Local | PANORAMA

Interaction between conservation and population health

Nature conservation and its relationship with the quality of life and health of the local population.

Conservation and maintenance of functional environmental conditions are a priority to avoid emerging and zoonotic diseases.
Preservation of local knowledge and appreciation by indigenous peoples of plants and animals for use in local medicine and culture.
Management actions by protected areas to systematize and rescue local knowledge.

The relationship between nature and health is becoming more and more critical, there are many empirical evidences that diseases that affect humans through the relationship with wild species can cause outbreaks and new pandemics. In this sense, the conservation and maintenance of stable natural conditions and functional food chains can reduce this risk.

The risk of degradation affecting vulnerable people in local communities is very high, so protected areas are playing a critical role in conservation.

Strengthening the market based on forest products

The Manuripi National Amazon Wildlife Reserve builds its sustainability based on the management and harvesting of Amazonian fruits within the territory. The measures adopted within the different links of the value chain are very important to achieve benefits for the local population.

The valuation of forest products is maintained or improved to promote these activities and the country and region provide support to improve production.
The prices of these products are stable or rising and promote a profit for the harvesters.
The certification provided by the reserve motivates harvesting activities to continue with a vision of economic benefits, environmental sustainability and social responsibility, which demonstrates a triple impact project.

Financial sustainability is a mitigator of social and environmental conflicts since many of the population requires support in establishing viable alternatives for local progress. Once the forest products have been identified and the productive chain has been analyzed, investments help to improve production and general satisfaction with the conservation of nature through sustainable use.

Integrated forest management

Integrated forest management as a local development strategy allows articulating different perceptions in a joint vision to achieve sustainable development. This is a State policy that has been implemented since 2009 and has established important advances such as the regulation of land use and availability.

To this end, the protected area plays a fundamental role in integrating actions from the local level that are then integrated into the national policy and possibly into the regional conservation vision.

Territorial management policies are carried out by each of the local actors, which establishes an organization of functions and activities at different scales.
Communities comply with the mandate and potential land use and maintain a stable natural structure.

Integrated forest management requires an approach that makes visible the multiple perspectives that the context demands. For this reason, it is important to have transdisciplinary teams to achieve a joint vision of development.

In addition, the active participation of institutions that invest resources, such as ACEAA and WWF, is required.

Involvement of the local population in monitoring

It seeks to motivate the participation of local people and the civilian population in general, so that they become an active part of the conservation of the LBR and thus generate environmental awareness.

Establish outreach processes with young people and students who show affinity with the implementation of participatory monitoring.
Prepare guides and other didactic materials that can be used by people interested in monitoring.
Develop practical training/education processes for bird species observers within the RBL.

Environmental education should be a transversal axis of all activities carried out for the conservation of protected natural areas, generating an increase in the positive impact on conservation.
Participatory monitoring, in addition to being a mechanism for obtaining information, has served as a tool for raising public awareness.
The increase in the dissemination of participatory monitoring activities is directly proportional to the increase in the number of people interested in the protected area, both nationally and internationally. This has positioned Limoncocha as an important site for bird watching in the upper Amazon basin.

Implementation

Local

Bird monitoring

It is the biological part that has to do with the monitoring of birds, which provides information to know how the wetland is. It seeks to involve young people from local communities and people interested in counting birds, after training, to participate with the staff of the protected area in the monitoring of bird species.

Definition of a monitoring plan based on experiences developed by specialized institutions.
Preparation of monitoring protocols that can be easily implemented by the park rangers of the protected area.

Development of visits and bird watching tours, with an organized and technical record of the information collected.

The establishment of biological monitoring protocols that are easy to apply helps to get people interested in collaborating with these activities and, in addition, allows for continuity over time.
Monitoring protocols should be established in a way that does not cause discomfort to local inhabitants. In this case, fish monitoring caused discomfort in the Kichwa community because people's fishing was being manipulated, so this protocol is being reconsidered.

Implementation

Local

Strengthening of local capacities

Linking women in entrepreneurship

Javier Haro

The interaction of the community with the private sector, NGOs and academia, along with the protected area staff, allows the bio-enterprise initiatives to be sustainable.

Identification of stakeholders interested in entrepreneurship and facilitation of practical training.
Improvement of collective work and establishment of productive associations strengthened in technical, financial and administrative aspects.
Permanent accompaniment of the protected area in the search for new market expansion opportunities.

The oyster mushroom entrepreneurship initiative supports the conservation of the PNSNG by providing economic opportunities to the populations in the buffer zone of the protected area in a way that reduces deforestation and hunting pressures.
This framework is very important to achieve adequate governance as a preliminary step to obtaining the Green List Standard certification that the protected area is seeking.

Implementation

Local

Elaboration of market research for biobusinesses

New product presentations

Javier Haro

In order to establish a bioenterprise, market information is required to optimize resources and efforts to position a new offer in the target population.

Identify and select the most promising species and previous experience in other regions that can be adapted to reality.
Generate the interest of the villagers and facilitate start-up technical assistance that can show the labor and effort requirements of the new venture.
Consider the explicit and implicit benefits that the new enterprise could have within the social and economic dynamics, in relation to conservation within the protected area.

Previous experience is important, but learning about other experiences helps to better understand the opportunities that can be developed and the work process associated with a new venture.
The staff of a protected area is not only in charge of control and vigilance; they also have to establish a link with the populations in the buffer zone, understand their needs, and participate in joint actions to improve their social and economic conditions, which can be a trigger for impacts within the protected area.
Obtaining sales permits and sanitary registries for food products are essential to gain access to new markets.

Implementation

Local

Education and awareness

Scientific/technical information associated with biodiversity monitoring should be shared with the population to generate environmental awareness and support for protected area management.

Periodic collection of information and its adaptation so that it can be disseminated and understood by a broad group of target audiences.
Permanent feedback between specialists and researchers and the personnel responsible for dissemination and environmental education in order to have updated information that can be shared.
Generation of public awareness about the dangers that may affect endangered species within protected areas.

Environmental education and awareness is a very important tool to strengthen actions to protect and conserve the páramo as a source of water, biological richness and its interdependence.
Local stakeholders and institutions involved in the management of the protected area need to be permanently informed based on monitoring results and not only on theory.

Implementation

Local

Research for the safeguarding of natural heritage

Population monitoring

Archivo Parque Nacional Antisana

The generation of first-hand information is fundamental for making the right decisions, especially when there are reduced populations of threatened species, as is the case of the Andean Bandurria.

Development of a monitoring program for a threatened species based on well-defined protocols and with scientific technical support.
Training of park ranger personnel for the regular and constant collection of information with the technical support of research institutions with extensive experience in monitoring threatened bird species.

Monitoring and research on the Andean Bandurria has identified that the reproductive success and survival of this species is dependent on stable water sources.
The population growth of large cities and the demand for water is increasing. In this scenario, it is a priority to protect, restore and conserve the moorlands and their biodiversity, particularly the Bandurria as an indicator species of stable water flows at the source.

Implementation

Local

A look at governance, linking local stakeholders and users to strengthen management

The participation of various community and institutional stakeholders improves the management of protected areas and strengthens their governance.

Establishment of the principle of participatory conservation with a landscape approach for a threatened species such as the Andean Bandurria shared with other stakeholders.

Maintaining good relations with communities and institutions in the buffer zone as part of the participatory governance process.

The conservation of endangered species within a protected area is not only the responsibility of its administration; it demands the attention of all community and institutional actors, which is why it is vitally important to coordinate actions with the actors involved in the conservation and use of environmental services.
The use of natural resources and their ecosystem services must take into account the potential impacts on natural ecosystems in general and endangered species in particular.

Implementation

Local