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Plants or People?
KFPE and the Swiss Biodiversity Forum organised this workshop that was held at the NATUR (Nature) Congress in Basel

Initial situation
In many developing countries, the preservation and protection of biodiversity is in conflict with efforts to reach development goals. What approaches can help resolve this dilemma?
The workshop focused on solution-oriented, innovative approaches and the related challenges and/or difficulties.

Speakers:

Dr. Stephan Rist, Senior Research Scientist of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, Steigerhubelstrasse 3, 3008 Berne, Switzerland

Martin Sommer, Head of the Natural Resources and Environment Division, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), 3003 Berne, Switzerland

Dr. Claude Martin, Rue du Village 35, 1273 Arzier, Switzerland; Director of WWF International until the end of 2005

Key findings of the workshop

In principle, the conflict referred to does not exist at all as the local population usually knows the value of nature – in other words: no plants, no people … Nevertheless, conflicts frequently arise in practice as a result of particularistic interests being pursued. This is because access to resources such as soil, water or forest is often unjustly regulated, their governance often under the control of non-local actors. In addition, there may be diverging expectations and time horizons.
It is important not to lose sight of the overall picture, that is to build alliances and to avoid skirmishes among competing NGOs. Integrated land use planning WITH the local population leads to positive results in poverty alleviation and preservation of biodiversity. The participation of the local population in decision-making processes, from planning to implementation and use, is decisive.
Effective approaches to the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are based on analyses of participatory and transdisciplinary research that focus on understanding the interactions between all dimensions of livelihood and value systems. Solutions are adapted to take into account the basic local political conditions, and employ culturally familiar mechanisms of conflict management.
Knowledge already attained is to be increasingly put into practice. Innovation is not necessarily superior to traditional knowledge and positive experience. There is too little capitalisation of knowledge, and the multiplying effect of innovative examples is too weak.
Monetary compensation schemes in the area of water use, or the preservation of water catchment areas respectively, were presented in a case study. They can have very positive impacts if all stakeholder groups are involved. However, they are only sustainable if they are regionally supported on the monetary level as well; that is to say, water users downstream pay the “catchment preservers”, the local population upstream. NGOs can play a positive role in bringing about such solutions, by acting as “brokers” – something that governments are frequently unable to do.
It is important that the macro level, the global level, be taken into account, too: macro events and conditions can undermine many things at the micro level.
The threat to biodiversity is in proportion to the presence of corruption and nepotism in a government system. Where local communities retain significant influence on the use of resources, there is, in general, less degradation. Not least for this reason, it is a matter of urgency to foster decentralised and democratic structures of resource governance.


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		Plants or People? KFPE and the Swiss Biodiversity Forum organised this workshop that was held at the NATUR (Nature) Congress in Basel Initial situation In many developing countries, the preservation and protection of biodiversity is in conflict with efforts to reach development goals. What approaches can help resolve this dilemma? The workshop focused on solution-oriented, innovative approaches and the related challenges and/or difficulties. Speakers: Dr. Stephan Rist, Senior Research Scientist of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South, Steigerhubelstrasse 3, 3008 Berne, Switzerland Martin Sommer, Head of the Natural Resources and Environment Division, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), 3003 Berne, Switzerland Dr. Claude Martin, Rue du Village 35, 1273 Arzier, Switzerland; Director of WWF International until the end of 2005 Key findings of the workshop In principle, the conflict referred to does not exist at all as the local population usually knows the value of nature – in other words: no plants, no people … Nevertheless, conflicts frequently arise in practice as a result of particularistic interests being pursued. This is because access to resources such as soil, water or forest is often unjustly regulated, their governance often under the control of non-local actors. In addition, there may be diverging expectations and time horizons. It is important not to lose sight of the overall picture, that is to build alliances and to avoid skirmishes among competing NGOs. Integrated land use planning WITH the local population leads to positive results in poverty alleviation and preservation of biodiversity. The participation of the local population in decision-making processes, from planning to implementation and use, is decisive. Effective approaches to the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are based on analyses of participatory and transdisciplinary research that focus on understanding the interactions between all dimensions of livelihood and value systems. Solutions are adapted to take into account the basic local political conditions, and employ culturally familiar mechanisms of conflict management. Knowledge already attained is to be increasingly put into practice. Innovation is not necessarily superior to traditional knowledge and positive experience. There is too little capitalisation of knowledge, and the multiplying effect of innovative examples is too weak. Monetary compensation schemes in the area of water use, or the preservation of water catchment areas respectively, were presented in a case study. They can have very positive impacts if all stakeholder groups are involved. However, they are only sustainable if they are regionally supported on the monetary level as well; that is to say, water users downstream pay the “catchment preservers”, the local population upstream. NGOs can play a positive role in bringing about such solutions, by acting as “brokers” – something that governments are frequently unable to do. It is important that the macro level, the global level, be taken into account, too: macro events and conditions can undermine many things at the micro level. The threat to biodiversity is in proportion to the presence of corruption and nepotism in a government system. Where local communities retain significant influence on the use of resources, there is, in general, less degradation. Not least for this reason, it is a matter of urgency to foster decentralised and democratic structures of resource governance. Related links for further information: id21 natural resources: conservation and biodiversity (over 200 reports) http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=l&w=e2 Protected Areas Learning Network http://www.parksnet.org Community Based Natural Resource Management Network http://cbnrm.net IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy http://www.iucn.org/themes/ceesp/index.html World Resources Institute: People and Ecosystems (Publications) http://biodiv.wri.org/publications.cfm Biodiversity Economics, a website by IUCN and WWF international http://www.biodiversityeconomics.org/index.html