Biodiversity conservation and local communities ©Artists for Nature Foundation Biodiversity conservation and local communities Human beings depend for their survival on the within the rural population (approximately one third) initiative is known as BirdLife’s Local Conservation The objectives of the workshop were: biodiversity and services provided by healthy in countries of the region and they are the most Group (LCG) approach. LCGs have been described ecosystems. This is even more important for vulnerable and have less access to basic services as predominantly groups of volunteers, that have as •To build capacity among BirdLife Partner the poor living in rural areas. The links between such as education, health care and housing. Social their objective the conservation of one or more IBA, organisations through the sharing of experiences poverty and the environment in rural areas have inequality and poverty remain major challenges and who work with BirdLife Partners to help promote and lessons learned from conservation projects been demonstrated by many including BirdLife across the region: according to reports from CEPAL, conservation and sustainable development at IBAs. working with Local Conservation Groups in each International (BirdLife International 2006). Latin America is the world’s most unequal region. The LCG approach is in line with the recommendations country. The dependence of the rural poor According to the World Bank, 25% of people of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on their environment is likely to be survive on less than $ 2 daily. It is essential therefore in supporting the preservation and maintenance of •To gather and disseminate information to the wider affected by the impacts of climate to develop integrated approaches to address the traditional knowledge relevant to the conservation BirdLife Network and the general public change on these ecosystems problems of poverty, vulnerability to climate change, and sustainable use of biodiversity, and BirdLife about work experiences with Local that is threatening the functions and environmental degradation. sees this form of partnership and empowerment at Conservation Groups in IBAs. and services they provide (TEEB, the local level as essential to achieve Objective 7 2009). Even if targets for reducing In 2009, BirdLife International and its network of the UN Millennium Development Goals (Ensure greenhouse gas emissions are met, of partner organisations and collaborators jointly Environmental Sustainability). Goal 7 is itself a climate change is inevitable and identified over 2,345 globally important high cross-cutting goal, on which the achievement of other therefore adaptation is essential. Tools biodiversity sites in the Americas using birds as MDGs depends. to ensure the resilience of development indicators (Devenish et al 2009). These sites are projects to climate change impacts are called Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and the majority An initial study of LCGs in 12 countries in the being developed (e.g. CRiSTAL). of them are located in rural areas. From a preliminary Americas in 2005 revealed that there were 209 local analysis of the protection status of IBAs throughout groups active in 12 countries (Kerry 2005). Five years According to the United Nations, 40% the hemisphere, 31% of IBAS are fully protected, later, the number of LCGs has expanded to 220 LCGs of the population of Latin America 22% are partially protected and 37% are not protected. spread over 17 countries. and the Caribbean live in rural areas Key to their conservation are the local communities and about 64% of the inhabitants that live in and around these sites as their livelihoods This report provides the results of the first BirdLife in these areas live below the depend on the natural resources these sites provide International Network workshop in the Americas poverty line. Indigenous (BirdLife International 2006). to exchange experiences on LCGs, livelihoods and people constitute the IBA conservation. The workshop took place in Quito largest group The BirdLife network works in partnership with local from 15 – 17 September, 2009. Participants included communities to ensure the sustainable provision representatives from BirdLife Partners in Belize, of environmental goods and services while at the Bolivia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El same time conserving the rich biodiversity for Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and which IBAs were identified. This Uruguay. 1 ©Artists for Nature Foundation ©Artists for Nature Foundation 2 Table 2. Thematic areas addressed in the case studies Category & Subcategory Peru Bolivia Ecuador Ecuador Panama Mexico Belize (3) Dom. Rep. Paraguay Uruguay Education and awareness Awareness and communication Formal education Training Capacity building Development of alliances and partnerships Funding for conservation Institutional and civil society development Soil/water management Site management Habitats and natural processes restoration Invasive/problematic species control Soil/water protection Habitat protection Site protection Law and policy Compliance & enforcement Case studies: Policies & regulations Private sectors standards and codes Legislation Livelihood, economy and others 1. Community Management of Non-Timber Forest Payment for conservation or ecosystems services Resources as a Conservation Strategy for La Sepultura Related companies and alternative livelihoods and El Triunfo IBAs, Chiapas, Mexico Species management Guillaume Dahringer, [email protected], Pronatura Mexico. Ex situ conservation Photo: Guillaume Dahringer Introduction/Reintroduction Pronatura Sur (BirdLife in Mexico) has been working closely with Sierra Madre de Chiapas communities Species recovery in changing their management and marketing practices of a local palm Chamaedorea quezalteca used for Palm Sunday celebration. Palm leaves are sold nationally as well as exported to the US for this ©Artists for Nature Foundation celebration. The income generated from its exports supports both reforestation and forest conservation at La Sepultura and El Triunfo IBAs. Pronatura is also supporting community efforts to improve control in the use and access to this resource. As a result, a local cooperative of seven communities has been Results established; of which five are working directly with Pronatura. This effort is having conservation Table 1 shows some selected characteristics of the LCGs of women. All members of the LCGs live in or around the impacts at the ecosystem levels. these case studies. Almost all LCGs have clear conservation IBAs and the majority of LCGs have legal registration or objectives and the majority have more men involved than are in the process of obtaining such recognition. Table 1. General characteristics of the LCGs discussed at the workshop. Peru Bolivia Ecuador Ecuador Panama Mexico Belize (3) Dom. Rep. Paraguay Uruguay Clear conservation Objectives X √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ No. of members 344 70 20 72 69 26 42 32 12 200 Men / women / children 177/167 14/48/8 n.s. ? 54/14/1 12/10/4 10/20/12 28/4/0 8/4 200/0/0 % of adults members living in/around IBA 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 100% 100% 100% 100% Legal registration √ X X √ X √ √ in process in process √ Board or Council √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X √ Photo: Alejandro Ramón Vázquez Table 2 shows the areas that BirdLife Partners and other does not represent the full expertise developed by these NGOs worked on with LCGs in the case studies. It NGOs. Table 2. Thematic areas addressed in the case studies Category & Subcategory Peru Bolivia Ecuador Ecuador Panama Mexico Belize (3) Dom. Rep. Paraguay Uruguay Education and awareness Awareness and communication 2. Partnership with Communities and Involvement Fostering active Formal education participation in conservation. Belize Audubon Society. Belize. Training Anna D. Hoare, [email protected], Belize Audubon Society. Capacity building Development of alliances and partnerships Funding for conservation Belize Audubon (BirdLife in Belize) has been working together with Institutional and civil society development communities to advance the conservation of IBAs including some that are Soil/water management PAs and is using this as a model to build the spirit of conservation in these Site management communities that depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. Belize Habitats and natural processes restoration Audubon started their work with Local Conservation Groups in IBAs which Invasive/problematic species control are protected, developing and implementing operational/management plans – wildlife management, administration, environmental education, Soil/water protection enforcement and public awareness, recreation management; hiring staff Habitat protection from communities to work in those sites, developing infrastructure – trail Site protection systems, accommodation, access road to attract tourists, etc; starting an Law and policy environmental education Compliance & enforcement program and creating Policies & regulations alternative livelihood Private sectors standards and codes opportunities. Legislation Livelihood, economy and others The experiences demonstrate that communities can be empowered to participate Payment for conservation or ecosystems services in conservation efforts and benefit from their environment, developing sustainable Related companies and alternative livelihoods livelihoods and supporting their families, while conserving biodiversity. The Local Species management Conservation Group approach also