An Overview Of Our Solution
This entry is based on the experience of a socio-environmental management project executed in the area of influence of the Sanctuary of Fauna and Flora Los Colorados, aimed at increasing the biological connectivity of the Sanctuary with nearby forested areas through conservation and sustainable production actions in 11 settlements surrounding the protected area. Through a working model based on planning, participation, preservation and production (the 4Ps), lessons for generation social-environmental processes were extracted regarding the increase of local capacities, the strengthening of local environmental governance, the improvement of the quality of life of the families that are part of these processes and the increase and improvement of the natural habitat available for native species of flora and fauna.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: South America
General Information
Organization type
Nirlaba
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
26,500
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
2800 ha
Production quantity
142 tons of fruit, 630.000 lts of milk, 500 calves, 1.278 tons of tubers, 2.840 kilos of honey, 178.920 eggs, 213 tons of corn, 56.800 kilos of garden vegetables (annual production)
People employed
214
Solution
Describe your solution
The project is aimed at increasing the biological connectivity of the Colorados Sanctuary with nearby forests, as well as to guarantee the social well-being of the communities returning to the rural areas, using a working model based on farm planning, community participation, environmental preservation and sustainable production (the 4Ps: planning, participation, preservation and production).
Planning of the farm means learning about its natural traits in order to choose productive activities that are fit, as well as mapping out conservation areas. Preservation activities include fencing and planting restoration pioneer species in the conservation areas Production activities depend on each family´s tradition and include production of honey, creole chicken, eggs, agroforestry and/or sustainable livestock, with a strong component in recovering local non-commercial crops. Finally, participation encompasses all aspects of the project; beneficiaries must participate in a capacity-building process that gives them both theoretical and practical tools to understand their role and partake in conserving the Planet. Project beneficiaries sign a socio-environmental agreement with project executers whereby they promise to sustain the farm plan and activities in perpetuity.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
In order to conform conservation corridors in the area of influence of the Colorados Sanctuary and minimize the impact of agricultural and livestock activities on the dry tropical forest, the project implements both conservation and sustainable production activities, on a one-to-one basis with land owners. The conservation activities are geared towards building with each land owner, a zoning of the areas that must be conserved because of the environmental services they provide, with particular interest on the water resources. Such areas are protected with physical measures, such as fencing, and depending on their state of conservation, are enriched with local pioneer native species. Complementarily, the property owner receives materials and capacity building lessons to implement sustainable production activities in the farm: production of honey, creole chicken, eggs, agroforestry and/or sustainable livestock, with a strong component in recovering local non-commercial crops. Beneficiaries receive capacity-building lessons on environmental issues and how they relate to their daily life. The combination of working intensely together with the people for at least one to two years, enables them to understand the need for the actions implemented, but more importantly, for them to see the effects that the measures have on their environment, their diet, and their household economy. Another key success factor is that the actions are framed within a governance scheme where, communities, government institutions from the local, regional and national level, and NGOs, work together with a common purpose. This governance frame has allowed the implementers of the project to overcome obstacles such as climate change because there is trust within the different stakeholders of the project and that allows the project to be adaptive.
External connections
The project presented here is the result of an alliance that begun in the year 2007 between the Natural Park System of Colombia and the CEH Foundation. The first five years were geared towards bringing together local stakeholders in a trusting relationship, building the governance conditions needed to implement our current project. The project has received the support of the Conservation Landscapes Program (USAID, Fondo Patrimonio Natural, National Parks System), the Colombia Biodiversa Program (Ecopetrol, the national oil company, and the Alexander von Humboldt biodiversity research institute), the Proyecto Titi Foundation, the German Development Bank (KFW), the Disney Foundation and the Whitley Fund for Nature. The participation of the municipality and the regional environmental authority has been key in the project because it guarantees that the local ordainment plan safeguards the conservation corridors and limits productive activities different from small-scale farming to enter the area.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
The Colorados Sanctuary is one of the 59 national protected areas of Colombia and the only one dedicated completely to conserving the dry tropical forest. This ecosystem, home to various critically endangered and endemic species, is one of the least known ecosystems in the world; in Colombia there is only 1.5% of the ecosystem´s original area, and the most well conserved areas are located around the Colorados Sanctuary. These areas are called Montes de Maria, where social conflict minimized agricultural and livestock activities for over a decade, permitting the natural restoration of the forest. With the peace process in Colombia, various local public and private organizations partnered to implement a socio-environmental management project aimed at increasing the protected area´s biological connectivity with nearby forests located in farms given to the returning communities, as well as to guarantee the social well-being of these communities.
Describe the context in which you are operating
The area of dry tropical forest that connect to the Colorados Sanctuary shows three different patterns of land management (see Figure 1, connectivity corridors in the area of influence of the Sanctuary): System 1 refers to small agricultural plots (1-30 ha); system 2 to medium sized farms mostly dedicated to agriculture, but with some livestock (30-100 ha); and system 3 corresponds to large livestock farms (over 100 ha). The first two cover 68% of the area and contain most of the dry tropical forest. Although the project focuses on working with system 1 farms (75% of beneficiaries), a strategy is also implemented to work with system 2 and 3 farms, as they are also covered with and connect areas of dry tropical forest.
The system 1 and 2 beneficiaries are characterized by low levels of education (63% did not finish elementary school) and having been victims of social conflict (displacement mostly).
Economic and production studies of system 1 beneficiaries show that the most economically successful producers are characterized by diversification of production, which also has an effect in improving the quality of their diet. On average, the slopes of beneficiaries' farms are within 25% and 35%, but can go up to 70%, which implies that soil conservation management techniques are required.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
The area of dry tropical forest within the Colorados Sanctuary is approximately 700 hectares, and after three years of implementing the project, there are now 715 hectares of protected forest outside the Colorados, which are connected with each other and with the Sanctuary itself. In negotiating with land owners, we make sure that the land that is conserved connects with that of the neighbor and so on.
These conservation corridors have allowed locals to see fauna in their land which they had not registered in the last 10-15 years, especially monkey species, including the cotton-top tamarin monkey, a critically endangered species endemic to the area of study that has been registered in 50% of the forests of the beneficiaries. The connectivity index for the study area has increased in 33%, from connectivity analysis that have been carried out using the Index for Probability of Conservation –IPC- (Saura and Pascual, 2007).
Language(s)
Spansih
Water
Two land owners registered the formation of seasonal creeks in their conservation land. All the beneficiaries report an increase in the amount of water that is now found in the creeks, and also to that the seasonal creeks last longer than they used to, surviving part of the dry season. These water resources are key to the municipality and part of the largest watershed in the country, the Magdalena river, used by 40% of the Colombia´s population.
Food Security/Nutrition
Green leaved vegetables were not part of the daily diet of the beneficiaries because they did not cultivate them. The creole chicken egg production has also been key in securing protein as part of the regular diet of the families involved, as only about 25% of the beneficiaries had chickens and the other 75% did not have a stable source of protein in their diet, as they do now.
Economic/Sustainable Development
All beneficiaries have reported an increase in their farm income. For the poorest, that difference is significant in their life, for it allows them to come above the poverty line. Honey and creole eggs have been two products particularly important in increasing such income. With the honey production, beneficiaries have come to realize the importance of protecting the forest. Both community and institutions have acquired tools and knowledge needed to sustain the model of sustainable development.
Climate
The Colorados Sanctuary is located right by the urban center of San Juan municipality, and thus holds an important role in micro-climate regulation for almost 30,000 inhabitants. Also, water resources for the rural villagers pass through the Sanctuary. The project strengthens the role of the sanctuary both as climate change regulator and as a water regulator, as most water resources of the Sanctuary actually originate in the corridors implemented.
Sustainability
The project relies on both grant funding and/or government subsidies for the beginning investment (first 1-2 years) in capacity building workshops and in sustainable production systems and conservation measures. After that, the project relies on market-based revenue generated by the beneficiaries. The project has a base line economic analysis of each village (annual incomes and expenses) and up to date, has evidence of a 20% improvement in the beneficiaries’ income, although we expect this percent to rise with time. Already a national chain-restaurant is buying goods produced from the project´s beneficiaries. The economic benefits that land owners receive, together with their eco-consciousness, gives the project sustainability.
Return on investment
The project has been done in two phases with a total direct cash cost up to date of USD$350,000. This price has covered a total area of 2,523 hectares and 97 families. This means an average investment of less than USD$3,608 per family and USD$139 per hectare, to ensure a sustainable model of development. If National Parks was to acquire this land for conservation, it would cost them USD$2,000 per hectare, summing more than USD$5,000,000, and that does not account for the social benefits of the project. Even if the state was to acquire only the conservation areas within the corridors (719 hectares), it would still cost USD$1,438,000.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
The project has been replicated in a small scale near the protected area of the Lorica lagoon in the state of Cordoba, and within the study area, the project was replicated by incorporating a new village. The scale of replication is the village, as the work done focuses on group activities and not the individual level. Presently, we hope to replicate the project to a new village on the Jaguar Conservation Corridor between the Colorados Sanctuary and the Corchal Sanctuary, following the connectivity corridor that has been built so far. The funding required to include two more villlages of 26 families during a 1-2 year process, includes personnel for training and monitoring the project, evaluated at USD$52,000, materials at $68,000, other direct costs (transportation, communications, etc) costing $25,000, for total needed funding of about $145,000.