October 19, 2012

Landscape of the Week: Biological Corridors of Mexico

An integrated landscape in the works, the World Bank’s Sustainable Production Systems and Biodiversity Project is trying to meld biodiversity conservation with agricultural production. Its goals are to conserve and protect nationally and globally significant biodiversity in Mexico by mainstreaming biodiversity-friendly management practices in productive landscapes in priority biological corridors. Only announced at the end of August, this project is getting off the ground just as the Convention on Biological Diversity is coming to a close, with implementation of project activities scheduled to begin in November 2012. Svetlana Edmeades, Senior Agricultural Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Region at the World Bank, shares some insight into the project.

In Mexico, over 50% of land is devoted to agricultural production, and agriculture is an important sector of the economy both in terms of its contribution to GDP as well as the income generation opportunities it provides in rural areas. Because of agriculture’s importance for the country, the management of natural resources inevitably integrates food production and income generation with conservation of environmental assets.

Mexico is also classified as one of the top five ‘megadiverse’ countries, housing approximately 12% of the world‘s biodiversity on only 1.5% of the Earth’s land surface. In particular, Mexico‘s Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) provides habitat to 173 bird species that are either threatened or at risk of extinction.

Over the past decade, the conservation focus in Mexico has shifted towards promoting sustainable production and resource use in lands outside of protected areas. High costs and potential conflicts among land owners pose a great hurdle to expanding protected areas in Mexico. But protected areas are also not sufficient to conserve biodiversity considering that more than half of all species in the country are found on working lands. This suggests that biodiversity conservation efforts must include farmers and other producers in the productive landscape, if they are to be effective. Structural complexity, including patches of land for habitat and sustainable production, in agricultural landscapes is used an indicator of high biological diversity.

Project components, agents, and activities

The five-year project is funded by a GEF Grant of US$11.69 million and implemented by the World Bank. The project will benefit about 6,900 small scale producers through producer groups and organizations in nine biological corridors by strengthening the institutional capacity for market initiatives (e.g. bio-labeled products, participation in trade fairs, etc.). It seeks to increase biological corridor integrity and connectivity, reduce habitat destruction, promote sustainable harvesting, and integrate biodiversity-friendly practices. The production systems that have been pre-identified for project interventions include coffee, cocoa, honey, silvo-pastoral cattle-raising, forestry, wildlife use and ecotourism. These have been identified based on their biodiversity conservation impact and their market potential.

To accomplish the project’s lofty goals, three major activities are being undertaken:

  • mainstream sustainable production and biodiversity conservation practices into production systems in targeted biological corridors (see map)
  • strengthen producer associations‘ capacity to expand market opportunities for biodiversity friendly products from the project area
  • enhance the institutional framework to support the adoption of sustainable production systems and related market instruments, including regional exchange programs among countries of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) and the region.

Finally, this effort has support from multiple stakeholders and sectoral interests. National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), an inter-Ministerial Commission, is an implementing partner. Strong endorsement for the project has also been received from numerous Government institutions spanning three sectors: environment (SEMARNAT, including CONAFOR and CONANP), agriculture (SAGARPA), and social development (CDI).

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