Congratulations for your amazing work! I would like to know more about the capacity building and awarness actions regarding land property with the groups and communities involved in this very comprehensive model (indigenous, displaced, farmers,etc.)Do you have custumized strategies for each one?
Thanks Victoria. We make an important distinction between Afro-descendant and indigenous groups, even though both share the same ecosystems and threats. From a legal perspective, indigenous rights date back to colonial times and to Law 89 of 1890, and were further strengthened by the new Constitution of 1991, which ratified ILO Convention 169. The recognition of Afro-Colombian land rights and the collective titling of Afro-Colombian territories occurred much more recently, starting with the 1991 Constitution and enacted over the past two decades through Law 70 and Transitory Article 55. So indigenous communities are generally aware of their land rights, while many black communities are still learning.
While many communities know their land rights, few understand what ecosystem services are, much less carbon rights and the potential risks and benefits of participating in a PES program. For this, we do another training module on land use and climate change so that communities understand how their actions affect the rest of the planet and why the global community is interested in supporting them.
Then, capacity-building is tailored to the specific ecosystems and livelihoods of a particular community, since the activities that generate carbon credits differ depending on whether they do more farming or ranching, or whether they live near degraded forest vs. primary forest. This is most challenging when a community lies outside the demarcated territory over which they have collective rights. Some Afro-Colombian communities, for example, live and work on land for which they have no legal title, while holding collective rights to forest elsewhere that is being invaded by squatters...
At the moment, we don't make any distinction between communities that have been displaced vs. those that haven't in terms of the above training exercises. Do you have any suggestions?
Brodie thank you for your very detailed answer. This is a new field and we are learning from the people like you, that have practical experiencia, in such a complex context with many actors and interest. I think you are really aware of this, and you have a very thoughtful action plan.
I don't have any suggestion, since I'm recently learning about property rights, but I think you can have great ideas and suggestions from other entries and discussion in this competition. BEST-Victoria
Thanks Charles, it's great to hear your feedback. You might be interested in a similar project in Brazil by the Surui people in partnership with the Amazon Conservation Team, Kanindé, IDESAM, and Google Earth:
Hi thank you for sharing your great project.
I have two questions.
1) Do you keep a track of each household? What is your strategy to measure impact?
2) Will you explain more about the "benefits sharing" ? Does "benefit" mean the sales of carbon credit?
If so, how does your organization allocate benefit among households?
Hi Saeko, these are very good questions. We're designing the project based on a preliminary census of the number of households in each village. A more comprehensive household survey is scheduled for early 2011, which will serve as the baseline for monitoring social impact. Our instrument is a simple rural livelihoods assessment adapted from CARE/IISD, with an asset-based wealth index, some forest items borrowed from CIFOR, and conflict/security items based on Caroline Moser's work.
On benefits sharing: our goal is that 5-10 years from now, the project is not only generating carbon credits, but that the collective landholders themselves are responsibly managing the project, including their share of profits. This requires examining and strengthening internal distribution mechanisms long before profits arrive when designing project activities. We decided not to make cash payments to households and instead focus on mechanisms that ensure fair access to revolving loan funds and small grants. Employment through project activities (e.g. forest monitoring, reforestation) are being conducted through an open-tender hiring process designed to encourage the most broad-based participation possible. Lastly, we are developing clear criteria for the distribution of resources among community subcouncils, for example by number of households, land area, and specific villages' needs.
Hi Brodie,
we have similar entries revolving around the implementation of legal statutes for the conservation of ecological niches with the help of communities residing in close proximity to them. Our experience here in India is that despite such legal provisions the government administration and vested private interests are not interested in implementing them and so both forests and forest dwellers suffer. Our project (http://www.changemakers.com/node/90261) describes the methods we are using to implement these laws properly. So I would be interested to know what is the ground situation with regard to implementation in your area and what are the ways in which you are going to improve them.
Thanks Rahul for your comment. In Colombia, at least for Afro-descendant and indigenous groups, land title is very clear. While there are cases where this law hasn't been fully recognized for the reasons you mention (see the case of Curvaradó for example), the issue for most communities is a lack of sustainable land use alternatives despite their desire to conserve in addition to poor governance in many communities. This situation presents a serious risk for the ethno-territorial development of Afro-descendant and indigenous groups as well as for the ecosystems they inhabit. One of the advantages of our project is that the communities are able to move forward without depending on public sector resources or traditional donor funding. Even given this favorable context, ecosystem services rights require further clarification, and this is one area where we hope our project can inform regional and national policy development.
I like this project, I would like to know more about the project and when it will star?
I think your project will win, only a few hours to know who is the winner!!good luck!!
Hi Diana, thanks for your comment. The project has already started, we are in the design/certification stage (financial and administrative capacity building, education, land use planning, and strengthening collective governance). Forest monitoring has already begun, and reforestation and alternative livelihood projects will come later. Feel free to email any questions to info@anthrotect.com or see our Facebook page:
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
On February 2, 2011, the judges reviewed entries for the Changemakers Property Rights: Identity, Dignity, and Opportunity for All competition and would like to pass on the following feedback for your entry (below). Thank you for applying and for your hard work in the field. We are excited to archive your entry to serve as a leading solution for the worldwide community of innovators. We wish you continued luck with your innovative, sustainable, and socially impactful initiatives.
All the best,
The Changemakers Team
Working with the Afro-Colombians, who have been mistreated so severely, in dealing with deforestation and land titles is very important. The use of market-based solutions to challenges around environmental destruction by tapping into a new field of ecosystem services is highly inventive, and they have already achieved quite a few results. Although it is an excellent project, the focus may be more towards resource management, biodiversity, and maintaining the environment, rather than on property rights per se. It is encouraging to see this sort of work with such an underserved population, but I'd like to learn more about how it plans to incorporate its work more directly to the property rights sector.
Comentarios
Congratulations for your amazing work! I would like to know more about the capacity building and awarness actions regarding land property with the groups and communities involved in this very comprehensive model (indigenous, displaced, farmers,etc.)Do you have custumized strategies for each one?
Thanks Victoria. We make an important distinction between Afro-descendant and indigenous groups, even though both share the same ecosystems and threats. From a legal perspective, indigenous rights date back to colonial times and to Law 89 of 1890, and were further strengthened by the new Constitution of 1991, which ratified ILO Convention 169. The recognition of Afro-Colombian land rights and the collective titling of Afro-Colombian territories occurred much more recently, starting with the 1991 Constitution and enacted over the past two decades through Law 70 and Transitory Article 55. So indigenous communities are generally aware of their land rights, while many black communities are still learning.
While many communities know their land rights, few understand what ecosystem services are, much less carbon rights and the potential risks and benefits of participating in a PES program. For this, we do another training module on land use and climate change so that communities understand how their actions affect the rest of the planet and why the global community is interested in supporting them.
Then, capacity-building is tailored to the specific ecosystems and livelihoods of a particular community, since the activities that generate carbon credits differ depending on whether they do more farming or ranching, or whether they live near degraded forest vs. primary forest. This is most challenging when a community lies outside the demarcated territory over which they have collective rights. Some Afro-Colombian communities, for example, live and work on land for which they have no legal title, while holding collective rights to forest elsewhere that is being invaded by squatters...
At the moment, we don't make any distinction between communities that have been displaced vs. those that haven't in terms of the above training exercises. Do you have any suggestions?
Brodie thank you for your very detailed answer. This is a new field and we are learning from the people like you, that have practical experiencia, in such a complex context with many actors and interest. I think you are really aware of this, and you have a very thoughtful action plan.
I don't have any suggestion, since I'm recently learning about property rights, but I think you can have great ideas and suggestions from other entries and discussion in this competition. BEST-Victoria
This is an awesome project. Helping save the Rain Forest and Indigenous people and protecting against Global Warming all at the same time!!
Thanks Charles, it's great to hear your feedback. You might be interested in a similar project in Brazil by the Surui people in partnership with the Amazon Conservation Team, Kanindé, IDESAM, and Google Earth:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/brazilian-surui-tribe-reverses-defor...
Hi thank you for sharing your great project.
I have two questions.
1) Do you keep a track of each household? What is your strategy to measure impact?
2) Will you explain more about the "benefits sharing" ? Does "benefit" mean the sales of carbon credit?
If so, how does your organization allocate benefit among households?
Hi Saeko, these are very good questions. We're designing the project based on a preliminary census of the number of households in each village. A more comprehensive household survey is scheduled for early 2011, which will serve as the baseline for monitoring social impact. Our instrument is a simple rural livelihoods assessment adapted from CARE/IISD, with an asset-based wealth index, some forest items borrowed from CIFOR, and conflict/security items based on Caroline Moser's work.
On benefits sharing: our goal is that 5-10 years from now, the project is not only generating carbon credits, but that the collective landholders themselves are responsibly managing the project, including their share of profits. This requires examining and strengthening internal distribution mechanisms long before profits arrive when designing project activities. We decided not to make cash payments to households and instead focus on mechanisms that ensure fair access to revolving loan funds and small grants. Employment through project activities (e.g. forest monitoring, reforestation) are being conducted through an open-tender hiring process designed to encourage the most broad-based participation possible. Lastly, we are developing clear criteria for the distribution of resources among community subcouncils, for example by number of households, land area, and specific villages' needs.
Hi Brodie,
we have similar entries revolving around the implementation of legal statutes for the conservation of ecological niches with the help of communities residing in close proximity to them. Our experience here in India is that despite such legal provisions the government administration and vested private interests are not interested in implementing them and so both forests and forest dwellers suffer. Our project (http://www.changemakers.com/node/90261) describes the methods we are using to implement these laws properly. So I would be interested to know what is the ground situation with regard to implementation in your area and what are the ways in which you are going to improve them.
Thanks Rahul for your comment. In Colombia, at least for Afro-descendant and indigenous groups, land title is very clear. While there are cases where this law hasn't been fully recognized for the reasons you mention (see the case of Curvaradó for example), the issue for most communities is a lack of sustainable land use alternatives despite their desire to conserve in addition to poor governance in many communities. This situation presents a serious risk for the ethno-territorial development of Afro-descendant and indigenous groups as well as for the ecosystems they inhabit. One of the advantages of our project is that the communities are able to move forward without depending on public sector resources or traditional donor funding. Even given this favorable context, ecosystem services rights require further clarification, and this is one area where we hope our project can inform regional and national policy development.
Love this project, Brodie! Really wishing you the best of luck with it.
I like this project, I would like to know more about the project and when it will star?
I think your project will win, only a few hours to know who is the winner!!good luck!!
Hi Diana, thanks for your comment. The project has already started, we are in the design/certification stage (financial and administrative capacity building, education, land use planning, and strengthening collective governance). Forest monitoring has already begun, and reforestation and alternative livelihood projects will come later. Feel free to email any questions to info@anthrotect.com or see our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/anthrotect
Best,
Brodie
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
Brodie,
An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good luck to you and your team.
Susan Schrader
Thanks for your support Susan!
Not only does this project look far-reaching and needed, my vote will also help my karma for beating on you in middle school.
Much love for ya Brodie!
Fair enough, consider it even!
On February 2, 2011, the judges reviewed entries for the Changemakers Property Rights: Identity, Dignity, and Opportunity for All competition and would like to pass on the following feedback for your entry (below). Thank you for applying and for your hard work in the field. We are excited to archive your entry to serve as a leading solution for the worldwide community of innovators. We wish you continued luck with your innovative, sustainable, and socially impactful initiatives.
All the best,
The Changemakers Team
Working with the Afro-Colombians, who have been mistreated so severely, in dealing with deforestation and land titles is very important. The use of market-based solutions to challenges around environmental destruction by tapping into a new field of ecosystem services is highly inventive, and they have already achieved quite a few results. Although it is an excellent project, the focus may be more towards resource management, biodiversity, and maintaining the environment, rather than on property rights per se. It is encouraging to see this sort of work with such an underserved population, but I'd like to learn more about how it plans to incorporate its work more directly to the property rights sector.
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