Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Property Rights: Identity, Dignity & Opportunity for All competition.
The Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor aims to address biodiversity loss and global climate change by strengthening common pool resource management and territorial identity among Afro-Colombian and indigenous landholders in the lowland rainforests of Colombia's Pacific coast.
About You
Section 1: About You
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Organization Name
Anthrotect
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+57 (1) 352-2031
Organization Address
Avenida 25C #4A-41
Organization Country
Colombia, BDC
How long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Your idea
Name your project.
Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor
Describe Your Idea
The Chocó-Darién Conservation Corridor aims to address biodiversity loss and global climate change by strengthening common pool resource management and territorial identity among Afro-Colombian and indigenous landholders in the lowland rainforests of Colombia's Pacific coast.
Country your work focuses on
Colombia, CHO
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Colombia is home to over 10% of the world’s plant and animal species despite covering just 0.7% of the planet’s surface, and has more registered species of birds and amphibians than any other country in the world. Even by Colombian standards, the lowland rainforests of Colombia’s Pacific coast are outstanding. This region, known as the Chocó, is a vast expanse of seasonally flooded forests, rainforests, and mangroves characterized by some of the highest levels of rainfall on the planet.
Just as exceptional, though, are the mix of African descendants and indigenous peoples who live in the region. These groups occupy an extraordinary legal niche in comparison to other tropical countries where the land rights of forest dwelling peoples are less secure. Colombia offers some of the most clearly established land tenure for indigenous peoples in all of Latin America. To date, the government has demarcated and titled over 150 black territories and 95 indigenous reserves in the Pacific region totaling more than 6.4 million hectares, covering a spectacular biodiversity hotspot roughly the size of Sri Lanka.
This project will prevent global climate change and safeguard the ecosystems and wildlife of the Chocó by strengthening the territorial identity and governance capacity of collective landholders. Specifically, the project enables landholders to generate a revenue stream linked to the carbon value of conservation and reforestation activities by 1) solidifying nascent governance structures, 2) expanding existing land titles, 3) resolving and preventing land disputes, and 4) implementing sustainable livelihood alternatives. State of the art monitoring via LIDAR, satellite imagery, and surveillance by the communities themselves will provide timely and accurate assessments of project impacts. Project data will be managed in an open source mapping platform to inform and engage policymakers, the scientific community, and the general public.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
Tropical deforestation accounts for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all of the world’s cars, trucks, trains, and planes combined. Unlike technological solutions to preventing climate change, this project follows a unique approach rooted in strengthening indigenous peoples’ capacity to collectively manage their traditional lands. Communities in the project area lead subsistence lifestyles in which basic services like health and education are deficient or absent. Mortality among male infants in the Chocó was estimated at 86 deaths per 1,000 live births in the year 2005, comparable to levels observed in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to having the second highest departmental rates of poverty (79%) and extreme poverty (40%) in Colombia in 2005, the Chocó has suffered rates of forced displacement by armed actors as high as 3,440 per 100,000 inhabitants in the year 2000, the highest of any Colombian department that year.
With clear land titles and improving security conditions, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities have returned to the project area to pursue their own visions of territorial development. In some cases, however, armed conflict has disrupted traditional patterns of agriculture and trade while spurring the disorderly exploitation of natural resources for immediate basic needs. In other cases, weakly-governed communities have come under the influence of outside ranching and agricultural interests. Time preference exercises carried out among project participants revealed very high individual discount rates (a mean of 0.38), where the average respondent preferred to receive a lump sum payment of $800 USD versus a payment of $25 USD each month for the next 30 years. To effectively reduce carbon emissions, this project must understand these near-term opportunity costs while reinforcing the dignity and territorial autonomy of indigenous communities, so that neither the forests nor residents’ traditional ways of life are lost.
Problem
Despite the recognition and demarcation of collective titles in the Chocó, communities are still uncertain as to their territorial boundaries and rights. Others have yet to resolve internal governance structures and regulations for common resource use. As a result, the new landholders and their forests are threatened by:
1) Cattle ranching. In 2008, Colombia had 24 million heads of cattle, representing the fourth largest herd in Latin America;
2) Selective logging, accounting for up to 80% of income among households of the Chocó. Natural forests source 75% of timber in the Colombian market;
3) Subsistence cultivation, using uncoordinated slash and burn methods that generate increasing carbon emissions as populations grow;
4) Large-scale cultivation. Oil palm cultivation grew from 18,000 ha to over 350,000 ha during 1960-2009, making Colombia the largest producer in Latin America; and,
5) Infrastructure projects, which encourage encroachment by opening up land for ranching, agriculture, and logging.
Actions
After preparing communities to monitor and manage common-pool resources, the project will implement conservation and land use activities eligible for carbon credits, while channeling carbon revenue into additional activities to provide income and employment over the long term. This includes:
1) Building governance capacity, by raising awareness of collective identity and rights, expanding and demarcating collective titles, instilling best practices for administration and accountability, and constructing collective visions and strategic plans for territorial development and resource use;
2) Reducing carbon emissions, through community surveillance to conserve existing forest, reforestation and regeneration of degraded lands, and integrated management of forest resources by extending harvest rotations, improving permitting processes, and minimizing logging impacts; and,
3) Investing in green commodity production, by improving technologies and agricultural practices, increasing market access for existing goods such as rice, plantain, corn, and cassava, and applying proven new models for sustainable ranching (Aliança da Terra) and artisanal gold mining (Oro Verde).
Results
The project has invested USD $220,000 across seven collective landholders focusing on 1) capacity building (over 40 workshops during 2009-10 with 480 community leaders on ecosystem services rights, climate change, and participatory project design; 2) technical analysis (land cover, carbon stocks, and deforestation drivers; and 3) financial and risk analysis (opportunity costs, appropriate incentives, and benefits sharing). The initial communities are undergoing independent certification to a leading carbon standard and will reduce carbon emissions by 80,000 tCO2e annually starting Jan 1, 2011.
There is strong interest among neighboring landholders and significant potential to expand this model. Over the next three years, we expect agreements with an additional 11 collective landholders, totaling 320 villages and 9,600 households. By strengthening Afro-Colombian and indigenous land tenure and resource management, the project will ensure the conservation and restoration of over 760,000 ha of forests, generating emissions reductions of 2,400,000 tCO2e annually by 2013.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$50 - 100
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
If so, how?
Most project effort is focused on developing and strengthening policies for the collective management of natural resources by communities, including internal regulations for land planning, benefit sharing, and procedures for dealing with violators. At the same time, the project will inform and enrich dialogue on ecosystem services rights at the national level, so that new policies accurately reflect the realities of land tenure and land use change in rural Colombia. National policies must come to effectively value the services nature provides in order for landowners to view conservation as a viable economic alternative to less sustainable land uses. The challenge is to develop policies that respect local autonomy and encourage local initiative, while recognizing that many collective landholders are not yet prepared to engage markets for ecosystem services.
More broadly, this project aims to demonstrate that forest conservation can be an effective tool in the global fight against climate change and that it's most effective when resource management by small landholders and indigenous groups is respected and encouraged. Much of the controversy surrounding the inclusion of forest conservation as a mitigation strategy in the U.N. Clean Development Mechanism, or within state and regional level climate action programs, focuses on the limited sustainability of projects that lack strong local participation. Building on clear land tenure and the full participation of the communities involved, this project will draw international attention to the challenges and opportunities associated with common-pool management of forest resources by Afro-Colombian and indigenous groups.
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your innovation.
Partnerships are critical to the success of the project, from preliminary research and design to activity implementation and ongoing monitoring of impacts. Analysis of remotely-sensed data and other information on ecosystems, wildlife, and land use is carried out in collaboration with researchers at Stanford University and at the National University of Colombia in Bogota. Financial oversight will be guaranteed through a partnership with the Fund for Environmental Action, a non-profit, non‐governmental organization responsible for administering the Enterprise for the Americas initiative in Colombia, a US$52 million fund. Non-monetary partnerships with small businesses are helping to identify viable livelihood alternatives and open up new markets for goods the communities produce. Lastly, partnerships with the public sector are necessary to inform regional and national policy development, ensure that project methodologies and carbon accounting are consistent with national standards, and encourage broader application of the model outside the region.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
The early stages of the project (2008-09) were financed through personal savings, family loans, and small university research grants. In 2010, project design activities have been financed through ex-ante sale of carbon credits based on the emissions reductions expected through activities that conserve existing forest, restore degraded lands, and reform logging practices. For the pilot communities currently under certification, these reductions are expected to be in the range of 80,000 tCO2e per year, generating annual revenues of USD $560,000 over the 30 year lifespan of the project. After recuperating project costs, which correspond to an investment of approximately USD $10-12 per hectare per year over the duration of the project, communities will receive at least 50% of net profits from carbon credit sales.
However, carbon revenue is only a short-term solution. The project will ensure that revenues are reinvested into activities that not only safeguard territorial rights but also generate additional income for participating communities. Start-up costs include investment in agro-forestry and the production of non-timber products such as cacao, ginger, dried mango, sacha inchi, and acai. While all community members will see project benefits, the project aims to minimize individual payments to families and channel benefits to locally organized cooperatives through small grants and zero-interest loans. Revenues from alternative livelihood activities will remain entirely with local small-businesses, and promise to far exceed the income generated by the original emissions reduction activities.
Despite improved security in the project area, some communities still face serious threats to their territorial and human rights. After having been forcibly displaced by armed actors, other communities have very limited capacity for strategic planning and territorial defense. For these reasons, the project is seeking to complement the above revenue model with more traditional support through grants from foundations and multilateral donors. Such support will accelerate project development, enable the participation of the most at-risk landholders, and allow communities to receive a greater proportion of net profits.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
During a trip to the Darien region in 2008 in the context of doctoral research on land tenure and forced displacement, Anthrotect Founder and Director Dr. Brodie Ferguson met with Afro-Colombian community leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with the recent recognition of collective property rights over their traditional lands. Despite this important step forward, community leaders expressed deep concerns over the gradual degradation of the Darien’s spectacular forests, and with them, their traditional values and way of life. Brodie saw that, in contrast to the image of the Chocó as a pristine environment of impenetrable swamps and dense jungle, the region was in fact a grim mosaic of logged forest and pasture. He knew that with the communities’ determination to conserve remaining forest and restore degraded lands, a carbon project would infuse dignity and vigor into these new collective entities while providing an invaluable service to the rest of the world.
Upon returning to Bogota, Brodie met with Dr. Orlando Rangel and his team at the National University of Colombia and later with colleagues at Stanford University for technical support in the assessment and monitoring of the communities’ lands. Brodie also approached Jose Luis Gomez, Director of the Bogota-based Fund for Environmental Action, to explore flexible operational mechanisms that would ensure proper auditing and oversight while allowing for the gradual transfer of project ownership to collective landowners. Along with these partners, the project has since welcomed new staff, visitors, and volunteers in its mission to make conservation a viable livelihood alternative in the communities it serves.
Tell us about the social innovator—the person—behind this idea.
Dr. Brodie Ferguson is Founder and Director of Anthrotect, a private environmental services partnership based in Bogota, Colombia. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Environmental Management at the University of Los Andes School of Management and Research Associate at the Conflict Analysis Resource Center.
The idea of leveraging carbon finance to strengthen land rights among Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities evolved out of Brodie’s doctoral research in anthropology at Stanford University. At Stanford, Brodie served as a fellow of the Center on International Conflict and Negotiation, where he researched the impacts of armed conflict and forced displacement on livelihoods and natural resource management in the Chocó region.
Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Brodie completed a master’s degree in public health at Johns Hopkins University, and served as Technical Officer at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. His work on conflict and development has been published in peer-review journals and academic volumes, and he has served as a consultant to a variety of multilateral and non-profit organizations.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Through another organization or company
If through another source, please provide the information.
A friend/colleague at Endeavor.
Additional
Which (if any) of the following strategies apply to your organization or company (check as many as apply)
Formalizing and documenting property rights (i.e. titling, leasing or certification), Legal education and awareness, Developing/applying technology for surveying, mapping and documenting property rights.
Please explain how your work furthers one or many of the above strategies (if you selected “other”, please explain your strategy)
The project is working to ensure that Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities are educated with respect to their new collective land titles, that external actors respect these rights, and that ecosystem services rights be additionally guaranteed so that forest conservation and restoration can be livelihood alternatives. New approaches to mapping and land planning underpin each of these goals.
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 | 59 weeks agoMatt Guttentag said: On February 2, 2011, the judges reviewed entries for the Changemakers Property Rights: Identity, Dignity, and Opportunity for All ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 70 weeks agoBrodie Ferguson said: Hi Diana, thanks for your comment. The project has already started, we are in the design/certification stage (financial and ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoDiana Patricia Garcia Perdomo said: 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 ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoBrodie Ferguson said: Fair enough, consider it even! about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agojoe costello said: 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 ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoBrodie Ferguson said: Thanks for your support Susan! about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoSusan Schrader said: Brodie, An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoSusan Schrader said: Brodie, An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoSusan Schrader said: Brodie, An extremely relavent project. Your contribution and fortitude with this passion deserves credit and financial assistance. Good ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 71 weeks agoKen Banks said: Love this project, Brodie! Really wishing you the best of luck with it. about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
