| Equator Prize 2002
Equator Prize 2002 Winners Announced!
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The Equator
Prize 2002 Jury has selected the following seven outstanding
community initiatives for recognition with the Equator Prize 2002.
These communities received the Prizes and international recognition
at an awards ceremony held on 30 August 2002 at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Drawn
from a pool of over 420 total nominations and 27
remarkable finalists, these communities represent outstanding
achievements in reducing poverty and conserving and sustainably
using biodiversity.
In recognition of outstanding community efforts for poverty reduction
and biodiversity conservation:
Toledo Institute for Development and
Environment (TIDE) - Belize
Green Life Association of Amazônia
(AVIVE) - Brazil
Uma Bawang Resident's Association (UBRA)
- Malaysia
Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Network
- Fiji and
Il Ngwesi Group Ranch - Kenya / Suledo
Forest Community - Tanzania
(Sharing an award for their innovative approaches, in similar cultural
and ecological environments, to poverty reduction and sustainable
use of biodiversity.)
In recognition of an outstanding community initiative associated
with a World Heritage Site:
The Talamanca Initiative - Costa Rica
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Toledo Institute for Development and Environment
(TIDE) - Belize
The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) works
in some of the poorest areas of Belize and, through the Maya Mountain
Marine Sustainable Livelihoods Initiative, collaborates with local
communities to promote sustainable income generation and conservation.
TIDE has focused much of its poverty reduction efforts on certification
programs and training, including an on-going program to train and
certify flyfishing guides and an "ECO-OK" certification
project for sustainably produced local timber. The project also
supports microenterprise and ecotourism training through a tourism
arm, TIDETours. TIDETours subcontracts with small community-based
businesses trained by TIDE to return income to communities and promote
local enterprise. Through promotion of participatory co-management
of natural resources and development of community monitoring, the
project has also reduced poaching of endangered manatees, the practice
of gillnetting, and illegal hunting and logging.
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Green Life Association of Amazônia (AVIVE)
- Brazil
AVIVE was founded in the Brazilian city of Silves to defend and
preserve the local environment and culture while also working to
improve the quality of life of local people, especially women. Since
being launched in 1999, much of AVIVE's work has focused on developing
techniques for sustainable extraction of the Aniba plant, also known
as pau-rosa, as well as other medicinal and aromatic native plant
species. The project also promotes the home production of natural
medicines and cosmetics as an economic alternative for the women
of Silves. These products are now sold in stores, catering to local
consumers and tourists, and are marketed abroad to generate income
for local women. The organization also leads an important environmental
education program and produces seeds for the replanting and recovery
of regional forests, where extractive activities threaten biodiversity.
To protect the endangered pau-rosa and other rare plant species,
AVIVE highlights the importance of sustainable extraction and is
actively involved in the creation of a Sustainable Development Reserve
where these species can be cultivated in ways that do not imperil
their existence.
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Uma Bawang Resident's Association (UBRA) - Malaysia
In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the Uma Bawang Resident's Association
(UBRA) represents a community of less than 100 people that has successfully
used blockades, and now innovative mapping efforts, to defend customary
land rights and access to forest lands. Critically, since UBRA's
first mapping workshop in 1995, this technique has been increasingly
used by other communities to legally defend their borders and secure
recognition of traditional lands. UBRA also helps communities learn
a wide variety of skills that provide cash income, including communal
rice farming and milling, pig-rearing, handicrafts marketing, growing
pepper and fruit trees, and developing sustainable teakwood plantations.
Projects supported by UBRA provide incomes without endangering forest
resources and are complemented by work in reforestation and restoration
of damaged forest lands. Since 1992, UBRA has planted 4,000 tree
seedlings in degraded areas, with an average of 200 fruit trees
planted per family, and is leading a new reforestation initiative
focused on native species
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Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Network - Fiji
Since its inception in 1999, the Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area
Network has grown to include communities in six districts and cover
10% of the inshore marine area of Fiji. The involvement of communities
in the network has led to increases in the number and size of clams,
crabs, and other species harvested adjacent to tabu areas, where
fishing is prohibited. As a result, household incomes have increased
35% over three years and catches have tripled. Much of the success
of the network can be attributed to its participatory and collaborative
focus, which has ensured that local people are at the center of
the network's operations. As a testament to the success of the network
in protecting marine biodiversity and alleviating poverty in fishing
communities, the government of Fiji has recently incorporated many
of its approaches into national policies designed to protect the
coastal resources of Fiji for future generations.
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Il Ngwesi Group Ranch - Kenya
The Il Ngwesi Group Ranch on Kenya's Laikipia Plateau has had great
success in reducing local poverty and conserving biodiversity through
promotion of ecotourism and establishment of a community owned trust
responsible for local land management. The ranch itself is a collectively
owned initiative of 499 local households that incorporates an exclusive
ecotourism lodge and a locally-led committee responsible for land
and resource management. By limiting poaching through community
patrols and leading efforts to sustainably manage local resources,
the trust has helped to secure a more certain future for wildlife
on Il Ngwesi and neighboring reserves. Poverty at Il Ngwesi has
been tackled through the redirection of tourism revenues back to
the local community. By adopting a collaborative approach to resource
management, Il Ngwesi has achieved remarkable success in promoting
local livelihoods without compromising the integrity of the natural
environment.
and
Suledo Forest Community - Tanzania
Harnessing their knowledge of the species-rich Miombo forests of
Tanzania's Arusha region, the Suledo Forest Community has established
an effective system of village-based forest management that meets
the diverse needs of local people. After being spurred into action
in 1993 by government plans for use of local forests, communities
have regained control over land management and have devised a system
of unique forest planning zones. To add weight to community anti-poaching
rules, area villages have passed supportive by-laws and members
of local communities now patrol each forest zone to ensure enforcement.
As a result of these interventions, villagers have access to a greater
range of forest products, including sustainable timber and products
such as fruits, nuts, mushrooms and medicines. Water supply has
also been improved, sustainable tree nurseries, vegetable gardens
and orchards have been introduced, and maize production has increased
from 15 to 25 bags per hectare.
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The Talamanca Initiative - Costa Rica
A collaborative partnership of three community-focused organizations
- Associacion ANAI, APPTA, and CBTC - the Talamanca Initiative has
worked since 1983 to integrate biodiversity conservation and socio-economic
development in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica. The initiative's
biodiversity conservation efforts include establishment of Gandoca-Manzanillo
National Wildlife Refuge, a last sanctuary for the endangered Manatee,
and development of Central America's only permanent raptor migration
monitoring program. To encourage sustainable socio-economic development,
the initiative has promoted crop diversification and organic agriculture,
with APPTA's processing system becoming the largest volume producer
and exporter of organic products in Central America. Since 1991,
the initiative has also run a Regional Training Center and has helped
establish 13 local ecotourism ventures. As an example of the gains
that have been made through the initiative's work, income in villages
has risen up to six-fold and communities have been able to engage
in sustainable income generating pursuits that also work to protect
their natural environment.
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