( Versión en español / Versão em português )

Dear Friends,

The ASL team hopes that you and your families are in good health and safe during this unsettling period of uncertainty resulting from the spread and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hearts go out especially to the indigenous and local communities in the Amazon who have been heavily affected. 

In the past weeks, the celebration of World Environment Day and the International Day for Biological Diversity highlighted how environmental protection plays a central role in our collective well-being, including the prevention of future pandemics. It reinforces yet again the importance of the work that we are all doing together in the Amazon to conserve strategic ecosystems while promoting sustainable socioeconomic growth at national, subnational, and local levels. 

These are indeed very challenging times and we would like to reiterate our commitment to supporting you and our broader community to protecting and sustainably developing the Amazon despite the challenging circumstances.

In line with this message, we invite you to read the recent blog by our World Bank colleagues Valerie Hickey and Anna Wellenstein: " Nature as engine of recovery in a post-Coronavirus world. " The blog highlights the need for economic recovery to translate into long-term green, clean, and resilient growth.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you about our online platforms such as our website and Community of Practice (CoP) . These channels, as well as our virtual meetings and events, will allow us to keep in touch during this difficult period. Please reach out if you have any questions, comments, or information to share.

We would like to share the exciting news that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council  formally approved the Integrated Watershed Management of the Putumayo-Içá river basin project to be part of its next work program, giving it a green light for its further preparation. The GEF approved a total of $700 million consisting of projects and programs related to issues involving wildlife, biodiversity, oceans, land degradation, chemicals and waste, and climate change adaptation.

The regional project to be implemented by Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru with financing from the GEF’s International Waters and Chemicals and Waste focal areas, w ith the World Bank as the implementing agency, aims to improve national and regional capacity to manage freshwater ecosystems and aquatic resources of the Putumayo-Içá basin in the Amazon region. WCS will participate as the executing agency. The Putumayo-Içá hosts one of the last large, intact forests in the world with more than 75% of the basin in indigenous territories, conservation areas, or proposed areas for conservation.

 

The project will build governance capacities of local communities and public entities towards a shared vision; facilitate the systematic generation, management, dissemination and exchange of knowledge and information to and between stakeholder; advance different approaches to address the potential impacts of water pollution from mercury and other contaminants from legal and illegal activities; and identify and strengthen sustainable management of water resources and ecosystems. The ASL supported the regional coordination process leading to the preparation of this project and strong collaboration will be ensured between this regional project and the ASL.

I n the past newsletter, we shared with you the ASL’s annual report . In response to the request from partners, we prepared an Executive Summary with the overview of our program and the main accomplishments of each of the national projects in Brazil, Colombia and Peru from initiation in the first quarter of 2018 through December 2019.

Available in:

Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program: Amazon Sustainable Landscapes

This GEF publication provides an overview of the Amazon Sustainable Landscape Program's second phase (ASL-2), which builds upon ASL-1 to strengthen integrated landscape management and conservation of ecosystems in the Amazon region.

The ASL is one of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Impact Programs (IPs) established under the 7th GEF replenishment, GEF-7. Other IPs include Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) and Sustainable Cities, and are being developed to address the drivers of environmental

TODAY:

Thursday, June 25, 2020 I 12:00 – 1:30 pm EDT

Sustainable financing of protected areas: Public-private partnerships, the experience of Forever Costa Rica

Forever Costa Rica Association (FCR), a private independent conservation trust fund created in 2010, works in partnership with the government’s National Service of Conservation Areas (SINAC) to finance and implement the country’s biodiversity conservation efforts and protected area system. FCR will present its 10+ years’ experience pursuing the conservation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and the evolution of its alliances with the private sector and civil society.

More information & how to join the webinar here.

* This is the last of a series of webinars related to sustainable financing of protected areas organized by the ASL in partnership with WWF.

Replay previous events:

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

BRAZIL

The State of Amazonas signs a 1.75 million Brazilian reais contract to analyze more than 8,000 Rural Environmental Registries in municipalities in the south of the state

The government of the State of Amazonas, through the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Project, signed a 1.75 million Brazilian reais contract (approximately US$330,000) for the analysis of 8,504 rural environmental registries, located in the south of the state of Amazonas. This is the first boost in the process of analyzing rural cadastres in the state.

In Amazonas, the project is implemented by the State Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA) and aims, among other goals, to encourage the environmental regularization of properties and possessions, in addition to facilitating access to credit lines for rural producers. The contract will contribute to the strengthening of public policies aimed at the protection and recovery of native vegetation.

The Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) is a national electronic public registry, mandatory for all rural properties with the purpose of integrating environmental information to compose a database for control, monitoring, environmental and economic planning.

According to the analysis of the National Rural Environmental Registry System (SICAR), in January 2018, of the total of 48,459 rural properties in the State registered in the CAR, about 12,146 are in the southern region of Amazonas. The CAR analysis will benefit rural properties located in seven municipalities in the south of the state: Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Lábrea, Manicoré and Novo Aripuanã.

Read more here (in Portuguese)

NEW ASL Brazil Monthly Newsletter



Brazil has launched their first newsletter where you can learn about activities, documents, and the latest news about the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Project. 

 

Learn more and join their community here

COLOMBIA

Amazon park rangers committed to preventing COVID-19 in remote areas of Colombia

Since the quarantine began, the park rangers not only continue to conserve the protected areas, but they have also been carrying out an important social task. Through radio communication, they have been disseminating everything related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the indigenous communities that inhabit the Caquetá rivers, Mirití and Apaporis areas in the Colombian Amazon.

Read more here (in Spanish)

RELATED VIDEOS

Escuela de Promotoría Campesina (Farmer Training School)

The Sustainable Amazon for Peace project has advanced in the design of two Sustainable Productive Landscapes together with local organizations, communities and rural families that inhabited them. This has included several activities including the promotion of the Escuela de Promotoría Campesina (Farmer Training School), with specific innovative tools to adapt to the current health emergency situation and subsequent travel restrictions.  

The core element of the school is the farmers’ knowledge of the territory, its species and habitats, the agro-ecological, silvopastoral and forestry systems. To share the knowledge despite the physical isolation and provide specific information and tutorial sessions, the project is developing media channels, and digital connectivity is currently being strengthened in 26 sites of the intervention area to allow the delivery of Zoom meetings and the use of WhatsApp and other applications.

In addition, a radio program is being designed with the participation of farmers who are sharing their knowledge with a broader audience. In the first season of this radio program, the issue of human-wildlife coexistence will be addressed particularly in relation to how farmer organizations have participated in the studies involving jaguars and their predatory patterns and the identification of actions for species conservation.

More information about the ASL project here (in Spanish)

RELATED VIDEOS

PERU

Building more fair and sustainable development together

With the participation of indigenous organizations, regional government representatives, and the Peruvian Ministries of Environment and Culture, 12 indigenous communities were selected to take part in the Sustainable Productive Landscapes in the Peruvian Amazon Project.

Under conservation agreements, the project is working collaboratively with these communities and their federations from the Ucayali and Huánuco regions, to improve the living conditions of approximately 1,700 families. To this end, the preparation and implementation of life plans that reflect the collective aspirations of each community and contribute to strengthening indigenous governance within the framework of the sustainable management of the territory will be promoted. Likewise, actions will be included to conserve and recover forests, strengthen community monitoring, and promote sustainable economic activities that improve their quality of life. The project will provide technical support throughout the process.

Read more about the project here (in Spanish)

Celebrating the first year of the launch of the financial sustainability initiative “Peru's natural heritage”

May 28th marked the first year of the launch of the Peruvian Natural Heritage Financial Sustainability Initiative, which seeks to create enabling conditions for the effective management of the country's protected natural areas and ensure their financial sustainability in perpetuity.

The Peruvian government, together with various strategic allies, committed to allocate $140 million to the first phase of the initiative, known as PdP-Amazonía, which will consolidate the management of 38 protected natural areas of the Amazon biome, representing 17 million hectares of the national territory— space where the largest water reserve in the country is conserved, the most varied biodiversity, and concentrates an important part of the living culture of the region.

RELATED VIDEO

Toolbox to manage COVID-19 in the indigenous territories of the Amazon

The Indigenous Councils of the Colombian departments of Amazonas, Vaupés and Guainía and the Fundación Gaia Amazonas built a Toolbox to make informed decisions and face the COVID-19 emergency while still recognizing their autonomy, self-determination, and own knowledge systems.

The Toolbox is available to everyone through digital media, hoping that it will be useful to strengthen processes and ensure the health and well-being of communities.

Learn more about this initiative here (in Spanish)

The ASL has established a Community of Practice (CoP) that aims to support the delivery of the national projects and program goals.

You can now become a member of this community and use this interactive and collaborative platform to  explore relevant  publications  and  resources, participate in discussions, share ideas and resources, and ask questions to other members.

* Once you complete this  form you'll receive an invitation by email together with instructions on becoming a member of the group.

Visit the ASL's website : www.worldbank.org/asl-program

Questions? Or news, publications, and articles to share?

Contact the ASL here: [email protected]