One of the five goals of the Parks in Peril program was to incorporate protected areas into the economic lives of local society.  “There is no conservation where there is hunger,” notes Luis Sánchez Arguedas, Wildlife Protected Areas Manager in La Amistad for Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy.  “The lesson that I learned from PiP is that biodiversity conservation projects should also be linked to alternatives that generate economic opportunities for local people.”  

Community initiatives for sustainable natural resource use and management have potential for generating a wide range of livelihood benefits, such as generation of income, access to additional economic and financial resources (i.e., revolving credit mechanisms, micro-financing schemes, and others), generation of direct employment, reduction of incentives for illegal use and extraction of natural resources, improvement of essential community infrastructure, improvement in community health (e.g., access to drinking water) and food security, acquisition of knowledge and capacities, strengthening of social capital through ties within and with other community organizations, promotion of gender equity (i.e., providing women access to resources, opportunities and forums of decision making), strengthening of cultural patterns and traditions related to resource use, political benefits (i.e., formal agreements for shared rights and responsibilities in protected area management and/or formal and non-formal forums for influencing decision makers), and reduction of vulnerability to environmental degradation and natural disasters (i.e., improved stability of ecological systems and resilience of human systems). 

An example from Guatemala’s Atitlán Volcanic Chain illustrates these benefits.  Through its partner, Asociación Vivamos Mejor, PiP supported production of organic coffee in Atitlán.  The 350 members of the regional coffee growers association (ECOAPOCS) have improved growing, processing and marketing techniques for conventional, organic, and fair trade coffee.  PiP also provided technical assistance and training in organic growing techniques and preparing organic fertilizer, and the production of coffee seedlings in nurseries. Based on these experiences, PiP prepared a handbook on organic coffee cultivation that has served as a foundation for scaling up and encouraging conventional producers to begin the transition to organic growing techniques throughout the region.

The transformation of production and access to the specialty market in Atitlán has generated positive outcomes through improved product pricing and increased sales volume.  Organic coffee exports from the region to United States, Holland, England, Germany and Japan have increased, despite the negative impacts of 2005’s Hurricane Stan on the region’s coffee plantations. 

The community initiative in organic coffee has been complemented with other income-generating activities. For example, Asociación Unidos para Vivir Mejor (ASUVIM) has set up coffee tours, during which visitors to the region learn about the coffee production and processing stages and sample and purchase coffee and handicrafts.  Catarina Yac Sulugüi, member of ASUVIM, has the following advice for woman hesitant to get involved in community projects:  “If I stay at home, well, I can’t do anything and I can’t learn anything. But if I participate.... only then do I learn how to do things. I can improve myself and do the things men can do….I insist that you do your part: learn.”

Ecuador

In August 2001, Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Fundación Rumicocha signed an agreement to co-manage an ecotourism project in the Andean grasslands, or paramo near the town of Papallacta, nestled in the heart of the Condor Bioreserve.  Strewn with glacial lakes and a diversity of plants and animals, the area is ideal for nature hikes, low-impact sport fishing, self-guided trails, and camping.  With PiP support, the project has focused on low-impact, compatible ecotourism.  The project has regulated tourism activities and visitors, especially from Quito, Ecuador’s capital, contributing to a decline of tourist-related illegal hunting and fishing.  As an added benefit, income generated from payment of tourism services, such as guided tours on nature trails, is invested to cover costs for park guard salaries, ranger stations, and other direct costs incurred by the Condor Bioreserve. 

Peru

In the 5-million acre Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, PiP led the pilot project for a national law that allowed local residents to manage and harvest resources in the reserve.  Communities in the area rely on the paiche or giant arapaima (Arapaima gigas)—one of the largest freshwater fish in the world which can grow up to eight feet long and weigh 500 pounds—for food and income.  Given that fish comprises nearly 80% of the diet of the l00,000 people living along the riverbanks of this reserve, fisheries management is required to ensure the long-term conservation of this important natural resource for the benefit of local residents.  PiP helped local “management groups” develop science-based management plans for paiche (and other local resources), and promoted their approval by the government of Peru as required by law.  Management groups monitor the paiche population to ensure it remains within the approvaed parameters, and they work with reserve guards to report and prosecute poachers.  A PiP-sponsored book documenting the successful efforts of eight local fishing cooperatives to increase paiche populations by establishing fishing quotas and undertaking other management measures is being distributed to other Amazonian communities as a potential model of how to protect this key fish species.  Parks in Peril has also supported sustainable management of palms and river turtles in the reserve, and turtle populations are already rebounding. 

Mexico