Author: Claudia Kirschning

BioPaSOS Project of CATIE and the Financial Institution El Buen Socio offered the workshop Financial Design and Evaluation of the organization  to support development in sustainable livestock

On May 17, took place the first workshop on design and financial evaluation with livestock producers of the basin El Tablón in Chiapas, Mexico.  The workshop’s objective was to identify needs and productive gaps according to market opinions and support livestock breeders in making business decisions.

At the workshop participated producers of common lands in Los Angeles and Ricardo Flores Magón, who besides the livestock activity, produce and commercialize different kinds of cheese that are  friendly with the environment.

As part of the workshop practices, producers analyzed primary production costs and built data charts with information that will be key for making decisions in production systems.

Producers analyzed production costs and key information for decision-making in their production systems

The workshop’s facilitators, Alonso López and Eduardo Molina from BioPaSOS, Eduardo Ibarra from El Buen Socio and La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve (REBISE, its Spanish acronym), said that the knowledge acquired will work for producers and their families to better comprehend the financial architecture of the business and determine rent ability  of their economic activity.

Producers now count on tools to identify business opportunities and improvements or strategies to reduce production costs, contribute to biodiversity conservation and obtain greater profits.

 

Link of the article:

https://www.catie.ac.cr/en/catie-news/3502-livestock-producers-and-their-families-reinforce-capabilities-to-determine-rent-ability-of-for-their-economic-activity.html

 

This article is from the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE). The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. 

Two Agronomy students do their thesis within the framework of BioPaSOS Project

With the purpose  of generating  relevant information that helps face challenges in the livestock sector, climate change and biodiversity conservation in  Chiapas, the Project Promoting Biodiversity Conservation through Agrosilvo-pastoral practices in Landscapes Dominated by Livestock systems in three regions of Mexico, known as BioPaSOS (its Spanish acronym) gave economical support to two students to do their academic thesis.

The benefited students are: Tania Elizabeth Gordillo Zebadua and Carlos Alberto Jiménez Vásquez, both students of Agronomy from the Agronomic Science faculty of the Autonomous University of Chiapas (FCA-UNACH, its Spanish acronym).

Director of FCA-UNACH, Roberto Coutiño and José Antonio Jiménez of BioPaSOS next
to students and professors at the signing of the agreement.

At the signing of this agreement were present the following participants: Roberto Countiño, director of the Agronomic Science Faculty from UNACH, José Guadalupe Araujo, academic secretary and Professors René Pinto, Francisco Guevara and Adalberto Hernández, who will be collaborating with the development of the research thesis.

Coordinator of BioPaSOS in Chiapas, José Antonio Jiménez, said that with this interinstitutional agreement relationships are strengthened with local partners and the commitment CATIE acquired with the signature of the agreement with UNCH in 2016 is reaffirmed.

On his part, Roberto Coutiño ratified CATIE’S and UNACH’s commitment and encouraged the students to do a good thesis job so that way they can keep having opportunities of support from International institutions of first level.

 

Link of the article:

https://www.catie.ac.cr/en/catie-news/3486-catie-and-the-autonomous-university-of-chiapas-strengthen-interinstitutional-collaboration.html

This article is from the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE). The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. 

The platform is structured around the development of the global program “Information and Communication Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation” (ICT-A) in Guadalajara. It is a useful tool for transferring knowledge by making the undertaken process of the „Citizen-Centered Innovation“ accessible for conceptualization and development of technology.

The platform is hosted on the servers of the City of Guadalajara and is structured in 4 sections:

(1) Local – ongoing development of the project in Guadalajara

(2) Global – progress of the projects in India and Peru

(3) Events and News – materials and resources used in workshops and meetings as well as publications from local media and social networks

(4) Resources – Audiovisual media, papers, presentations as well as technical aspects of the technology will be available in this section and can be downloaded for free.

 

Finally, the Home Page shows users the most relevant content of each section. The platform will be continuously updated within the planned duration of the global program (December 2019).

https://tica.guadalajara.gob.mx/

Control and surveillance activities are fundamental for the efficient management of Natural Protected Areas. SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) is a free Software integrated by a database, a geographic information system and a module of analysis and reporting.

The SMART tool has been developed by a consortium of conservation NGOs to support control and surveillance, as well as application of the law in Natural Protected Areas (ANP, for its Spanish acronym). The tool allows the systematic entry of observations in digital and georeferenced form, directly in the field, through mobile phones as well as the automated reporting of patrols and their analysis, from the office. In this way, an adaptive and efficient management of ANPs is facilitated.

 

 

Becan Archaeological Zone Map

 

In collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the regional project “Development of a regional system to monitor biodiversity and climate change”, implemented by GIZ  (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) is piloting the implementation of SMART in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve (Quintana Roo) and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (Campeche). In December 2017, a first planning and definition workshop for the SMART tool database structure was held in Chetumal, Quintana Roo. This workshop was attended mainly by managers of the reserves and regional management and Central Area of ​ CONANP to become familiar with the tool and make key decisions. In March 2018, the management and technical team received a 4-day course on the use and implementation of SMART. The workshops were given by experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Monitoring and Evaluation Center (CEMEC) of the National Council of Protected Areas of Guatemala (CONAP). Corresponding training courses are conducted in Guatemala and Belize.

 

Park rangers during the SMART training. Practical exercise in the Archaeological Zone Becán, Calakmul, Campeche

 

 

The implementation of the tool will streamline reporting by resource rangers and will make it more efficient. In this way, more and better information on threats and the state of biodiversity, as well as on conservation efforts, can be obtained. SMART also makes it easier to get this information to decision makers in a more regular, demonstrative and objective manner.

 

Participants of the SMART workshop, theoretical part

Within the framework of the project implementing strategies for the transition to low-emission rural development, the Annual Meeting of the Sustainable Tropics Alliance was held to advance towards jurisdictional sustainability and the regional and global strategies that convert the LED-R action plans into public policies.

The Sustainable Tropics Alliance (STA) is a strategic partnership of independent non-governmental organizations located in the tropical fringe of the planet, which uses research, the involvement of multiple stakeholders and local knowledge to develop alternative models of low-emission rural development (LED-R) in the Tropics. This alliance serves as a platform for its partners to collaborate globally in supporting policies, institutional arrangements and market mechanisms that drive LED-R. Therefore, the strength of this network lies in its ability to share lessons learned collectively and design strategies that can serve as models for other regions.

 

STA meeting with the Kotawaringin Bara District Chief

The STA in the framework of the IKI projects

With the aim of improving the concepts related to jurisdictional sustainability, the STA held its annual meeting from April 29th to May 2nd, in Indonesia. The work focused on reflecting and exchanging ideas on how to improve territorial performance and reduce emissions through incentive mechanisms and other regional and global strategies, which involve different groups of actors to convert LED-R action plans into public policies.

One of the core parts of the meeting was based on discussing the criteria that should include a new report on jurisdictional LED-R and the exchange of regional ideas, challenges and opportunities. In this sense, it was announced that in order to generate this report in jurisdictions belonging to the STA and the Governors’ Climate and Forest Task Force (GCF), two important tools are being applied: the Survey for the Evaluation of Jurisdictional Sustainability and the Sustainable Landscapes Rating Tool, with the objective of measuring the progress of the jurisdictions in the implementation of their LED-R strategies.

 

Field visit in palm oil plantation with RSPO certified producers

 

It is expected that the results of this research will be presented during important upcoming international forums on climate change. The objective is to generate reports in 42 jurisdictions and 38 states, to provide feedback to governments on improvements in their LED-R strategies, understand the challenges and opportunities related to them and identify which elements need specific support in some jurisdiction, in order to provide information to potential investors or donors and measure the risk they could assume by investing in these jurisdictions.

 

Field visit to indigenous community Desa Kubu of AMAN organization

The host of this meeting was Inovasi Bumi (INOBU), partner of the STA and the IKI project in Indonesia, a leader in applied innovative research and technology for terrestrial and marine landscapes, which is currently working on action plans to reduce deforestation, emission of greenhouse gases, and the social problems linked to the expansion of oil palm crops. Therefore, the activities included a visit to the Kotawaringin Barat, Central Kalimantan to learn about INOBU’s work on jurisdictional certification issues in palm oil.

 

LED-R report example

 

In the State of Chiapas, the project is implemented by Pronatura Sur, with the collaboration of SEMANH and CONAFOR. It is hoped to improve territorial performance through three action plans in the rural sectors of:

-Cattle raising

-Forest

-Palm oil

as well as a DRBE strategy at the state level.

 

 More information on the forums:

https://www.norad.no/en/front/events/oslo-tropical-forest-forum-2018/

https://gcftf.org/events-library/2018/9/10/gcf-task-force-annual-meeting-2018

https://globalclimateactionsummit.org/

 

This article is from Pronatura Sur. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. 

Climate change and digitalization are two of the main developments characterizing the twenty-first century. Recently, the new Blockchain digital technology has aroused special interest as a tool that can help improve transparency in climate change policy instruments, including monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, climate finance architecture, carbon markets and renewable energy. Blockchain technology allows the exchange of information through a cryptographic protocol whose users are constantly updated and verified. In recent years, the climate change community has begun to explore its potential by applying the technology in pilot projects. However, Blockchain remains a new and poorly understood topic with few experts. With the aim of opening the subject to a wider audience, a seminar was organized on May 29 by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM). The seminar aimed to

– Identify Blockchain’s potential for combating climate change;

 

– Explore Blockchain’s potential for creating climate change public policies; and

 

– Explore Blockchain’s potential for private sector climate policies.

 

The seminar took place on May 29 in the framework of a GIZ cooperation with the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

The launch of the new portal “Climate Smart Water” seeks to encourage water and sanitation operators to integrate a clear vision of how their activities are linked to climate change, and how they can take measures to improve their efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint.

The “Climate Smart Water” Portal is a new resource for the water and sanitation service providers (Operator Organizations, as they are known in Mexico – O.O.s), to integrate a clear vision of the link that the activities of providing drinking water and treat wastewater have with regards to climate change.

 

 

In Mexico and many parts of the world, most O.O.s have a delicate job. Water is fundamental for a dignified life, as well as for any productive activity, for which the adequate and sustainable management of water resources becomes critical for sustainable development. However, due to political and social issues, the reality of many O.O.s is of little continuity in their direction, financial difficulties, inefficiencies and significant water losses.

Therefore, O.O.s have a strong focus on reducing operating costs to continue providing the service to a growing population, with stricter environmental standards and unpredictable new effects of climate change, whose main impacts are caused by meteorological events that involve the water cycle.

Given this delicate situation, it is crucial to recognize that the impacts to the water and sanitation sector are not the only link with climate change, but that there is also a significant contribution of greenhouse gases (GHG). This is due to the emissions produced for the energy required to supply water to cities, and for the production of GHG in the management and disposal of wastewater.

 

 

Being clear about the relationship of climate change and the O.O.s allows increasing the awareness of the importance of ensuring quality services and implementing improvements that at the same time help to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The “Climate Smart Water” portal provides a roadmap that allows O.O.s to identify the link of their activities with the mitigation of climate change, and provides tools and resources to evaluate how to reduce their carbon footprint.

The structure of the road map has 5 stepped stages.

• Provides information on the importance of reducing the carbon footprint

• An online tool allows accounting for the emissions of the systems administered by the O.O.s

• The same tool allows identifying opportunities for improvement

• Provides information on how to implement solutions in the areas of opportunity identified

• After the implementation, it allows to monitor the O.O.s´ performance and how GHG emissions have been reduced or modified over time

The address of the portal is http://climatesmartwater.org/

 

 

The “Climate Smart Water” portal was developed within the framework of the Global Project “Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation” (WaCCliM, www.wacclim.org), a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the International Water Association, part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany.

After almost 6 years of implementation, the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine-Coastal Biodiversity in the Gulf of California – BioMar program completes its work and presents a video and a report that summarizes its main achievements.

The BioMar Program presents a video and a report summarizing the main results after almost 6 years of work in the Gulf of California region.

 

 

The main achievements of the BioMar Program include the preparation of 5 strategic plans for the entire region and the establishment of a scorecard baseline for 18 natural protected areas of the Gulf of California. The program also promoted the Replica of Best Practices, starting with the setting-up of a Best Practices Expo, where 69 projects from the entire region participated. Then, 15 successful models were selected, and since 2015 the program held 9 exchange and training workshops to promote the replication of good practices.

It is also worth mentioning the efforts to increase the conservation area through different Conservation and Use Mechanisms, such as the Destination Agreements, where a surface requested at the CONANP of 1 234 km of ZOFEMAT coast and 131 312 hectares of coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and marshes, was achieved. Finally, the program also triggered the process for the construction of a Shared Vision in the region, first articulating a vision within the environmental sector, between CONANP and other partners and allies, but also building the first bridges to summon other sectors, especially fishing and tourism.

Biosphere Reserve El Vizcaíno

The program was implemented on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany, through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and had as counterpart the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP). The program aimed to improve the conservation and sustainable use of marine-coastal biodiversity in the Gulf of California, focused on 18 natural protected areas of the Gulf of California, which are part of 3 CONANP Regional Directions, and was structured through 4 components: the Management of Natural Protected Areas; the Replication of Best Practices; the Mechanisms of Conservation and Use; and the Creation of a Shared Vision for the Gulf of California.

Memory (in Spanish)

Interactive infographics

More information:
www.biomar.org
daniel.delatorre@giz.de

BioMar team in La Paz, Baja California Sur

 

 

 

 

In many countries, policymakers face challenges in analyzing the mitigation potential of their cities and regions due to lack of experience or capacities at both national and sub-national levels, that allow them to transform their climate efforts into effective actions.

To overcome these barriers and strengthen efforts to create an ambitious and comprehensive national climate policy, GIZ, through various tools and projects, promotes the exchange of best practices and shares interesting information about actions against climate change at all levels.

Therefore, GIZ created an interactive flash that illustrates in a simple and descriptive way how the organization contributes to the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at urban level in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The flash provides useful, quick and easy information including specific actions related to water, waste management, resilience, energy and industry, mobility, from the perspective of the actors involved in countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

The flash was produced within the framework of the “Cities and Climate Change” workstream of GIZ sectoral networks in the region. To see the flash of the “Implementation of NDCs and SDGs in the urban context in Latin America and the Caribbean” please click below on the Adobe Flash Player.

Obtener Adobe Flash Player

The BioPaSOS Project joins to local organizations to promote sustainable agro-silvo-pastoral systems and contribute to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services

In Mexico, the Initiative of Reducing Emissions (IRE) promotes positive incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GEI) caused by deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems, which allows to protect forest and conserve biodiversity.  This initiative is developed as a part of the Early Actions REDD+ in Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Ro Jalisco and Yucatán.

Specifically in Jalisco State, The Project BioPaSOS of CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) align its actions to the ones that IRE develops and other local organizations to promote climate-smart livestock at Ayuquila river basin and the Southern Coast region

In the state of Jalisco, the project BioPaSOS promotes sustainable agro-silvo-pastoral systems

These organizations work together in strengthening capacities of technicians and cattlemen to conserve biodiversity, generate ecosystem services and create an institutional policy framework to promote agro-silvo-pastoral practices that improve productivity, family income and climate reduction vulnerability in livestock landscapes.

During the last months, ValuES has carried out numerous activities. Below is a brief summary of the activities and additional information on the following topics:

  1. Results of the sixth plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
  2. IPBES Newsletter
  3. Support for the national adoption of the main results of the IPBES Regional Assessment for Africa and the Americas
  4. Jordan is a member of IPBES
  5. Website and inventory of methods in Spanish, English and Russian

 

 

  1. Results of IPBES 6

From March 18 to 23, the sixth plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) took place in Medellín, Colombia. The project ValuES has been following the evolution of IPBES since 2015. ValuES collaborates closely with the Technical Support Unit for Capacity Development, and also with the Unit that works on the conceptualization of multiple values ​​(TSUV), based at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). It has developed the guide on Multiple Values ​​of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services while coordinating the integration of the theme in the different thematic and regional evaluations, as well as the global evaluation on the subject, whose funding was approved during the last plenary. ValuES has prepared a newsletter that includes a summary of the decisions adopted at IPBES-6.

 

 

 

The sixth plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Medellin, Colombia

 

  1. Subscription to the IPBES newsletter

The newsletter of GIZ ValuES IPBES provides information about IPBES, such as calls, events and policy summaries. The newsletter is published at irregular intervals and is available in three languages: English, French and Spanish.

To subscribe write an email to gianna-maria.pedot@giz.de

 

  1. National adoption of the IPBES Regional Assessment for Africa and the Americas

Shortly after the approval of the regional evaluations by the sixth plenary session of IPBES, held from April 10th to 12th, ValuES organized a francophone workshop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on the regional evaluation of IPBES for Africa. The event brought together 40 representatives of GIZ and its partners, as well as scientific institutions from seven French-speaking African countries. They discussed instruments, structures and strategies to use the results of the evaluation, its key messages and the proposed actions, and prepared roadmaps to advance on the integration at the national level of some results of the regional evaluation.

 

 

 

Participants at the workshop on national adoption of the IPBES Regional Evaluation for Africa, Abidjan.

Currently, the ValuES team is organizing a meeting to present and discuss the results of the evaluation of the Americas with partner countries and counterparts in Latin America. This meeting, the Fifth Regional Meeting of ValuES in Latin America, will be held from June 4th to 6th, 2018 in Pirenópolis, Brazil. Similar to the meeting in Africa, it is expected that one of the results will be the formulation of roadmaps to integrate certain elements of the regional evaluation of the Americas into national policies.

  1. Jordan is a member of IPBES

Very good news come from Jordan, the partner country of ValuES is a member of IPBES since May 2018. ValuES has supported Jordan in this process.

 

  1. Website in Spanish, English and Russian

The ValuES website is now also available in Spanish and Russian. On the site are:

• The Browser of ValuES Methods: it helps to get to know better some methods and to find those that are most suitable to be applied in specific contexts.

• Case studies: experiences with assessment processes and valuation of ecosystem services

• Information on ecosystem services and IPBES

 

 

First results workshop is held

The establishment of an Emissions Trading System (ETS) involves the analysis of aspects such as the implications in terms of competitiveness and risk of carbon leakage. Therefore, SEMARNAT, with GIZ and a team of national and international experts carry out a study to measure the competitiveness of companies in this context.

For the establishment of an ETS, taking into account the possible economic effects at national and international level is a priority, both in terms of its design and implementation. According to the recent reform to the Climate Change Law, the preliminary bases, which will contain the basis of the ETS in its pilot phase to be published in 2018: