilience. However, Tungurahua is the second-smallest province in Ecuador, this ecosystem and its ability to provide water-related but is also one of the most-densely populated, with ecosystem services are intensely vulnerable due to roughly 1.7 inhabitants/hectare (174 inhabitants/km2). pressures to expand the agricultural and livestock frontier. The province’s projected 2020 population is 590,600. It is estimated that eight litres of water are lost for each Conserving the páramo is key to guaranteeing water in metre of páramo lost. sufficient quantity and quality for human consumption. Ecuador’s páramo is home to more than 600 endemic The main activities of farmers and Indigenous highland plant species, equivalent to 15 percent of the country’s Kichwa people, who inhabit the páramo, are sheep, cattle, total flora endemism. Tungurahua Province has 136,797 and horse livestock rearing, as well as tuber cultivation. hectares of páramo. The majority, 91,969 hectares, is under Here, women not only participate in tasks, such as milk a conservation regime within the National System of production and animal grazing, but also have an important Protected Areas (SNAP) through Llanganates and Sangay role as guardians of the ancestral knowledge related to the national parks and the Chimborazo Fauna Production use of the region’s medicinal plants. Origin and structure Fondo de Manejo de Páramos y Lucha contra la Pobreza de The Fund operates under the legal status of a Commercial Tungurahua (Fund for the Management of the Tungurahua Administration Trust. It has seven original constituent Páramos and the Fight Against Poverty, FMPLPT, or simply partners, which are companies, as well as public and Fund) was created in 2008 to contribute to the conservation community entities that make financial contributions: of the páramo. It arose at the initiative of Indigenous and Honourable Provincial Government of Tungurahua; farmer organizations represented by their provincial move- Federation of Evangelical Indigenous People of ments, with the support of other companies and institutions. Tungurahua; Indigenous Movement of Tungurahua; 4 Kichwa and Farmer of Tungurahua Movement; CELEC 2. Trust Board: The Trust Board is in charge of the E.P. Hydropower Company—Hidroagoyán Business Unit administrative, technical, and operational decisions (represents two original constituents, HIDROAGOYÁN and of the Fund. It is made up of the original constituents HIDROPASTAZA); and Public Municipal Drinking Water and and meets quarterly to be informed and approve the Sewerage Company of the City of Ambato. In addition, the management of the Technical Secretariat. Fund has an adhering constituent partner: Centre North Ambato Regional Electric Company. 3. Technical Secretariat: The Technical Secretariat is in charge of the operational management of the Fund, promotes The Fund is structured into four areas: the fulfilment of its purpose, executes the decisions of the Board of Directors, and monitors the execution of the 1. Board of Trustees: The Board of Trustees proposes and programs and projects financed by the Fund. approves the policies, principles, and strategies that the Board of Directors, Technical Secretariat, and Trust 4. Trust Area: The Trust Area is in charge of the legal Area must observe in order to fulfil their purpose. It is representation of the Trust. It is a specialized entity composed of all the constituents and meets every six that manages the Trust’s financial resources based on months to be informed and approve the management the instructions and control of the constituents. In this of the Trust Area. case, the trustee is Corporación Financiera Nacional B.P. (National Financial Corporation). 5 LOCAL CHALLENGES Land degradation The Tungurahua páramo has suffered significant degrada- crops of potatoes, broad beans, barley, and vegetables. tion due to a strong tendency to change