Parks
in Peril
 The
Parks in Peril Program, the largest site-based conservation
program in Latin America, is a partnership among USAID, The
Nature Conservancy, foreign governmental organizations and non-governmental
organizations in 17 countries. Over the past 16 years, Parks
in Peril has dramatically improved the conservation status of
45 national parks and nature reserves covering more than 45
million acres in Latin America and the Caribbean. These protected
areas encompass a variety of ecosystem types, including tropical
forests, coral reefs, and savannahs.
The overarching goal of the Parks in Peril program is to strengthen local capacity to manage protected areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. PiP's achieves this goal by: 1) Building on-site logistic capacity to manage parks in the hemisphere's most imperiled ecosystems; 2) Developing the analytic and strategic capacity necessary for long-term management of these areas; 3) Creating long-term financial mechanisms to sustain the local management of these areas; 4) Integrating PiP protected areas into the economic lives of local society; and 5) Using PiP site-based activities, and the methodologies we develop there, to influence conservation in other sites in the region's most imperiled ecosystems.
In FY 2005, PiP supported efforts to link forest and biodiversity conservation to the clean and consistent production of water. For example, PiP was instrumental in strengthening or initiating payments for environmental services in Ecuador, Bolivia, Jamaica and Guatemala. In these programs, land owners are compensated for each hectare of forest maintained on their land because of the services that standing forests provide, such as water purification, carbon sequestration, or scenic beauty. One such program is Ecuador's Quito Water Fund (FONAG), which has invested nearly $1 million in 14 projects in five watersheds to date.
PiP also supported the development of livelihoods that reduce impacts on forests and biodiversity. For example, in Bolivia's Amboro Carrasco site, an innovative native tree species seed collection program supported by PiP has expanded to four communities. A seed bank funded by the private Forestry Centre Foundation (CETEFOR) guarantees purchase of their seeds and provides a viable conservation alternative to illegal timber extraction from the Park.
In Colombia, PiP supported a "property tax exemption for conservation" program, which has been in operation for six months in the town of Encino. Through the program, landowners receive a 25-35 percent reduction in property taxes if they maintain more than five hectares of forest on their property. Ninety-four landowners that maintain 3,396 hectares of forest have applied for the exemption. The program is being used as a potential model by other municipalities that want to provide incentives for biodiversity conservation.
USAID funding of Parks in Peril will end in 2007. Additional information
about the program is available in the following documents
and at www.ParksinPeril.org:
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