dr. jonathan davies, drylands coordinator iucn, the international union for conservation of nature

IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Dr. Jonathan Davies, Drylands CoordinatorIUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Conserving Biodiversity and Sustainably Managing Land through

Community Conserved Areas

IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Land restoration in Jordan, Mali, Botswana and Sudan


Between 10 and 20% of drylands are subject to desertification

Desertification exacerbates poverty, creates food and water insecurity and

aggravates conflict

Global cost of desertification: 42 billion USD annually

Estimated cost of preventing it: 2.4 billion USD


Drivers of desertification• Poor understanding of dryland ecology• Weak consultation with resource managers• Weak communal tenure arrangements and

governance • Unsupportive policies and investments• Human poverty and population dynamics • Climate change and climatic uncertainty• Fragmentation of landscapes

IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Governance: the bedrock of sustainable land management


• Why implement good land management practices if you cannot stop others from abusing your land?

• What is the point of protecting your resources to improve production if somebody else can benefit and leave you with nothing?


Creating and enforcing rules: what we mean by governance

• Governance is more than government• Interaction between citizens, between the

State and its Citizens, and between States – Rules – laws and other norms– Institutions– Processes


Strengthening Governance

• Multistakeholder dialogue• Participatory planning and

problem solving to get to root causes

• Strengthening participatory practices in government and community

• Hima identified as the preferred mechanism


Legitimising Hima

• Legal avenues identified and political dialogue to identify acceptable approaches

• Land for protection identified by communities • Allocation of land approved by government – Dept rangelands or forestry – Dept tourism and antiquities

• Rules and regulations developed by communities • Inter-community dialogue to enforce rules:

enforcement is key


What we did not do• Investment in infrastructure• Fencing • Extensive technical advice

This can get in the way and can undermine governance• The key is community autonomy

and leadership with government support


Results • 4 plots under improved

management and conservation (approx. 1000 ha)

• Running 2 years so end-results are modest

• Major change in attitude and behaviour amongst communities

• Significant change in support from Ministry of Agriculture


Results

• Biodiversity benefits: recovery of floral species

• De facto IUCN Protected Area Category 5

• Built on local knowledge and expertise in conservation and rangeland management

• Dual development and conservation impacts


Results

• Return of plants with medicinal values (e.g. artemesia spp.)

• Return of wildlife and possible hunting concessions (e.g. partridge)


Questions

• Does HIMA management meet PA category 5 standards?

• Are these effective ICCAs that contribute to Aichi targets?


Questions

• Can livestock management replicate natural herbivore processes?

• Where is the balance between livestock management and conservation?


Questions

• Ecosystem-scale impacts – Can improved

rangelands vegetation lead to better water cycling and reduced drought?

– To what extent will we be able to rehabilitate rangelands?


Lessons


Community empowerment

• Local communities have unique skills for conservation that can be harnessed through Hima– Key is to use Hima to strengthen local land use, not to exclude land use

• Healthy, productive rangelands offer a genuine win-win of increased agricultural production (through livestock) and biodiversity conservation

• Communities have aesthetic as well as economic motives – Assume that most rural people desire a beautiful environment: but a

beautiful productive environment• Communities can be initially defensive towards any discussion of

land rights– Demonstrating progress leads to rapid change of view


Government enabling • HIMA has positive effects on community-government relations • Political support gives high credibility

– To succeed, this approach requires sanctioning by government, and may require policy reform

• Not every government extension worker has the character to promote Hima – Requires a sensitive approach: only part of this can be taught

• Technical advice can play an important role, but comes later, and must build on (and complement) communal management and knowledge

• Government role in setting standards and evaluating progress needs to be developed through dialogue


Conservation outcomes • HIMA can improve landscape-connectivity by including

community conserved areas in conservation strategies (including productive lands) – Requires new working relations between ministries that typically

compete against each other • Herbivores play a critical role in rangeland ecology and we

have to learn how to replicate this• Greater emphasis is needed on monitoring biodiversity and

ecosystem services to track long-term progress• Long-term impacts can be exponential as people gain

confidence in governance systems


Wider impacts• Great appeal world-wide– Hima has parallels in other cultures – recommend to adapt to

other contexts and share experiences • Governance of water can undermine Hima systems in the

long term – Factor water into community-government dialogue

• The environmental services of Hima have hidden values (e.g. water cycling, migratory species, carbon sequestration)– These can be measured and should be compensated through

domestic and international channels


Thank you

DAVIES Jonathan [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

dr. jonathan davies, drylands coordinator iucn, the international union for conservation of nature

Documents

international union

conservation of nature

conservation of nature

key iucn

government support iucn

preferred mechanism

governance governance

communities allocation