The Pro-poor Conservation Paradigm

Dr Dipayan DeySouth Asian Forum for Environment

• Addressing environmental issues and poverty together, needs community based participatory programme… A partnership on equity and reciprocity

: Backgrounder

• Nature degradation leads to poverty and poverty leads to exploitation of natural resources… A negative link

• An innovative financial mechanism to compensate the opportunity cost of poor communities towards environmental conservation through payment of environmental services (PES).

: What’s New?

• Transforming nature services to alternative economic opportunity and translating economic benefits to conservation responsibilities…

• Developing partnership between non-tangible benefits and tangible returns

: The Challenge…

• Target Area: Global Ecological Significance, facing threat of degradation

• Target Beneficiaries: Low average GDP and per-capita.

• Prerequisites': Available nature services, Community dependent ecology, Loss of nature resources

• Tool: Conservation CBA, Micro-Finance Compensation model

: The Criteria

• Financial inclusion of communities towards risk spreading and compensation of opportunity cost.

• No repay of loan or interest, but active volunteering to generate man hours for conservation.

• Allocation of payment is based on success of measures in attaining conservation objectives.

: Smart Evaluators

: Operating Paradigm

• Transforming Nature Services through Ecotourism as a means of poverty alleviation and sustainable environment development through community partnership in East Kolkata Wetlands.

India's First Biorights Project : East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW)

• To identify economically beneficial nature-services in the area through cost benefit analysis.

• To expand economic opportunity & capacity building among local stakeholders for livelihood.

• To en suit sustainable conservation objectives with poverty alleviation strategies through revenue generation in eco-friendly process.

• To create awareness among local stakeholders about restoration of East Kolkata Wetlands.

: Project Objectives

• 56% habitat restoration in project area (Scaled in terms of Biodiversity Index, Species IVI, Water body permanence index, Limnological assessment and EIA).

• Rehabilitation of 12 priced fish species endemic to East Kolkata Wetlands.

• Go-green activities: Plantation, community sanitation, awareness campaigns.

Environmental Impacts

• 450 families covered in micro-insurance policy through Biorights component.

• 78% attitude change of stakeholders in conservation of wetlands.

• 25 women self help groups credit linked through financial inclusion programme

• 17% increase in per head income for the community partners.

Social Impacts

Implications

Implications

• Conservation Priorities• Suitable CBA tool• Alternative Livelihood: Non-competitive and

Un-competitive options• Micro-finance as a suitable financial

paradigm• Common-trade effect• Externalities

New Challanges

Thanks