Our projects> Increased resilience to climate change through enhanced local green growth development in Bolivia

Increased resilience to climate change through enhanced local green growth development in Bolivia

Closed

Combination

Agriculture/fishery

Forestry

Call 6

Bolivia

Time consumed

Start: 01-Mar-17 End: 30-Nov-19

Lead Nordic partner

Verdens Skove

Country of Lead Nordic partner

Denmark

Other Nordic partner(s)

Forests of the World (FOW) , Bosques del Mundo

Local partner(s)

Apoyo Para el Campesino-indigena del Oriente Boliviano

Other partner(s)

Asociación Forestal Indigena Nacional, Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano

NCF grant size

500,000

Total project cost

692479

Methods

Agroforestry, Non-timber forest products, Sustainable forest management

Country of implementation:

Bolivia

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Description

This project seeks to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, protecting forests through income diversification less vulnerable to droughts and higher temperatures in indigenous peoples communities in Chiquitanía, Bolivia.

The Chiquitano dry forests is among the most important and threatened Intact Forest Landscapes in Latin America and is especially vulnerable to climate change as it is a transitional environment predicted to be hard hit by... This project seeks to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, protecting forests through income diversification less vulnerable to droughts and higher temperatures in indigenous peoples communities in Chiquitanía, Bolivia.

The Chiquitano dry forests is among the most important and threatened Intact Forest Landscapes in Latin America and is especially vulnerable to climate change as it is a transitional environment predicted to be hard hit by more frequent and severe droughts in the future. Credit based financing is inaccessible in the region, highly conditional and risk prone at the contentious agricultural frontier in the project area. Local organizations have few options to secure local livelihoods, however, local sustainable income generation and organisation are seen as principal means for green growth and improved livelihood adapted to the impacts of climate change.

More than 40% of the remaining forests in Bolivia are owned by indigenous peoples, and the development of simple green growth models involving the ABT is expected to contribute to the sustainable management of the remaining forests and provide the indigenous communities with an economy and organisational strength sufficient to empower them to protect their territories, culture and traditions themselves.

The project will mitigate climate change through avoided deforestation focusing on 1. Innovative planning tools; 2. Low carbon production and processing techniques and 3. Improved climate resilience. This encompasses production of timber and the gathering of NTFPs. Additionally, the jobs created will ensure livelihoods in the communities for years to come if the forests continue to be well managed. Agroforestry has the capacity to mitigate climate change, but in this project agroforestry is primarily regarded as an adaptation tool, creating local jobs and long term climate change resilient agroforestry systems to the direct benefit of families and communities.

The project takes place in and around the indigenous territory of Monte Verde. The territory has an area of 947,440 ha. The rightful owners of this territory are 129 communities of Chiquitano origin. Altogether these communities have approximately 16,000 inhabitants (48% women and 52% men).

The project aims to break communities’ dependence on external actors while developing their economies based on innovative management models integrating NTFPs, agroforestry and timber production in simple planning tools, implementing a semi-natural agroforestry system producing a range of locally adapted commodities relevant for local processing. Local value chains generate jobs for especially women supplementing the subsistence farming and providing a more diversified drought resilient income.

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Objective

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Results

Purpose 1: Communities and state institutions promote and adopt a more holistic and innovative forest natural resource management model based on community development plans and the public planning tools introduced in Bolivia, the so-called Integrated Forest and Land Management Plans, acronym in Spanish: PGIBT, and preventing illegal deforestation.
The project has implied a direct CO2 reduction of 39.233,73 tons of CO2.The implementation of an innovative model... Purpose 1: Communities and state institutions promote and adopt a more holistic and innovative forest natural resource management model based on community development plans and the public planning tools introduced in Bolivia, the so-called Integrated Forest and Land Management Plans, acronym in Spanish: PGIBT, and preventing illegal deforestation.
The project has implied a direct CO2 reduction of 39.233,73 tons of CO2.The implementation of an innovative model with focus on culture, territory, and identity for natural forest resource management has been proved to work and shared among local indigenous, cultural, and state institutions. More specifically six management plans (PGIBT) have been implemented in six communities (the original objective was to implement four plans in four communities). The plans have contributed to the creation of several value chains that have generated seven permanent jobs as well as 165 temporary jobs (105 for women). Other than that, deforestation was avoided in 301.895,8 hectares from which it was deducted that 451.167,2 tons of CO2 emissions were reduced.

Purpose 2: Communities have developed and are implementing productions and local processing techniques for sustainable timber, agroforestry and non-timber forest products (NTFP) with low carbon emissions.
Local value has been added through the creation of seven value chains with NTFP and one timber product chain (with 26 jobs created). They have generated local employment and income in a sustainable way and involved local communities. 165 jobs have been created (64% for women), coffee has been implemented in a sustainable forestry system and 100% of the harvested coffee is transformed locally. A local carpentry has been installed from scratch - this is due to easier access to raw materials and furthermore prevents migration from the community. The creation of the carpentry has proven successful and is easily replicable and scalable to other communities. The sustainable agroforestry and growing of coffee have shown to continue to capture carbon almost at the same level to undisturbed fallows.

Purpose 3: Communities are strengthened organisationally in order to ensure good climate resilient management and are selling their products locally with positive impact on local livelihoods.
There has been a successful implementation of management plans in six communities (three indigenous communities and three intercultural communities). The communities have developed skills in managing tools and mechanisms to ensure transparency in economic and productive management. Several strategic alliances with socially responsible entities such as local private companies have been made.
Livelihoods of 305 families (897 people, including 538 women/197 young/162 men) have been improved and strengthened economically. Seven permanent jobs in the timber chain and 165 (105 for women) temporary jobs have been created which have led to overall economic growth, capacity building, and reduced gender inequality.

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Sustainable Development Goals

Relevant links

Verdens Skove, Apoyo Para el Campesino-indigena del Oriente BolivianoVerdens Skove, Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano, Asociación Forestal Indígena Nacional-AFIN

Increased resilience to climate change through enhanced local green growth development in Bolivia

Time consumed

Lead Nordic partner

Country of Lead Nordic partner

Other Nordic partner(s)

Local partner(s)

Other partner(s)

NCF grant size

Total project cost

Methods

Country of implementation:

Description

Objective

Results

Sustainable Development Goals

Relevant links

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