Community Action to Conserve Biodiversity: Linking Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Reduction

Key points in document

• The report describes community-based enterprises and the enabling conditions that are required for their success.
• Many community-based enterprises included are directed towards the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental outcomes.
• The report hosts 30 case studies from Central and South America. Though regionally focused, the lessons and feedback are valuable for community-based enterprises worldwide.
• The report is careful to point out that the “success” of a given project and enabling conditions that contributed to that success were largely synthesized from perceptions of community members consulted during field visits to these case study sites; therefore, the study does not provide a concrete definition of “success.”
• Lessons related to enabling conditions were split into two categories; internal and external.
• Analysis of the case studies suggest four categories of internal enabling conditions, including effective governance structures like strong community leadership and transparency, as well as equitable benefit sharing.
• The case studies highlighted the community’s relationships with the outside world as external enabling conditions. These conditions are characterized by access to capital and technical assistance (e.g., government-led technical trainings), and local or national partnerships (e.g., donors, NGOs).

Information relevant to Learning Questions:

Are enabling conditions in place to support a sustainable enterprise?

• Stakeholder alignment
• Market demand, access to credit/capital
• Ownership, governance
• Government requirements, policies for enterprises, business alliances
• Financial management capacity, technical capacity
• Equipment
• Benefit sharing, targeted participants, biodiversity linkage, policies for and enforcement of resource use

Does the enterprise lead to benefits to stakeholders?

• Increased income for participants
• Non-cash benefits

Do the benefits lead to positive changes in attitudes and behavior?

• Attitudes regarding sustainable use of resources
• Behaviors regarding sustainable use of resources

Does a change in stakeholders’ behaviors lead to a reduction to threats to biodiversity (or restoration)?

• Residential and commercial development
• Agriculture and aquaculture
• Energy production and mining
• Biological resource use
• Pollution

Does a reduction in threats (or restoration) lead to conservation?

• Forest ecosystems
• Freshwater ecosystems
• Grassland ecosystems
• Marine ecosystems
• Species