GEF 1999 Project Performance Report
PDR Wildlife and Protected Areas, Mongolia Eastern Grasslands, Pakistan Maintaining Biodiversity with Rural Community Development, Panama Biodiversity Conservation in the Darien Region, South Pacific Biodiversity, West Africa Community-Based Natural Resource Management, and Uruguay Bañados del Este projects. 28. Sustainable uses of biodiversity are particularly challenging to define. During the PIR discussions, three categories of sustainable use projects were distinguished: (1) those that address uses in buffer zones near protected areas, e.g., Costa Rica Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Development in La Amistad and La Osa; (2) those that overlay biodiversity concerns on wider productive landscapes and identify uses that optimize biodiversity conservation while explicitly recognizing the trade-offs that will occur in that productive landscape, e.g., Mongolia Eastern Grasslands; and (3) those that focus on economic uses of components of biodiversity per se, e.g., the Burkina Faso Nazinga Ranch and Pakistan Biodiversity (see Box 1) projects. Activities in the third category present the main challenges for the future. 29. Sustainable use is not a substitute for preservation of biodiversity through, for example, protected areas. It will entail tradeoffs. Indeed, sustainability of uses of biological resources is extremely difficult to define a priori. Good indicators and monitoring systems (at both the project and program level), and regular monitoring of impacts on the ground, are important to be able to verify that biodiversity is actually being conserved. In addition, in the productive landscape, the "baseline" may not be full conservation, but deforestation or transformation. The PIR concluded that additional study and analysis of the question of the appropriate baseline for sustainable uses is needed.
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BOX 2. EARLY LESSONS FOR AGROBIODIVERSI TY FROM ETHIOPIA The Plant Genetic Resources project in Ethiopia seeks to improve in situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity by linking farm communities and their traditional crop varieties with the activities of the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation and Research. A mid-term review conducted in early 1999 illustrates how the main challenges for projects of this type are often socioeconomic and process issues. The review found that Community Gene Banks established by the project were seen as too large and not properly adapted to local designs and materials; it recommended smaller, cheaper, and more banks more closely related to existing farmer associations at the individual community level. It found that the absence of full involvement of all stakeholders in project design was hindering successful implementation of several components. In particular, a greater participation of regional government authorities would have been beneficial. But to effectively participate, the capacity of regional governments needed to be enhanced. Integration of women in the planning and implementation of Community Gene Banks and other activities required a major shift in the orientation of project leaders. Finally, the long-term sustainability of the program depends on identifying markets for products that use traditional varieties.
30. Agrobiodiversity. A presentation of the People, Land Management, and Environmental Change (PLEC) project— a global project implemented by UNEP in eight countries— and experience gained to date from the Ethiopia Plant Genetic Resources project focused discussion on agrobiodiversity programs. The review highlighted the following lessons that should be reflected in operational guidance: •
The socioeconomic context and enabling environment is particularly important for agrobiodiversity programs. In fact, agrobiodiversity may be influenced by the socioeconomic context as much or more than by scientific concerns (see Box 2). This may lead to difficulties in distinguishing clearly between domestic and global benefits, and this should be recognized in strategic guidance provided by GEF.