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Uniting for Healthy Ecosystems
Annual Report - 07 HighlightA unique scheme in Colombia is enabling farmers to participate in water management that benefits their livelihoods and neighboring communities, as well as a key biodiversity area.Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), a local NGO, created the scheme with CEPF support to encourage farmers in 10 municipalities around Munchique National Park to manage their land and water resources more effectively.The park in the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Hotspot provides habitat for more than 30 globally threatened species of birds. The 2,000 hectares between the park and the Serrania del Pinche mountains is also a critical source of water for communities."The implementation of the scheme has helped to increase the awareness of farmers and communities to protect water sources and biodiversity in the area," CIPAV Research Coordinator Julián Chará said.This year, CIPAV brokered five agreements with the communities relying upon water from eight of the area’s micro watersheds to participate in the scheme.The project builds on the experience and learning of CIPAV and its partners from an earlier GEF/World Bank-supported project in which the organization designed and tested models for compensating landowners to help sustain the natural benefits that healthy ecosystems provide.Farm land is compared annually to baseline maps made at the project’s inception to identify changes over time. Of the eight eligible land uses, those that contribute more to water and conservation have a higher score and, therefore, deliver higher compensation to the participating farmers in the form of commodities such as fertilizers, trees, seeds, and labor.In a barter part of the scheme, farmers in the watersheds’ lowlands donated their labor to help upland farmers change to eligible land uses and improve production systems, thereby helping avoid deforestation and silting and polluting of the rivers upon which their communities depend. | |
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© Pete Oxford/Minden Pictures
Munchique National Park and surrounding areas provide habitat for the military macaw (Ara militaris) and other threatened species.
© Catalina Zapata
Chimborazo is one of the communities with an improved water supply thanks to the payment for ecosystem services scheme in Colombia.
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