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Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources for community well-being

The example of Ecuador’s Napo Province

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 15 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) During the 2015-2020 period, the Ecuador country office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) implemented the "GEF Conservation and Well-being in Napo project". This initiative was part of an agreement between the provincial government of Napo and Ecuador's Ministry of Environment, and was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with contributions from public and private organizations and civil society. Working directly with almost 2 800 families grouped in 16 associations and 25 indigenous and farming communities, the project helped to make environmental conservation into a development opportunity. Thanks to strong inter-institutional cooperation, and in partnership with five municipalities in the province of Napo, excellent results were achieved in terms of conservation, namely: i) the establishment of conservation agreements for 7 369.3 hectares and about 57 000 hectares under plans for co-management; ii) a 17 percent decrease in the provincial rate of deforestation; and iii) estimated emissions reduction of 3 998 945 Mg CO2eq and an increase in carbon sequestration of 57 990 Mg CO2eq. Likewise, progress was made in production sustainability: i) 1 370 families incorporated good agricultural practice (GAP) in almost 2 000 hectares of cocoa, naranjillas and pastures, and added value in these chains (fine flavour cocoa with organic certification, naranjilla juice, among others); and ii) seven sustainable community tourism initiatives were strengthened, as were bio-enterprises in five products (guayusa, vanilla, orchids, palm fibre, tikaso), which generated an increase in income ranging from 25 percent to doubling in certain cases. This made it possible to internalize and cover production costs, guaranteeing better indicators of cost effectiveness in the medium term.

Language English

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