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Conservation of the North Andean Corridor |
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Uncovering the Scope for Environmental Service Payments in the
Conservation of the North Andean Corridor
This is a 1-year project, was funded by
Conservation International,
to identify potential sites in the Northern Andes for implementing payments for
environmental services primarily for watershed protection, but with biodiversity
conservation as an additional benefit. The project is also contributing to the
development of CI’s global PES Research Plan by promoting a more informed use of
PES as a conservation tool in a range of pilot schemes.
 The North Andean Corridor is a 13 million hectare conservation area that
extends from the Sumapaz depression in Northern Colombia to the Portuguesa
Cordillera in Venezuela. It is one of the most fragmented forest corridors in
the Andes, especially on the Colombian side, due to a long history of dense
settlements and development for agriculture, mining, and other industries.
Remnant forests are under intense pressure as the agricultural frontier keeps
expanding. The pressures are less intense on the Venezuelan side and there are
still significant opportunities to work with national and local authorities and
communities to extend the area under conservation management. The levels of
fragmentation, species richness and endemism call for the development of a
different strategy from that used elsewhere, one that is focused on restoring
and connecting key patches of forest, engaging effectively with local
communities and authorities, and expanding already established conservation
schemes to ensure the long-term sustainability of the corridor.
The corridor includes key wetlands and páramos that are the main
sources of water for important urban populations, such as in Bogotá (Colombia)
and in Mérida (Venezuela). Building on some established PES experiences in
Colombia and assessing its effectiveness in conserving biodiversity will allow
CI and its partners to promote a PES strategy for the Corridor particularly on
the Venezuelan side. To ensure the financial sustainability of the corridor, it
is important to take advantage of schemes such as payments for ecosystem
services, especially those concerned with water production and watershed
protection, given that water is frequently a scarce factor, and water-resource
management is a key environmental service element of the corridor. The study
involves learning from PES experience in Colombia and how best to link it to
biodiversity conservation. CIFOR and CI are working to identify other sites with
the potential to sustain a PES scheme, particularly on the Venezuelan side.
The goal of the project is for significant use of direct payments for
environmental services as a conservation tool in the North-Andean Corridor and
beyond, in contexts where this can contribute in a realistic and cost-effective
way to successful conservation of biodiversity.
The specific objectives are:
1) To define the spatial and context-specific scope for using payments
for environmental services (PES), particularly related to watershed
protection, as an effective biodiversity conservation tool in the
North-Andean Corridor.
2) Through applied analysis, to generate inputs to CI’s global PES
Research Plan, and promote the informed use of diverse PES pilot schemes as
conservation tools.
 The work in Colombia mainly involves analyzing the environmental-service,
biodiversity conservation and livelihoods outcomes of existing PES or PES-like
schemes. In Venezuela, the feasibility of setting up additional PES schemes at
one or two sites is being explored, the main criteria being the willingness of
stakeholders to become involved, and the financial and legal viability of the
initiative. There is also reciprocal exchange of lessons learnt from PES in the
North-Andean Corridor with those from PES elsewhere, regionally and globally.
A series of outputs have so far been produced by the project, together with
our partners Ecoversa in
Colombia and CIDIAT in Venezuela. In
Colombia, a national assessment report (in Spanish) called “The
Colombian experience with payments for environmental services“ reviews
the state of the art of PES and PES-like schemes in the country. The underlying
work included field visits to PES type experiences in Río La Vieja, Valle del
Cauca and Manizales, and desk studies of field projects such as San Nicolás,
Amoyá, Fúquene, Salvajina, and others (see
Colombia map), as well as analyses of national environmental incentive
schemes such as the CIF for reforestation and conservation (“Plan Verde”) and
the “Familia Guardabosque” programme. The report concludes that Colombia is one
of the most advanced countries in Latin America with respect to the development
of environmental financing mechanisms. On the other hand, on the spending side
there are very few true PES experiences in the sense of actually providing
direct contingent compensations to landholders for the provision of
environmental services.
In Venezuela, joint field work with CIDIAT and Ecoversa was carried out
principally in the Cordillera de Mérida, sites including Río Pereño/ La Jabonosa,
La Miel, Tocuyo, Yacambú, and Calderas (see
Venezuela map). Desk assessments of the other sites (Neverí, Lara &
Falcón states) and of existing national PES-like mechanisms were added. The
results have been summarised in different documents. The most extensive report
(in Spanish) is called “The Venezuelan
experience with payments for environmental services”, authored by CIDIAT.
Greater detail about the biophysical nature of the specific environmental
services provided is described in a supplement report. A Masters thesis in
Environmental Economics at the Los
Andes University of Bogotá, authored by Gustavo Ramírez and co-sponsored by the
project, explores the economic viability of a PES scheme in the most advanced
potential site,
Río Pereño/ La Jabonosa.
A short CIFOR trip report conveys
in a synthetic manner some main observations about Venezuela’s PES potentials.
Finally, a conclusion and recommendations report,
jointly elaborated by CIFOR and Ecoversa, round off the Venezuela activities of
the project.
Contact persons:
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