The success of introducing South Africa's first biodiversity tax incentive into the protected areas network began with the amendment of South Africa's Income Tax Act. Without the tax incentive being lodged into national fiscal legislation, the solution would never have been possible. This first successful step required the building block of: National Policy Engagement. Amending the Income Tax Act required deliberate engagement with key national ministries and departments, primarily: the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. Institutional support was provided by the Department of Environmental Affairs and the department endorsed the tax work at a national level. This allowed for direct engagement with key environmental fiscal policy makers within South Africa's National Treasury. This engagement was direct, open, collaborative and positive, and allowed for the formulation of South Africa's first tax deduction aimed at supporting and benefitting taxpayers formally protecting South Africa's natural heritage in the public interest.
The success of this building block was due in part to the historically positive relationships between national ministries and conservationists, which the Project was able to leverage.
Additionally, the project manager is a tax specialist; without these niche tax skills the national policy engagement would not have been as successful.
Policy makers also understood two key points: the country’s environmental need and the use of protected areas, and the need to fiscally reward land stewards for their public benefit investment.
Key lessons learned in successfully engaging with national policy makers:
The use of niche skill sets: when aiming to introduce specific tax incentives, a tax specialist was required to effectively discuss this with national tax policy makers.
Deliberate and direct communication: regular, professional, and accurate information and Project updates ensured that communication enhanced the policy engagement and expectations were met.
Networking and relationship building: ensuring project implementers knew, and were known, by policy makers allowed for the Project’s goals to not be forgotten and allowed for personal communication and messaging.
Institutional support: having institutional support from key government departments was crucial to securing the support from other government departments and policy makers.
Historical relationships: understanding the history behind previous engagements, positive and negative, was vital in determining how the policy engagement proceeded.
Delimitation and Management of the Bosques de Neblina and Páramos Private Conservation Area
Signage sign at ACP Samanga
NCI
Landscape of the Samanga Conservation Area
NCI
The Samanga Community has delimited part of its territory as a private conservation area. The recognition of a conservation area, through a Ministerial Resolution signed by the Ministry of Environment, is a modality to ensure the protection and sustainable use of natural resources and the services provided by the cloud forest and moorlands for the direct benefit of the Samanga community, and indirectly to all users of the middle and lower watershed. Thanks to the ACP, small projects have been managed to implement sustainable productive activities (to reduce the negative impacts on the forest and paramo) and to signpost the conservation area, which is now delimited on the ground and signposted. In addition, agreements have been reached in community assemblies to sanction people who cause damage or threaten the ACP.
Community leadership and organization for the fulfillment of agreements.
Commitment by the community to conserve the high Andean moorlands and forests.
Continued patrolling and establishment of sanctions to punish actions that threaten the conservation of the PCA.
Implementation of conservation and sustainable development activities.
Conservation agreements should be accompanied by sustainable alternatives that generate wellbeing and income for local families.
The community of Samanga had made communal agreements to control logging, burning and overgrazing in the forest and páramo (since 2000). This local interest and demand for conservation has been strengthened and formalized through the recognition of their private conservation area with a resolution from the Ministry of Environment (in 2013).
The ACP has meant a development opportunity for the community of Samanga, with ongoing projects in dairy products, reforestation, research on the ecosystem services of the forest and páramo, and a tourism proposal, among the main ones.
The support and accompaniment of local institutions is necessary to support the community in the management of the conservation area and in the generation of alternative proposals.
MasAgro hybrid maize seed produced by Mexican seed company BIDASEM
CIMMYT
CIMMYT and more than 150 local and international partners from the public and private sectors participate in MasAgro’s research and development (R&D) activities and contribute to its implementation in the 12 hubs mentioned before. Each year, MasAgro’s research infrastructure and impact areas depend on the different type and number of participants, although SAGARPA provides core funding and CIMMYT leads most R&D activities. CIMMYT and Mexico’s agricultural research system (INIFAP) have bred and released 49 improved varieties of white maize and yellow maize that are adapted to small scale and rain-fed farming conditions in central, south and southeastern Mexico. CIMMYT has also offered specialized training to more than 50 Mexican seed companies that reproduce and commercialize the improved seed in MasAgro’s target areas. To help farmers adopt and achieve the yield potential of the improved maize varieties CIMMYT implements the sustainable intensification strategy described above.
Public - private partnerships require a flexible approach to intellectual property rights. CIMMYT has been able to broker these partnerships for the benefit of thousands of farmers because the product of its research is free of intelectual property rights and has the status of universal public good, whether that may be improved seed, agronomic expertise, smart machinery prototypes or maize and wheat genotypes. Partners of an agreement of this nature must be willing to exchange information and to collaborate with each other.
It takes time to develop an effective network of partners. Some local seed companies did not send back information of field trials or markets. They wanted to have access to improved maize lines adapted to the markets where they sold seed but were reluctant or unable to send back information needed to further select or identify the best materials. It became necessary to offer specialized training on seed production and marketing to local seed companies. It was also necessary to build trust in the research and development network, and to help representatives of individual companies identify new markets for their products. CIMMYT identified different regions of Mexico that could increase maize production by substituting landraces with new high-yielding and resilient seed. These medium to high potential conversion zones offered new markets and incentives to local seed companies participating in MasAgro. These activities have been matched with ongoing efforts to train farmers on the adoption of the new high-yielding seed so that they may achieve their full yield potential.
Side-by-side comparison of sustainable vs conventional farming on Mexico's highlands
CIMMYT
MasAgro is in its seventh year of implementation developing a sustainable intensification strategy of maize production systems based on conservation agriculture, and on the development and transfer of improved, high-yielding, climate ready maize seeds to farmers’ fields. MasAgro develops small farmers’ ability to adopt the product of CIMMYT’s research on maize conservation and improvement, agronomy, farming machinery, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and postharvest storage solutions. CIMMYT has developed innovation networks or hubs between maize farmers, researchers, service providers, extension agents, authorities, local seed producers and industry representatives in 12 regions of Mexico that have specific agronomic, ecological, weather, infrastructure and market conditions relevant to maize production. Each hub is formed by research platforms, demonstration modules, extension and impact areas where improved seeds, management systems, farming machinery and ICTs are developed, tested and adapted to farmers’ needs. MasAgro offers training to extension agents, technicians and farmers who maintain an ongoing exchange of information that has been key to achieve resource conservation and use efficiency, productivity gains and income increases.
Each year MasAgro’s research infrastructure and impact areas depend on the type and number of participants, although SAGARPA provides core funding and CIMMYT leads R&D activities. CIMMYT and Mexico’s agricultural research system have bred and released 49 improved varieties of maize adapted to farming conditions in Mexico. CIMMYT has also offered training to more than 50 Mexican seed companies that commercialize the improved seed in target areas. Sustainable intensification helps farmers achieve the yield potential of the improved seeds.
It is important to manage expectations of funding partners who are often eager to report outstanding results in terms of number of farmers reached or yield increases achieved. Agricultural research for sustainable development projects takes time to gain momentum, and to attract the attention of farmers who are often skeptical about new agricultural practices or disappointed by publicly funded programs that have failed in the past. Farmers are often reluctant to innovate because they have much at stake. If a crop cycle fails they loose their annual income so innovation must be gradual and participatory. MasAgro has succeded in overcoming risk aversion by promoting a gradual and incremental change on farmers' plots. Participant farmers first adopt sustainable intensification practices on a fraction of their land to compare its performance with the rest of the conventionally managed plot. In this way they also gain experience with sustainable farming and confidence to gradually extend the use of the new management system. Farmers must have access to expert advice to succeed.
Transparency, Accountability, Accuracy, Completeness and Third Party Independent Registry
At Porto Bonito Farm, the project promotes wildlife breeding, wild animals rehabilitation and releasing, recovering of fisheries, seed selection, nursery and planting of native trees species of local occurrence, farming of pollinators, rehabilitation of scenic beauty, environmental education and recreation for visitors, partners, participating companies, students and others. Porto Bonito was first approached in 2008 – it used to be a cattle ranch, and in 2012 the project started accepting participants. Staff is trained to measure, report and verify MRV the environmental credits being generated from management practices, as the forest carbon credits. The project promotes reforestation at grassland and degraded areas to restore biodiversity and increase carbon sequestration and storage, generating forest carbon credits. Those credits transferred to participating companies. All process registered independently at the Mato Grosso State Platform for Business with Environmental and Ecosystem Goods and Services (www.pnbsae.com.br).
Staff with capacities to develop MRV methodologies and local infrastructure allowing for the training of consultants and auditors. the existence of the platform for independent registry at Mato Grosso State. local infrastructure for project difusion and dissemination, facilities allowing for visitors to access the location and sites.
It is necessary to provide specific training and needed resources to make climate change a palatable theme to professionals and general public. we did various training sessions and participate at many different events over 5 years of activities implementation before reaching a level of common understading with the independent registry and having a smooth flow of documents and process. much attention is need on articulating and promoting adequate partnerships and investments must be done towards promoting joint initiatives, meetings, conferences and similar difusion and dissemination activities.
Green Farm CO2FREE (www.greenfarmco2free.com.br) developed the prime property fraction concept to conservation, creating a CSR club for participating companies. With that approach at finance, it invests on providing ecosystem services to participating companies, including carbon, water, biodiversity, green marketing and others.
a prime property located within the buffer zone of a National Park, well preserved and large enough to allow implementing of large scale conservation and enhancement of ecosystem services to companies and other interested parties. CSR programs under planning, development or implementation phase by companies and other interested parties
Companies are willing to invest on CSR programs but they lack the adequate knowledge / skills to identify, amongs available opportunities, the ones with best results in terms of both, marketing and environment positive impacts. There is a major effort on marketing your own project and its benefits before reaching the right audhience, and the decision must come from high adminstrative levels. usually managers and other personal/staff tend to avoid participation on long term thrird parties project activities due to the sense of self=preservation (when the external agent is sucessfull it feels like the internal staff is no needed anymore). in order to avoid this we now look into interacting and letting the solution be designed by internal staff itself, making them project owners.
An essential factor in the integration of key aspects of climate change and biodiversity into territorial planning at the municipal level was the strengthening of local capacities in territorial planning, ecosystem services and adaptation to climate change. This was done at the level of municipal administrations, personnel from Colombia's National Natural Parks and protected areas, and local communities. Equally important was knowledge management to provide inputs that facilitate the development of public policy proposals in this area. Such is the case of the preparation of diagnoses of the Basic Land Management Plans in the two municipalities, to analyze the degree of inclusion of PAs and generate recommendations for greater integration; the preparation of diagnoses and identification of ecosystem services, to make visible the importance of PAs in territorial development and in the quality of life of the surrounding population; and the identification of risks associated with climate change and adaptation strategies, based on local experiences, in order to contribute to the resilience of ecosystems in the context of land use planning.
Financial support for the implementation of consultancies to generate key baseline information.
Funding for the hiring of experts to support the work teams in both municipalities on land-use planning and the inclusion of protected areas in local planning.
Technical and academic enhancement of the public policy formulation process, due to the involvement of institutions from multiple levels and sectors, which generated meetings and contributions from local and foreign experts.
The implementation of a capacity building and knowledge management component, aimed at decision makers, technical staff and communities, provides a solid technical basis and promotes standardized knowledge that articulates the dialogue in the participatory public policy construction processes. This gives the process greater legitimacy.
In the municipalities, this strengthened their leadership and positioning as a development axis. For the PAs, their role in territorial development was evidenced, whether for the cultural value of the Los Colorados FFS in San Juan Nepomuceno, or for the generation of water resources in the case of Santa Rosa, which benefits the Department of Cauca.
As for the communities, this promoted their empowerment and participation in the construction of local public policy, and made it possible to recover knowledge related to climate change adaptation measures, such as reforestation of streams and rivers, rainwater collection wells, and the construction of elevated bridges on guadua.
Support from an International Organization in national processes for the formulation of public policy
Spaces for exchange
UICN-América del Sur
Articulation of the work
PNNC
In compliance with the goals established in the National Parks System's Institutional Action Plan and the SNAP Action Plan, Parks began the process of integrating PAs into national, regional and local technical instruments and public policy. With the issuance of Colombia's Organic Law of Territorial Planning by the Congress of the Republic and the creation of the Territorial Planning Commission (COT), made up of seven institutions, including the National Planning Department, which serves as Technical Secretary, the process of forming the Special Interinstitutional Committee (CEI) of the COT began. National Parks was included as one of the 6 institutions permanently invited to participate in the CEI, due to its efforts in public policy, the preparation of technical documents, and the development of 8 pilot cases in different regions of the country, with the aim of providing inputs for the formulation of the General Land Use Planning Policy, from a multilevel, interinstitutional and participatory approach. IUCN-South America proposes to be part of this national process by supporting the implementation of 2 of the pilot cases through the global project "Integrated Land Use Planning for Biodiversity".
Regulatory framework for land-use planning that emphasizes the importance of integrating protected areas into municipal land-use plans.
National public policy development process underway.
Creation of a Special Interinstitutional Committee within the COT, made up of national institutions from various sectors, including Colombia's National Natural Parks, with responsibilities for defining public policy on land-use planning.
Support from IUCN-South America in the process.
IUCN-South America's support to the public policy formulation process, which integrates protected areas into the territorial planning system, strengthened the results of the two case studies, leaving the following lessons. The integration of actors at multiple levels - local communities, the State and international cooperation - allowed for effective action at the community, administrative and legal levels for the elaboration of an effective public policy. This made it easier to make the leap from theory to practice, and to test the theory before transforming it into public policy. In addition, the support provided to the CEI was fundamental, with the facilitation of spaces for exchange and construction, made up of national and foreign experts. It is also important to recognize the relevance of the support to the institutional management of a governmental instance, such as the PNNC and the National Planning Department, with an impact on the TOC. This has undoubtedly allowed a scaling up of public policy from the local to the national level.
