Bioversity International (CGIAR)

Lima, Peru

An Overview Of Our Solution

The design, testing and mainstreaming of an innovative PES-type "Payments for Agrobiodiversity Conservation Services" (PACS) incentive mechanism to promote on-farm conservation of threatened common pool genetic resources in a way that builds on existing farmer preferences/values, government interest and that of a start-up has led to: a) improved status of threatened genetic resources of importance for food security, nutrition and climate change adaptation; b) private sector market creation; and c) mainstreaming of the different dimensions associated with PACS (e.g. prioritization, establishment of risk thresholds, monitoring, private sector and public food procurement program engagement, etc.) into government policy implementation. Wide-ranging institutional and emerging private sector interest reveals the potential sustainability of this multi-pronged approach.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Nirlaba

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Grasslands

Population impacted

48,000 conservatively

Size of agricultural area

40 hectares

Production quantity

N/A. "Not at risk status" determined inter alia by areas, farmer numbers and spatial distribution, rather than production per se. Production quantity in any case variable depending on varieties in question and climatic events

People employed

100-200 farmer families

Describe your solution

An innovative market-based solution to this public-good provision dilemma has been tested [3, 4]. It is called PACS and the concluding statement of the 2011 International Symposium for Genetic Resources in Latin America specifically recommended that the approach "should be promoted in the region and brought to the attention of international fora". PACS ensures both farmers' and broader society's needs are met. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes are one proven mechanism to provide incentives to farmers to maintain ecosystem services that benefit wider society (e.g. maintaining wild biodiversity or water quality). PACS takes the tested concepts of PES and applies them to ABD stewardship, paying farmers for cultivating a priority portfolio of crop species and varieties. Incentives are offered at community level (e.g. women's or producers' groups). Farmers are thus able to diversify their livelhood strategies to include not only agricultural production and wage labor, but also ABD public good service provision. PACS schemes involve landscape-wide competetive tenders. Communities are selected based on cost-effectiveness and social equity criteria (e.g. gender, poverty status). At the end of the agricultural season, conditional on successful cultivation according to contractual terms, in-kind rewards (as requested by the communities themselves—e.g. agricultural inputs and machinery, school building and materials) are paid to the community groups.

Describe your implementation

PACS addresses ABD loss by creating an incentive mechanism capable of aligning the private and public good values associated with genetic resources maintenance, thereby ensuring that the burden of such maintenance for the public good does not fall principally on the shoulders of poor farmers (as it does at present). Furthermore, PACS provides a strategic framework (via prioritization) within which conservation activities may be realized in a cost-effective and socially equitable manner (including via its use of competitive tenders). In doing so, PACS contributes to facilitating the implementation of existing Peruvian national legislation and international treaty commitments with regard to the conservation of biodiversity, including through supporting the development of associated institutional capacities. The provision of rewards to farmers for providing a valuable public good ecosystem service is an important aspect of ensuring solution adoption. Furthermore, farmer participation/adoption is facilitated by ensuring a high level of participatory justice. Groups participating in the tender define their own participation conditions (i.e. which priority species/varieties to cultivate, what level of reward is needed and which women and men farmers will participate - all members eligible), and how to divide and use the payments amongst themselves and other community members. Crucial enabling conditions/key success factors involve close collaboration with key national institutions (see below), such as the Ministry of Environment [5] & ; as well as engagement in policy/regulatory development/implementation activities. Participatory monitoring system to rigorously track and evaluate impact are being developed. Obstacles overcome: capacity to prioritize amongst the many threatened species/varieties; need to establish consensus regarding crop genetic resource conservation goals to determine and monitor risk status; & increasing access to seed of threatened varieties.

External connections

Ministry of Environment: Competent national authority for ABD conservation & sustainable use. Facilitates contacts with other national partners. Close partnership ensures that PACS results ultimately informs on-going policy/regulatory development. Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF): National agency which contracted proposer in 2014 to draw up a draft action plan, which led to government-supported PACS implementation in 2015/16. Subsequent engagement at a policy/regulatory level suggests that MEF may for the first time permit financing ABD-related "green public investment projects" (PIP Verde) as part of its 2019 budget cycle. International recognition through a Solutions Award would legitimize and greatly enable the progress of such regulatory innovation with momentous implications for long-term funding sustainability at national and regional scales.Institute for Agrarian Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture: Competent national authority for managing ex situ collections, data which informs prioritization analysis; and for undertaking monitoring. Regional Governments of (states of) Puno and Cuzco: Competent regional authorities for supporting local implementation, as well as developing PIP Verde proposals for submission to MEF. University of the Altiplano: Facilitates access to genebank data for prioritization purposes, as well as management of priority variety seed for distribution/storage pre/post-tender. Peruvian Society for Environmental Law: Regulatory development

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The loss of agrobiodiversity (ABD) globally is unprecedented [1], receiving much less attention than that of undomesticated biodiversity, despite being of crucial importance for food security, nutrition and climate change adaptation. Market demand for uniformity favors a narrow range of crop races/varieties resulting in overexploitation of associated production systems (e.g. land degradation associated with the "white" quinoa boom), including the degradation of the underlying genetic resource base. In countries such as Peru, a centre of domestication and globally important crop diversity, this is of particular concern. Highly diverse crops, such as quinoa, maize and potato, include many races/varieties with high public (national/global) good value, but only a few have private good values recognized by markets. The result is a threat status ranging from not at risk given market acceptance, to those with as yet underdeveloped market potential, to those at risk of disappearing from farms.

Describe the context in which you are operating

Over 50% of rural inhabitants in Peru live in poverty, with rates even higher among the indigenous Quechua and Aymara communities in the arid Andean highlands, where much ABD is conserved de facto by these farmers. Women are the worst affected due to male emigration seeking employment. At the same time, Peru is one of 10 mega-biodiverse countries and a centre of origin for crops important to the livelihoods of the poor. These include Andean crops (Andean grains, potato, cassava, maize and cacao) of global importance, including to the US Government's Feed the Future countries. In Peru, many species/varieties of these crops are considered “severely threatened” [1] but management strategies are lacking even though the National Biodiversity Strategy recognizes the need for development of incentives to guarantee conservation in areas “under management of peasant and/or native communities” and with “mechanisms for technical assistance and monitoring” [2].

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Prioritization analysis [7] led to 5 threatened quinoa varieties identified as priorities for intervention. >40 communities invited to a workshop (Aug 2015) where competitive conservation tender announced and capacity building activities realized. Representatives returned to their communities and developed such offers with all interested community members. >30 community group offers received. In 2015/16 the PACS project had a very limited operational budget (USD 4,000 for seed purchase and farmer rewards), hence was only possible to select 6 communities, involving 45 farmers (of which 64% women farmers). In-kind group-level offers ranged from USD 30,000/ha, revealing cost-effectiveness of tender approach. Budget allowed approval of contracts covering only 12ha. A rewards hand-over ceremony held (May 2016), attended amongst other dignitaries by two vice-ministers. Non-selected communities are keen to participate in the next round, as funds become available.

Language(s)

Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented?

Water

The threatened varieties have a range of important characteristics, amongst others: pest and frost resistance, nutritional qualities, ease of use in food preparation, use in specific dishes and being associated with specific socio-cultural uses. The Ccoito variety in particular does not have to be washed before it can be used and performs well during drought years.

Food Security/Nutrition

PACS focuses on high diversity native crops which make important contributions to livelihoods (including nutrition and food security). For example, the pest resistance, as well as drought and frost tolerance of some varieties (such as Ccoito and Wariponcho) are important in this latter context. The Chulpi variety is particularly good for being made into quinoa milk, and niche-market product development is currently underway by a private sector start-up.

Economic/Sustainable Development

By creating a low-risk environment for farmers to experiment in, farmers are able to explore whether the threatened crop species/varieties benefit their families sufficiently to keep cultivating them even in the absence of future incentives (2010/11 results revealed that 30-50% of participating farmers had decided to do so). In 2015/16 interest by Kai Pacha company to market quinoa milk has led to a 10 hectare production contract for the Chulpi variety in the PACS community of Huataquita [6].

Climate

Crops that can survive and produce in future climates will be essential in future production systems. It is vital that the genetic diversity (such as that of the initial set of PACS varieties - Misa misa, Chullpi, Huariponcho/Wariponcho, K’ello Witulla and Ccoito) needed to adapt agriculture and food production to future changes is not lost because of neglect in the present.

Sustainability

PACS currently relies on grant funding but efforts are underway to integrate it into government incentive funding programs/legislation (PIP Verdes - see above). Additional funding sources being explored through engagement with private/public sector entities, including through corporate social responsibility and public food purchase/distribution programs. The recent signing of production contracts by a private sector start-up Kai Pacha reveals that niche product market development can lead in some (although not all) cases to "conservation through use". PACS species/varieties have been grown in farmer’s fields for years after intervention, thus suggesting that repeated intervention every year may not be necessary to reach conservation goals.

Return on investment

Operational costs in 2015/16 were USD4,000, equivalent to

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

Scaling at regional and global levels through: i) local-level capacity strengthening and student training; ii) targeted distribution of evidence-based tools, protocols and methods to technical staff, policymakers, NGOs and CBOs; iii) realization of high-level dissemination/capacity-building events; and iv) generating (open access) scientific articles, theses, research reports and public awareness materials for dissemination, including through the Commission for Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture, and the Convention on Biological Diversity's clearinghouse mechanism. Small-scale testing of PACS already underway in Ecuador and Guatemala, with potential to expand to Mexico. Tested for crop wild relatives in Zambia. Estimated costs of up-scaling to 300 species/varieties in Peru equal

YouTube URL

PACS video

Overview