A grassroot initiative to strengthen the sustainable management of natural resources and their ecosystem services

Coalición Cobija
Publicado: 21 Octubre 2019
Última edición: 22 Junio 2021
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Summary

The Coalition of Organizations of the Jamapa-Antigua Bioregion  (COBIJA from its Spanish acronym) is an initiative of seven grassroots organizations holding, altogether, great experience in community work and sustainable management of natural resources. The work carried out by COBIJA has a watershed approach based on a regional initiative for integrated land use management (https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/dynamic-tool-integrated-land-use-and-water-management), through which they support local ways of life, and conservation of resources. The permanent presence and support of COBIJA to the various communities of the region has strengthened their social and productive processes, increasing their ability to better use ecosystem services to adapt in the face of environmental and social changes.

Clasificaciones

Region
América del Norte
Scale of implementation
Local
Ecosystem
Agro-ecosistema
Agroforesteria
Bosque templado caducifolio
Bosques tropicales de hoja perenne
Campos de cultivo
Ecosistemas de agua dulce
Ecosistemas forestales
Huerto
Río, corriente
Selva baja caducifolia
Theme
Acceso y participación en los beneficios
Actores locales
Adaptación al cambio climático
Agricultura
Comunicación y divulgación
Conocimientos tradicionales
Cultura
Fragmentación del hábitat y degradación
Manejo de bosques
Medios de vida sostenibles
Restauracion
Seguridad alimentaria
Servicios ecosistémicos
Challenges
Desertificación
Sequía
Lluvia errática
Calor extremo
Inundaciones
Incremento de temperatura
Degradación de tierras y bosques
Pérdida de la biodiversidad
Cambio estacional
Usos conflictivos / impactos acumulativos
Erosión
Pérdida de ecosistemas
Especies invasoras
Gestión ineficaz de los recursos financieros
Desarrollo de Infraestructura
Falta de acceso a financiación a largo plazo
Falta de oportunidades de ingresos alternativos
Extracción de recursos físicos
Cambios en el contexto socio-cultural
Falta de capacidad técnica
Falta de conciencia del público y de los responsables de la toma de decisiones
Falta de infraestructura
Deficiente gobernanza y participación
Falta de seguridad alimentaria
Sustainable development goals
ODS 2 - Hambre cero
ODS 3 - Salud y bienestar
ODS 6 - Agua limpia y saneamiento
ODS 8 - Trabajo decente y crecimiento económico
ODS 12 - Producción y consumo responsables
ODS 13 - Acción por el clima
ODS 15 - Vida de ecosistemas terrestres
ODS 17 - Alianzas para lograr los objetivos
Aichi targets
Meta 1: Aumento de la sensibilization sobre la biodiversidad
Meta 2: Valores de biodiversidad integrados
Meta 4: Producción y consumo sostenibles
Meta 5: Pérdida de hábitat reducida a la mitad o reducida
Meta 7: Agricultura, acuicultura y silvicultura
Meta 10: Ecosistemas vulnerables al cambio
Meta 14: Los servicios ecosistemicos
Meta 15: Restauración de ecosistemas y resiliencia
Meta 17: Estrategias y planes de acción para la biodiversidad
Meta 18: Conocimiento tradicional
Meta 19: Intercambio de información y conocimiento
Meta 20: Movilización de recursos de todas las fuentes
Marco de Sendai
Meta 2: Reducir el número de personas afectadas a nivel global para 2030
Business engagement approach
Compromiso directo con asociaciones
Indirecto a través del gobierno

Ubicación

Estado de Veracruz, Mexico

Challenges

Among the main challenges are, 1) the sustainability of both COBIJA and the CSOs; for this, they must 2) develop collective proposals with community groups for integral management, including production, sales, distribution, and services; 3) create joint marketing strategies at COBIJA level; 4) find more permanent funding sources; and finally, 5) develop strategies to prioritize participation in certain processes over others in order to not be worn out as an organization.

Beneficiaries

Local producers of coffee and honey, along with practitioners and facilitators, have received technical, organizational, and financial support to improve their productive practices, and to make better use of ecosystem services.

 

 

 

¿ Cómo interactúan los building blocks en la solución?

Building Block 1 works as a scenario, at the landscape level, for the COBIJA Coalition to focus its efforts for the achievement of common goals on a common region and, thereby, to develop further the actions that have been carried out individually, by every grassroots organization with the local communities. Building Block 2 enters here by highligting the relevance of involving people´s views and concerns in the planning and implementation activities, while providing training and development of capacities to improve the sustainability of the local productive activities, mainly coffee and honey. Building Block 3 strengthens the whole process by ensuring that the internal goverance of COBIJA is based on camaradery, understanding and trust.

Impacts

  • The COBIJA Coalition allows local organizations to save time, as well as human and financial resources by working together in the region of the Jamapa-Antigua basin;
  • COBIJA's support in the conservation of ecosystems and in the promotion of sustainable productive practices has improved local conditions for the adaptation of communities at the watershed level;
  • Local and federal government entities now count on a powerful interlocutor that facilitates processes, and brings the reality of rural communities closer to the reality of public policies.

Story

Coalición Cobija

The Coalition of Organizations in the Bioregion Jamapa-Antigua (COBIJA for its acronym in Spanish) is an initiative formed by seven grassroots organizations (INANA, A.C., VIDA A.C., SENDAS A.C., Conecta Tierra A.C., ERA A.C., CORECAFECO A.C., Global Water Watch México) with extensive experience in community work and sustainable management of natural resources in the area of the Jamapa and Antigua watershed in the state of Veracruz . While all of them have decades of experience working with communities in the region, by joining in a coalition, these organizations have strengthened their own internal processes, reducing costs and operating times. Furthermore, they have found new friends and colleagues with whom they can work to solve common problems for a common cause: improving the well-being of communities along with the sustainability and adaptability of the local ways of life and ecosystems.

The trigger of the coalition was the joint struggle to attack a coffee rust problem (Hemileia vastatrix), a disease that can have catastrophic effects in coffee growing areas, including those from the Jamapa and Antigua watersheds.  Through an integrated agroecological management, the disease could be controlled. The work from the people and for the people helped to maintain the coffee production  and associated ecosystem services. This first example illustrates the potential of the coalition as a actor that can provide continuous support for adaptation in managing productive practices to conserve ecosystems and livelihoods.

COBIJA's work strategy with the communities has a watershed approach, combining territorial management, supporting  local ways of life, and the conservation of resources and ecosystem services. Among their actions are, i) the organization of participatory workshops to build a management plan for the land use and land cover using the framework of the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plans (https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/dynamic-tool-integrated-land-use-and-water-management); ii) the running of learning communities about meliponiculture (a specific form of beekeeping) and coffee practices iii) the organization of barter markets, etc. COBIJA's permanent support has strengthened social and productive processes within local communities, increasing their adaptive capacity in the face of environmental and social changes.

Contribuido por

Imagen de CONANP

CONANP Mexico National Commission of Natural Protected Areas

Other contributors

Coalición COBIJA