CASE STUDY: THE MESOAMERICAN BIOLOGICAL CORRIDOR A platform for sustainable development (Radoslav Barzev 1 )

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1 CASE STUDY: THE MESOAMERICAN BIOLOGICAL CORRIDOR A platform for sustainable development (Radoslav Barzev 1 ) BACGROUND MESOAMERICA Mesoamerica is defined as the Region comprising of four states of south-eastern Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roa and Yucatán) and the seven countries of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua y Panama. From its geological origin, be it as a group of islands or as a continental strip of land, Mesoamerica was a centre of origin and a corridor for terrestrial forms of life and a barrier for the displacement of marine species between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is a region of great geographic, climatic, biological and cultural biodiversity with a territorial extension of approximately 769,000 km2 representing 0.5%of the total emerged lands of the world. In this small percentage of the planet live approximately 7%of all forms of life known to date by science. The natural richness of the region is explained for being a bridge two great continental masses of North and South America; by the presence of two oceans that wash their coastlines the Atlantic and Pacific; and by the existence of many forms of relieves and landscapes, from lagoons, volcanoes, mountains, reefs, islands and plains. In this small territory exist more than 60 forms of vegetation and 30 eco-regions, from semi-deserted to humid forests with annual precipitation of more than 7 meters (UNDP 1997). In the region, it is estimated that there is a population above the 34 million inhabitants and estimates indicate that within ten years, there will be more than 45 million men and women. Presently, the population is increasing at the rate of above the 2% per annum, and the majority of the population lives in impoverished rural zones. It comes as no surprise then that environmental problems are narrowly linked to such factors as the tendency of changes in land use and the distribution and access to the natural resources and productive resources. 1 Advisor on Environmental Economics for the Regional Project for the Consolidation of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (CCAD/PNUD-GEF/PNUMA-RLA97/G31); with headquarters in Managua, Nicaragua.

2 OVERVIEW The Big Initiative of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) is a cooperation initiative between the seven Central-American countries and the southern states of Mexico, to harmonize and execute in a coordinated way the activities aimed to the conservation of biological diversity and to promote sustainable human development in their territories. The MBC initiative is inspired on the conviction, that biodiversity conservation on the long term cannot be achieved if poverty reduction and the strengthening of the economical viability of the countries of the region are not worked as a whole. The MBC regional initiative is a deepening of the efforts made in Mesoamerica in the last 20 years, to find advantageous solutions that promote the environmental sustainability and at the same time better the levels and quality of living of the inhabitants who use, manage and conserve the biodiversity. One of the MBC goals also, is to contribute to the prevention and reduction of risks that affects human settlements, the infrastructure and crops. These are made worse by deforestation and unsuitable use of the land. Therefore, the MBC Regional Initiative proposes various objectives for short, medium and long-term periods: Betterment of the living quality of the inhabitants, changing the Corridor into the driving force towards sustainable development and into an instrument to reduce the vulnerability of the region against natural disasters. Fomenting the collaboration between the countries of the region to achieve environmental sustainability. Protection of one of the richest bio-diversity of the whole world. Contribution to the global environmental agenda, issuing a new complete model to face issues such as deforestation, protection of the forest, basins or watersheds and climate change. Establishment of a new way to understand the protection of environmental issues, with the integration of conservation, sustainable use and increasing the economic competitiveness. It is necessary to foment an environmentally friendly production so that the MBC initiative can be sustainable in the long term and contribute to the betterment of the living quality of the people whilst at the same time protecting the biological diversity of the region. New technologies, new markets, well prepared and informed human resources are the base for an increasing and competitive economy which increases income without

3 destroying the natural resources, contributing to poverty reduction and decrease in rural vulnerability. The Project for Consolidation of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor The main mission of the 5 year Project for the Consolidation of the MBC (CCAD/PNUD-GEF/PNUMA-RLA97/G31), initiated in the year 2000, is to give support to the Mesoamerican countries and the Central-American Environmental and Development Commission (CCAD) to better the institutional capacities and to obtain knowledge and skills to advance with the consolidation of the MBC inititive. Since the main purpose of the MBC initiative is to promote Sustainable use, conservation and management of the Biodiversity of Mesoamerica, the MBC Project proposes the Establishment of a Regional Program for the Consolidation of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The MBC Project also establishes 3 main objectives and their correspondent strategic activities: Objectives 1. Strengthened the management capacities of the MBC into the environmental institutions. 2. Create the conditions for the economic and social sustainability of the MBC. 3. Initiate processes of construction of Biological Corridors on a local level, in each country of the region. Strategic Activities - Develop national and regional strategies. - Define and harmonize the key management tools and policies. - Develop a monitoring system for biodiversity. - Strengthen the Protected Areas management. - Develop capacities for financial management of priority areas generate financial resources for the conservation of the biodiversity. - Increase participation and support of relevant stakeholders. - Develop local participative structures for the management of corridors. - Provide training and advisory. The project objectives are intended to contribute to better the knowledge and comprehension of the complicated processes of territorial environmental and socioeconomic management that is necessary to accompany and strengthen the building of the MBC in a participative and sustainable way.

4 It is also intend to increase the reserve of technical, scientifically high quality information available in the region, to support the capacity building activities, reflection and debate as well as to contribute to the spread of potentials and challenges that the Mesoamericans face to construct a sustainable and fair future, where the maintenance and sustainable use of the biological diversity is maintained and at the same time generate an increase in the income of the poorest rural sectors.

5 Principle 1: The objectives of management of land, water and living resources are a matter of societal choice. The MBC Project has promoted a series of studies and processes to identify priority ecosystem goods and services, establish their economic value, social-economic activities related to their use and distribution of benefits among stakeholders. The purpose is to promote negotiation processes among stakeholders in order to obtain higher benefits for all parties after an optimal management of the particular ecosystem goods and services involved. Principle 2: Management should be decentralized to the lowest appropriate level. To materialize the idea of a Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, the Project has promoted the establishment of local Biological Corridors, in order to prove that local stakeholders are capable of managing their own natural resources, and once they feel a greater benefits and participation into the management itself they can become more responsible and involved into the sustainable use of the particular ecosystem goods and services. Principle 3: Ecosystem managers should consider the effects (actual or potential) of their activities on adjacent and other ecosystems. One of the main activities of the MBC Project is to promote a dialogue among different stakeholders, but also stakeholders from neighbouring watersheds, communities and countries from the region. Ecosystems do not obey political or country borders, therefore, for an appropriate management is necessary to involve stakeholders over borders. Other times, activities carried out in one ecosystem impact the ecosystem functions of other ecosystems. The MBC Project targets the key players in order to aware them and involve them in a dialogue and co-management of the impacts. Principle 4: Recognizing potential gains from management, there is a need to understand the ecosystem in an economic context. Any ecosystem management programme should: a) Reduce those market distortions that adversely affect biological diversity; b) Align incentives to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use; c) Internalize costs and benefits in the given ecosystem to the extent feasible. The MBC Project has started the implementation of Payment for Environmental Goods and Services Programs, in different countries of the region. The idea is to develop mechanisms for the internalization of the environmental costs, caused by human activities. The process follows 8 basic steps: 1) Identification of Environmental Problem (Environmental impact, stakeholders, economic activities affected and Ecosystem goods and services involved); 2) Determine the physical environmental variables; 3) Measure these environmental variables in physical terms; 4) Apply economic valuation methodologies; 5) Generate environmental economic indicators; 6) Propose economic mechanisms for internalizing environmental costs and for capturing and distribution of

6 environmental benefits; 7) Negotiation process among stakeholders on the mechanisms proposed and; 8) Implementation of the mechanisms that have been adopted by most of the stakeholders involved. Principle 5: A key feature of the ecosystem approach includes conservation of ecosystem structure and functioning. The area of action of the MBC Project is more like with the institutions involved with the management of the environment and the natural resources. The project does not work directly on the territory. But the concept of principle 5 is utilized in establishing the local biological corridors. Principle 6: Ecosystems must be managed within the limits of their functioning. The MBC Project considers the ecosystem structure and functions, but it is mainly addressing the existing asymmetries among the 8 countries from the Mesoamerican region, which could be of technical or political nature. Principle 7: scales. The ecosystem approach should be undertaken at the appropriate One of the main concerns of the MBC Project is the existence of several ecosystems in the region, but the region is divided politically in 8 countries. Besides, there are several indigenous communities that eventually live into and around the protected areas, where most of the biodiversity remains. MBC Project understands and focuses the asymmetries of the different countries in terms of policies, laws, technical development on different environmental issues, size of ecosystems, distribution of ecosystems among countries and cultural differences inside and among the countries. On the other hand, the temporal scale is a great concern, because results from the processes promoted by the project would eventually be seen in the long run; while many political and social changes are happening in a very short periods of time. Principle 8: Recognizing the varying temporal scales and lag-effects that characterize ecosystem processes, objectives for ecosystem management should be set for the long term. Through the implementation of Payment for Environmental Goods and Services Programs, the MBC project intends to make stakeholders understand that future benefits of conservation are higher than short term benefits coming out of unsustainable productive or extractive activities. There are of course costs involved in the process of doing conservation (in terms of education, training, and financing the conservation measures), and these costs can be called preventive. Preventive measures usually are lower than mitigation measures. Therefore, investing in conservation is cheaper and more beneficial than trying to solve environmental problems due to the use of unsustainable, short term productive practices.

7 Principle 9: Management must recognize that change is inevitable. The MBC project, as an effort to strengthen the environmental institutions, recognizes clearly the existence of constant changes on different levels. But the main focus of the project is on the political and social changes that may threaten the process of integration of Mesoamerica and the regional conservation process. Principle 10: The ecosystem approach should seek the appropriate balance between conservation and use of biological diversity. The MBC Project, trough the Payment of Ecosystem Goods and Services Programs intends to promote the internalization of the environmental costs generated by the society. The idea is to promote the sustainable use, which basically means that it is possible and necessary the use of the ecosystem goods and services, since these once guarantee the survival of the human specie. But it also means that humans should seek productive alternatives that will reduce negative impacts on ecosystems, generating lower environmental costs. And at the same time, these productive alternatives should generate higher economic benefits. Therefore, the balance of sustainable use and conservation is established when a particular productive alternative generates benefits enough to keep its competitiveness with respect to other alternatives (rate of return and opportunity cost) and also covers environmental costs, mitigating in that way negative impacts on the ecosystem. Principle 11: The ecosystem approach should consider all forms of relevant information, including scientific and indigenous and local knowledge, innovations and practices. One of the mandates of the MBC project is to generate information and also to harmonize existing information in the region. In that sense, the project has different on going efforts: 1) Help establish a regional monitoring system on biological diversity and regional network on environmental information; 2) Help generate economic environmental indicators for the ecosystem goods and services of the region; 3) Systematize knowledge existing in the region (productive practices, indigenous knowledge, etc.); Systematize existing environmental laws and policies in the region; 4) Disseminate, according to the particular situation, the pertinent technical, scientific, political or legal information to specifically identified relevant stakeholders. Principle 12: The ecosystem approach should involve all relevant sectors of society and scientific disciplines. The MBC Project s focus is on the institutions involved with management of the environment and the natural resources, but through the different operational activities the project is working and affecting on all levels. It has incidence on high political levels (harmonizing policies), and then goes to community level (implementing local biological corridors). The project involves government, NGOs, communities and private sector. It also helps establish dialog among the different sectors of government (e.g. authorities of

8 the environment, agriculture, commerce, etc.). The project has the unique particularity of being able to do incidence on the different levels in the 8 countries of the region. And finally, the staff of the project is formed by different specialist: lower and specialist in institutional strengthening, biodiversity specialist, environmental economist and communication expert; besides, in each one of the 8 countries there is there is a project representatives that makes sure that the concept of the Great Initiative of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor will be reflected into the Operational Plans of the different Ministries of the Environment, and ultimately into the operational plans of other institutions such as: Ministry of Agriculture, Comerce, etc.