Multi-national | PANORAMA

West and Central Africa

Southeast Asia

West and South Europe

Synecoculture (synecological farming) project

Masatoshi

Funabashi

North Africa

North and Central Asia

West Asia, Middle East

Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP)

Stefanie

Chistmann

Assess the total net income from FAP and Control Fields

Mainstream field work by policies

North Africa

North and Central Asia

West Asia, Middle East

Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP)

Stefanie

Chistmann

Assess the total net income from FAP and Control Fields

Mainstream field work by policies

North Africa

North and Central Asia

West Asia, Middle East

Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP)

Stefanie

Chistmann

Assess the total net income from FAP and Control Fields

Mainstream field work by policies

Value PAs and natural resources

To effectively conserve natural resources and facilitate sustainable development, a shift in perception must occur so communities and governments view PAs and natural resources as productive units of the economy, rather than resources under siege from development sectors and local communities. In the lower Mekong countries, attitudes are changing and governments are beginning to perceive PAs as economic assets carefully conserved for the development benefits they provide. While this shift is still occurring, governments are moving towards a situation where the natural capital held in PAs is subject to regular stock taking with the results reflected in GDP and budgets. Member states understand that investing in PAs and natural capital ensures resources are sustained, restored and expanded so they continue to produce ecosystem services vital to development and economic expansion.

For this building block to be successful, citizens and industries must directly benefit from the conservation of natural resources and expansion of PA networks. Direct benefits may take the form of water filtration, flood control, fisheries production, etc. If citizens and industries do not directly benefit, they will fail to see the value in expanding PAs. Success also depends on the commitment of governments to financially invest in the upkeep and expansion of PAs and their resources.

All PAs need to have their values expressed in economic terms which can be communicated in annual and long term budget submissions. Valuations should be part of PA management plans and environmental assessments associated with development proposals affecting PAs.

Each sector needs to be made aware of the development benefits they do or might receive from PAs.
Those benefits and their maintenance should be recognised in sector plans and budgets.

A more systematic application of the beneficiary or user pays approach in all sectors is needed requiring supporting economic policies and instruments. Pilots already carried out, for example, the Lao hydropower levies, should be applied consistently and replicated in neighbouring countries.

Users of PAs need to become involved in their management and protection. New collaborative management approaches will be required relating to specific areas, resources and rights of access and to the services and products PAs provide.

Underlying all these new directions, is the need to build the capacity, skills and budgets of PA managers.

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Natural systems are not restricted to national boundaries and should be the foundation for regional development across borders, providing opportunities for political, technical and cultural collaboration leading to mutual economic gains. The partnership in the lower Mekong region united four member states, and expanded to embrace upper Mekong countries, and it provided the framework for focused conservation agreements between the countries.

Member states began by conducting national reviews of resources and policies, involving cross-sectoral working groups of PA agencies, economic planning and finance bodies, development sectors, and conservation organizations. National reviews directed a regional action plan to determine how much and which parts of the region should be kept in its natural state for the best development outcomes. Member states collaborated in reviewing issues requiring shared management, and adopted the same goals and objectives to facilitate comparative analysis and regional collaboration. The national reviews laid the foundation of information and directions the governments of the region wish to take, and the results will be integrated into the policies, programs and practice of each country and of their international partners.

Collaborators should have common goals and objectives, and all members should benefit equally from agreements reached. Additionally, agreements should be formed in a way that allows them to be updated to account for the rapidly changing state of the environment and human development.

Lessons learned to overcome different development priorities:

The four countries do not have similar development progress, objectives and priorities. Thailand, for example, is more developed and conservation focused in comparison to Cambodia, where economic development is a priority. These differences have to be recognised to ensure that national development goals and priorities align with shared goals and objectives to collaboratively plan and manage PAs. This required intensive consultation, discussion and negotiation.

Lessons learned to overcome differences in PA management authority and capacity in developing collaborative plans:

Lessons in resolving potential contradictions between developing (or difficulties in implementing) a national government level collaborative PA management plan and national processes of decentralization in PA management? Or perhaps differences in who decides and who is involved in PA management.

Southeast Asia

Protected Areas, Development and Climate Change in the Lower Mekong River Region

Petro

Kotze

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Value PAs and natural resources

Southeast Asia

Protected Areas, Development and Climate Change in the Lower Mekong River Region

Petro

Kotze

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Value PAs and natural resources

Southeast Asia

Protected Areas, Development and Climate Change in the Lower Mekong River Region

Petro

Kotze

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Value PAs and natural resources

NGOs initiatives turning into Regional Action

The Declaration of REDPARQUES was proposed by the SNACC project team in the Frebruary 2015 directive committee meeting of the Project, composed by REDPARQUES members of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It was adopted by REDPARQUES and later approved by its members at REDPARQUES annual meeting (2015) and presented at the UNFCCC 21st COP, in Paris, December 2015.

From then owards, the initiative of the Declaration was led by REDPARQUES with the technical support of the SNACC project in the areas of policy incidence, communications and scientific evidence.

-Policy component: political advocacy at the regional and national levels started with the establishment of a baseline on progress achieved by Amazon countries in integrating PAs and CC in their policy instruments. Through the publication "Políticas públicas de los países amazónicos y cambio climático. APs como estrategia de adaptación", public policies, laws, agreements and regulations (national, subnational and regional) were analized.

-Communications: several materials were produced around the issue of PAs as natural solutions to CC.

-Scientific evidence: a publication was produced, identifying the role that Amazon PAs play in increasing resilience of the Amazon biome: "Vulnerability and Climate Risk Analysis of the Amazon and its PAs"

-Funding from the the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) of Germany

-Participation of NGOs: WWF Living Amazon Initiative (LAI)

-The status of CC-related policies in the Amazon countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and degree of integration of PAs in these policies.

-Limiting factors, in terms of territories, institutions, capacities and instruments for those CC-related policies.

-Recommendations, specifying opportunities for short-term actions.

-Policy analysis can contribute to determine gaps and action required in order to attend climate change, and to make evidence the role of protected areas as natural solutions to this phenomenon.

Inception phase

Multi-national