Integrating payment programmes into a larger strategy to promote sustainable livelihoods and long-term ecosystem conservation

Mangrove rehabilitation activities require significant investments of time and effort by local communities. Affording these investments might not be feasible for local communities who are usually involved in traditional activities to guarantee their livelihoods. By trying to understand the local dynamics, CONANP could coordinate its intervention: it was able to time its federally funded programme of payments for the fishermen in a manner that was compatible with local productive activities. CONANP designed a payment schedule that would pay local workers for their labour in mangrove rehabilitation and was also complementary to current traditional activities. This analysis prevented time overlaps, and any conflict or negative side-effect that could be derived from the payments scheme. In this case, the rehabilitation work and payments were set for the end of the shrimp fishing season, with the result that the local communities did not have to unnecessarily divide their time between various activities. This enabled local community members to maintain their income during the shrimp fishing season and earn an additional income from mangrove rehabilitation off-season.

a) Economic and human resources to be able to employ local people to carry out rehabilitation works;

b) use of local knowledge and fieldworkers’ expertise to understand working rhythms;

c) flexibility to adapt payment schemes according to local productive activities.

Payment schemes for environmental rehabilitation activities can be more successful when they take into account:

a) the fact that the ability to maintain a regular income source throughout the year is an important adaptive capacity for local communities;

b) that time is limited for local communities, and there will be more community engagement if rehabilitation activities do not collide with principle productive activities;

c) that such payment systems may not be sustainable in the long term (government budgets can fall; policies can change), so they should be subordinated to activities that generate a drive within the community for maintaining the ecosystems as a normal part of preserving their livelihoods.