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Prêmio Equatorial 2008 Ganhadores
Prêmio Equatorial 2008 Ganhadores
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After an extensive process of evaluation, the Equator Initiative's Technical Advisory Committee has selected an exceptional subset of 25 finalist initiatives, from a total pool of 310 nominations from 70 nations.
Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo Centre d'Appui au Développement Intégral-Mbankana (CADIM) Support Center for the Integrated Development of Mbankana To combat high rural unemployment and the outflow of farmers to urban centres, CADIM trains farmers in agroforestry and afforestation techniques that restore soil fertility and boost agricultural production. The group’s afforestation efforts have reduced exploitative pressure on the natural forests and provided for the reappearance of previously endemic animal species – notably bush pigs and antelopes. As a result of CADIM’s training programs, farmers have increased traditional agricultural outputs – cassava production has risen five-fold in some areas – and diversified into new areas of income generation, such as honey and charcoal production. CADIM has forged a strong partnership with the Ministry of Environment and successfully lobbied for a decree by the Minister of Land Affairs to create a subdivision of forest that offers land security for farmers.
Senegal
Fédération Régionale des Groupements de Promotion Féminine (FRGPF) Regional Federation of Groups for the Promotion of Women FRGPF is a regional organization of over 30,000 members that works at the nexus of biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, bringing together the ethnically diverse and conflict prone Ziguinchor region which includes Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania. In response to the widespread destruction of mangroves due to unsustainable oyster farming, FRGPF launched a campaign to train local women in more sustainable management and harvesting techniques. With local consultation, FRGPF identifies appropriate areas for oyster farms and equips groups with the necessary tools for sustainable extraction and product marketing. Local women are similarly trained in mangrove restoration techniques. FRGPF has successfully raised local incomes and employment rates as well as facilitated avenues for female entrepreneurship that have changed local attitudes about gender roles for the positive Zambia Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) COMACO promotes income generation, biodiversity conservation, and food security in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley. The organization links more than 35,000 rural households with, among other things: lucrative and sustainable livelihood options; methods for improving agricultural outputs; and, access to markets. Most notably, COMACO has facilitated the sale of eco-friendly food products with the “Its Wild” product line. Another key success for COMACO has been getting farmers to exchange guns, snares, and other tools used in poaching for the tools and training necessary for sustainable agriculture. Participating families have seen a 15% increase in food security and a doubling of incomes, while the area has experienced a corresponding resurgence in lion and elephant populations.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.itswild.org Kenya Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) With the objective of conserving Kenya’s natural habitats and biodiversity, Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) provides local communities with the information, education, and resources they need to advance environmentally friendly businesses. KENVO connects local entrepreneurs with micro-credit loans and provides training in apiculture and eco-tourism guiding. The organization also promotes environmental education through conservation clubs and networks in and among local schools. KENVO runs a tree-planting initiative that focuses on indigenous tree species, promotes responsible consumer behaviour in all of its training, and ensures the sustainability and maximum impact of their work by facilitating community knowledge exchanges.
Established in 1997, the centre trains local community members of the Kilifi District in conservation activities that also generate income. Focusing on unemployed youth, women, and fishermen, the centre works with local groups to identify income-generation opportunities, relevant stakeholders, and available technologies to build local capacity. Through training sessions and collaborative planning, Kwetu has helped to raise local employment and incomes, specifically in the areas of fish and prawn farming, tree planting, organic farming, apiculture, and ecotourism. Most notably, the centre has facilitated co-management of local mangroves to the benefit of both the local population and the environment.
Namibia N≠a Jaqna Conservancy With 912,000 hectares of communal land, N≠a Jaqna Conservancy* combines the sustainable management of endemic wildlife and
natural resources with the empowerment of the !Kung San* people. Established as a conservancy in 2003, the organization trains local !Kung San as wildlife managers, committee members, and game guards. Of 4,000 community members, over 2,650 are members of the conservancy and hold decision-making power on how their land is developed and managed. Local employment and incomes have increased through tourism, gaming contracts, and the sustainable collection of indigenous plant species. The conservancy area has also experienced a resurgence in elephant, giraffe, wild dog, and roan antelope populations. *The symbols used above represent the click sounds unique to Khoisan languages. Tanzania Ujamaa Community Resource Trust (UCRT) UCRT works with marginalized groups and pastoralists in Northern Tanzania to create land management plans, manage natural resource systems, and explore sustainable income-generation opportunities. A central component of UCRT’s work is mobilizing communities to lobby local and national governments for community land rights and resource entitlements. UCRT has helped over 20 villages in northern Tanzania – including the biodiversity-rich areas of the Serengeti and Tarangire – secure land and resource tenure, enhance economic benefits of their ecosystems (mainly through ecotourism), and establish community conserved areas based on indigenous management practices.
WCHS protects the resident hippopotamus population along the Black Volta River in northern Ghana. The sanctuary is operated by a management board that represents over 10,000 people from 17 communities. Along with the hippopotamus population, the reserve is home to over 500 other animal species. Through its conservation efforts, two distinct zones have been demarcated: one a protected area close to the river for the hippopotami, the other for the human population. This model has been replicated in neighbouring communities seeking to derive economic benefits from protecting their local biodiversity. Revenues from the sanctuary are invested into the provision of safe drinking water, literacy and higher education initiatives, as well as solar electricity projects.
Sri Lanka The Community Development Centre conserves close to 60 indigenous varieties of roots and yams, using these traditional crops to generate income for local farmers. Through equitable benefit sharing, knowledge exchange, and seed banks, CDC works towards community empowerment and overall sustainability. Direct beneficiaries include over 300 households, with a high percentage of women. Worm farming and composting from local cultivation provide two additional forms of income. The fact that CDC farms serve as training centres, seed banks, and the site of knowledge exchanges has meant that the CDC model has been effectively replicated as a sustainable, low-technology initiative across Sri Lanka.
The SLWCS was established in 1995 to protect threatened animal species, facilitate collaboration between marginalized rural groups, and conserve depleting ecosystems. Early in its work, the society identified elephant incursion into agricultural areas as a critical problem facing local villages. Since then, SLWCS has partnered with local communities to manage elephant-human interactions in a mutually beneficial way. Through regional environmental assessments, solar-powered electric fences for agricultural land, and conservation education, the society has been able to mitigate forest destruction, agriculture loss, and harm to resident elephants. The use of solar-powered electric fences is a notable innovation – the fences are funded and maintained by villagers and have resulted in a 100 percent reduction in elephant raids, increased incomes, reduced time spent guarding crops, and greater agricultural output.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.slwcs.org
ACMCA was established in 1996 as the first community-managed marine conservation area in the Solomon Islands. The 157km2 area is home to nesting grounds of the endangered Hawksbill sea turtle. The conservation area, created to stem the overexploitation of dwindling marine resources, attracts ecotourism that provides a valuable source of income for local communities. Local youth are employed as monitors and high school students are brought on tours to learn about the group’s conservation efforts. The management committee representing the three founding villages has also helped resolve the history of conflict between them.
Philippines Camalandaan Agroforest Farmers Association (CAFA) At the confluence of four major rivers, in a critical watershed on the island of Negros, CAFA works to mobilize sustainable and community-based land and water management initiatives. The group works at the community level to demarcate discrete areas that allow for both local development and biodiversity conservation. Roughly 1,200 hectares have been specifically demarcated as protected nature reserves (areas that house several species of endangered flora and fauna), while close to 2,000 hectares have been converted into tree farms. Buffer zones are used to separate the areas. In addition to the income generated from tree farming, afforestation has contributed to maintaining watershed quality and expanding wildlife habitat.
Micronesia Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) Established in 1998 to address pressure on Pohnpei’s marine and terrestrial resources, CSP works to create linkages between a healthy environment and a healthy economy. CSP’s main activities include: supporting artisanal fishing and small-scale mariculture projects such as sponge and coral farms; advocating for the reinstatement of state-sanctioned marine protected areas within Pohnpei Lagoon; and maintaining a network of seven community-based marine protected areas. Enforcement and monitoring combine traditional techniques with modern technology. Conservation information is disseminated to local schoolchildren and Pohnpei’s 34,000 residents through interactive education campaigns.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.serehd.orgIndonesia The Indonesian Community-based Marine Management Foundation (PLKL) PLKL supports communities in the provinces of Papua and West Papua as well as the Moluccan Islands archipelago in administering their marine resources through traditional tenure management systems, known as sasi. The foundation has been successful at creating community-based marine management areas that conserve local biodiversity, increase resource abundance, and improve incomes. PLKL has supported over 20 communities in the creation of community-based marine management areas and is serving as a model for replication through regional site visits and networking programs. Through targeted training and technical support, community-based management in the region has resulted in population growth among endemic species central to local ecosystems and livelihoods.
Vanuatu Nguna-Pele Marine Protected Area (NPMPA) Originating as a joint initiative between four village leaders, NPMPA has evolved into a collaboration between 16 villages that span two islands. The group manages the marine and land resources of this ecologically-sensitive region, particularly the surrounding coral reef and inter-tidal lagoons. In addition to ongoing negotiations with the national government for greater ecological rights, NPMPA is involved in environmental education, waste management, renewable energy projects, eco-tourism, mariculture, and environmental assessments. Since the initiative began in 2002, there has been a significant rise in the population and quality of marine life, a rise in the average income of villagers (largely attributable to ecotourism), improvement in the involvement of women and youth in governance and decision-making, and a resurgence of local cultural and linguistic traditions through village partnerships.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.marineprotectedarea.com.vu Cambodia Tmatboey Community Protected Area Committee The Tmatboey village borders the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia, an area known for endangered bird populations like the White-Shouldered Ibis. The village of 203 families is effectively using ecotourism to ensure the sustainable management of the surrounding forest areas. An elected village committee works with tourism groups to attract domestic and international birdwatchers and biodiversity conservation groups to protect the area. The
committee has established a comprehensive land use plan for the village, including a no hunting policy. Revenues from ecotourism are reinvested into local infrastructure – water and sanitation, roads, and schools. As a result of the village’s conservation efforts and the provision of employment opportunities, incomes have increased and populations of critically-endangered bird species are on the rise. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The Center for Biodiversity Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources is a science and technology institute dedicated to innovative research in biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods. The group’s main achievement to date is the development of technology used in the processing of native rubber – a process that combines traditional techniques with scientific knowledge and industrial equipment, and that is adapted for use in a forest environment. The application of this technology has significantly contributed to poverty reduction in the region by generating employment and income-generation opportunities. The technology has similarly reduced the threat of tropical deforestation in the region helping to protect biodiversity.
Established in 2003, COOPYAWA is a representative body of the Yawanawa indigenous people of Acre State. The group endeavors to create income-generation opportunities for its members through the conservation and promotion of the Yawanawa people and one of their native agricultural products: urucum. When the national government stopped purchasing rubber from the Yawanawa in 1992 – previously their central source of income – the group came together to explore other sustainable forms of income generation. The Yawanawa turned to urucum, a local plant extract used in cosmetics. In 2003, the group signed an agreement with Aveda Corporation to market urucum-based cosmetics using the Yawanawa name and equitably share profits. COOPYAWA distributes benefits across the Yawanawa tribes and, through an international advocacy campaign, successfully lobbied to have their tribal territory increased from 92,000 to 187,000 hectares.
Established in 1992, AART produces organic honey in the Tariquía Reserve in Bolivia. When apiculture was first introduced on the reserve many trees were cut down as a result. AART was able to develop an innovative method of collecting honey without damaging the trees. The group works to create common rules for honey producers that integrate the social and cultural knowledge of the local population. Honey production provides a vital source of income for residents of this remote region and AART is committed to ensuring equitable benefit sharing. The organic production of this award-winning honey – AART honey has been recognized as “Bolivia’s best” – has had a positive impact on the pollination of local flora and on the revitalization of native bee species.
Founded in 1992, the Chalalan Ecolodge is owned and managed exclusively by community members of the Quechua-Tacana group. Covering over 200,000 hectares of Madidi Park – one of the most biologically sensitive areas in the world – Chalalan is able to generate ecotourism revenues that directly benefit 116 families. Profits are reinvested into small-scale health, education, and water and sanitation projects. The community has managed to reduce destructive environmental practices and, as a result, has witnessed the rejuvenation of native and endangered species endemic to the region. One of Bolivia’s pioneer ecotourism projects, Chalalan began to turn a profit in 2001. The eco-lodge’s success has served to attract back to the area community members who emigrated due to impoverished conditions.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.chalalan.com
Founded by local women in 2003, the Artisans Association of Arbolsol and Huaca de Barro of the Morrope District has worked to recover traditional methods of cotton production that are environmentally responsible and to create positive socio-economic change in the region. The association oversees the planting and harvesting of native cotton varieties using only pesticides from natural sources. In addition to cotton production, the association has been active in managing water resources. Traditional colours of native cotton have been recovered, water resources have been cleaned as a result of better management, and organic cotton is produced for local markets. The group, which began as a women’s organization, has now expanded to include the whole community
Peru Asociación de Pobladores por el Progreso y Desarrollo de Campo Amor Zarumilla (ASPOPRODECAZ) Association of Residents for the Progress and Development of Campo Amor, Zarumilla ASPOPRODECAZ is an association representing the 11,000 inhabitants of the National Sanctuary of Mangrove Swamps in Tumbes, Peru. The association evolved in response to pressure on local ecosystems from population growth, logging, and solid waste pollution. To counter growing degradation, ASPOPRODECAZ has reforested the surrounding mangrove swamps with over 100,000 forest plants. The association runs education programs and created the first tree nursery in the region. A key innovation of the group’s work is a sustainable waste management program that employs 250 families in recycling, solid waste collection, and the harnessing of biogas from livestock manure and organic waste. Critically, this program has significantly lowered demand for local firewood and the exploitation of local forests. Household incomes have increased, regional ecotourism has grown, and employment opportunities have diversified.
For more information about this organization please visit their website: campoamor311.spaces.live.com Colombia Asociación de Productores Indígenas y Campesinos de Riosucio Caldas (ASPROINCA) Association of Indigenous Producers and Farmers of Riosucio, Caldas Based in the northern Caldas region of Colombia, ASPROINCA is a community-based organization that works with close to 400 indigenous farming families to diversify their agricultural production in an environmentally responsible manner. A key objective of the association is breaking local dependence on coffee production. The association has been successful at working with local farmers to: increase food security; institute sustainable agricultural practices; integrate composting; and recuperate native varieties of beans, maize, panelera cane, and fodder plants. An innovation of the association has been training farmers to harness biogas, thereby relieving pressure on surrounding forests for firewood.
Colombia Serraniagua Corporation/Corporación Serraniagua
Serraniagua Corporation connects the conservation corridors of the Tatamá National Park and the Serrania de los Paragua through a series of sixty community-managed and seven state-managed nature reserves. The organization works to promote sustainable development through the conservation of biodiversity and has a diverse base of stakeholders, which include producers of cocoa, coffee and sugar, as well as ecotourism ventures, environmental groups, rural schools and women’s associations. Serraniagua Corporation utilizes this dynamic social network to run a comprehensive communications program employing community radio, newsletters, environmental murals, educational videos, and community tours. The initiative further promotes trade in organic farming products and represents community interests at regional biotrade events.
Unión de Organizaciones Campesinas e Indígenas de Cotacachi (UNORCAC)
Union of Farming and Indigenous Organizations of Cotacachi UNORCAC is an organization of 3,225 Quichua families that is dedicated to improving the quality of life of indigenous Ecuadorians. The group focuses its work on the conservation of agricultural biodiversity, the reintroduction and maintenance of traditional cultural practices, and comprehensive community participation. UNORCAC focuses on local capacity building in three areas: apiculture, ethno-tourism, and high-value crops (in particular, blackberries). A critical achievement of the organization has been the reintroduction of traditional crops and medicinal plants, a process of cultural renewal that has also resulted in the valuation of over 130 native plant species. Local incomes have risen dramatically and community members now grow more than half of their own food. For more information about this organization please visit their website: www.unorcac.org |