CEPF investments will be funded over a period of five years. They represent the first step toward the goal of harmonizing biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Chocó-Manabí Corridor. It is therefore essential to look beyond the five-year funding horizon of the CEPF and to ensure sustainability of support for the corridor - a task aided by substantial investment in the region.
Four major opportunities exist to leverage and influence development projects for conservation in the Chocó-Manabi Corridor, two in Colombia by the Valle de Cauca Regional Autonomous Corporation and ECOFONDO, and the other two in Ecuador through the IDB's Coastal Resource Management Project and the Northern Development Border Project. The Valle de Cauca Regional Autonomous Corporation has committed up to $5 million in support of the strategic directions identified in this profile. The specific amount contributed by the Valle de Cauca Regional Autonomous Corporation will be determined once the actual CEPF investment in the region has been allocated by the Donor Council. ECOFONDO has committed $2 million to support implementation of CEPF's strategic directions. In addition, official representatives of the IDB have expressed strong interest in investing additional resources within the same strategic funding directions articulated in this profile. The IDB's investment in improving coastal management is $30 million; the deployment of a significant percentage of this amount for conservation would be a major benefit for biodiversity. In addition, UDENOR's major investment of $266 million over five years along the northern border presents an exciting opportunity to influence its environmental protection component. An estimated $133 million will be invested in the Ecuadorian half of the corridor.
In Colombia and Ecuador, the national environmental policy and regulatory frameworks increasingly reflect concern for short- and long-term environmental impact of unregulated development and indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources. In both countries, environmental management and decision making is being decentralized to municipal and community levels, and is increasingly open to the full democratic participation of politically and socially organized local populations. There is growing concern among traditional inhabitants of the Chocó regarding the sustainability of the natural resources on which they depend, especially in light of the potential impacts from large programs promoted under Plan Pacifico and Plan Colombia. Their eagerness to participate in decision-making concerning the use and conservation of these resources is extremely encouraging.
CEPF programs will need to strengthen emerging national, regional, and local conservation efforts to improve their functional capacities. USAID's SUBIR project in Ecuador has already shown the critical role that locally-based organizations must play to ensure the sustainability of activities financed by the international community. Other lessons from SUBIR will be identified and where appropriate incorporated into CEPF's operations. Sustainability of CEPF investments will ultimately depend on the degree to which these national, regional and local efforts become autonomous, self-directed, and self-sufficient. The measure of success will be the degree of local ownership over the concepts, methods, and technologies of biodiversity conservation. CEPF can promote these outcomes by leveraging additional and long-term funding for the corridor initiative.
The investment strategy presented here assumes a quasi-competitive model, in that sub-projects will be screened based on predetermined criteria. One such criterion is the capacity of prospective grantees to leverage CEPF funds, both financially and with in-kind services. Another criterion requires applicants to show strategic plans for longer-term funding from sources other than CEPF. (This will not be possible in all cases, but it is a goal.) Also, given some of the threats affecting the corridor, including issues of public order and security, applicants will need to present plans to mitigate these risks.
In the spirit of sharing with the wider global conservation community, projects within the Chocó-Manabí Corridor which develop or refine best practices will be added to the CEPF web site to be replicated in efforts to protect other critical ecosystems. The program will thus inform and educate a wider community within and beyond the region.
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