CENTERS FOR
BIODIVERSITY
CONSERVATION
Claude Gascon
Executive Vice President, Programs and Science
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
WHAT ARE
THE CBCs?
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Chief programmatic and operational units
charged with carrying out CI’s mission
Take into account not just a particular
national park or endangered species but
entire regions
A framework for transferring to the field
the capacity to carry out conservation
projects
Vision centered on science, partnerships
and human well-being
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
WHERE ARE
OUR CBCs?
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Four CBCs debuted in 2001 and 2002:
Andes, Brazil-Guianas, Madagascar, and
Melanesia
19 countries; 500 partners; contributing to
create or manage 412 protected areas
(100 million hectares)
Philippines, China, and Mexico & Central
America have begun to transition to the
CBC model
Other CI Regional Programs will one day
follow
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
OBJECTIVES OF
THIS PRESENTATION
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Reflect on the CBCs concept and
experiences
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Prepare our staff to understand and
improve the CBC framework
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Encourage exchange of knowledge
among CBCs and Regional Programs
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
CBC ROADMAP
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
A SCIENCE-DRIVEN
APPROACH
Create
a Regional
Conservation
Vision
Centers
for Biodiversity
Conservation
MULTIFACETED
STRATEGIES
Create
a Regional
Conservation
Vision
Centers
for Biodiversity
Conservation
CBC ROADMAP
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
CORE TEAM
Regional
Capacity
Centers forDevelop
Biodiversity
Conservation
STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS
Regional
Capacity
Centers forDevelop
Biodiversity
Conservation
LEARNING AND
ACTION NETWORKS
Regional
Capacity
Centers forDevelop
Biodiversity
Conservation
CBC ROADMAP
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
MEASURES OF
PROGRESS AND
EFFECTIVENESS
Generate
and Measure
Value
Centers for
Biodiversity
Conservation
LONG-TERM
SUSTAINABILITY
Generate
and Measure
Value
Centers for
Biodiversity
Conservation
CBC CONTINUUM
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
CBC PROFILES
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
ANDES CBC
Working in a region with distinct national governments, local
histories, political and cultural realities is challenging. A key has been
the quality of the leadership we have in each country program. By
combining expertise in biodiversity conservation with an ability to
build consensus with national governments and society, we can have
a greater impact on preserving the region’s amazing biodiversity.
Robert Bensted-Smith
Executive Director Andes CBC
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
ANDES CBC
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Endemism: one in every ten of the world’s mammal, bird and
amphibian species is only found in the Andean countries. The CBC has
created a Threatened Species Initiative that helps conserve 320
species.
Deforestation: Andes CBC and CABS have developed deforestation
analysis to compare 10 year of vegetation coverage in the 5 countries.
Governments are using the findings for REDD negotiation.
Climate change: As result of complex partnerships, ChoCO2 project in
Ecuador attained official approval from CDM and is growing 265 ha of
native trees in a KBA of extreme diversity and endemism.
Infrastructure: Capitalize on IIRSA’s report produced by CABS to
caution decision makers on potential harm to biodiversity, economic and
cultural implications.
Engagement: Collaboration with Roman Catholic Church to save the
yellow-eared parrots and their habitats.
Long-term agreements: Chachis receive US$5 ha/year plus technical
and planning assistance for setting up a buffer zone next to the
Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
BRAZIL-GUIANAS CBC
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Both programs have scaled up CI’s presence in the region since the creation of the
CBCs, particularly with the development of a 130-million-ha Guiana Transboundary
Conservation Corridor extending from the Brazilian Amazon into Suriname, Gyuana,
French Guiana, and Venezuela.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
BRAZIL
 Megadiversity: Brazil ranks first in richness for vascular plants,
freshwater fish, and mammals with 200,000 species known to
science (789 threatened). The CBC has provided long-term
technical and financial assistance to projects aiming to protect them.
 Biodiversity knowledge: 11 biological expeditions in the Amapa
Biodiversity Corridor to help devise the management plan for a 10.5
million-hectare region; and a two-year graduate program in tropical
biodiversity at the Federal University of Amapa to increase local
capacity.
 Strategic alliances: CEPF helped catalyze work with many top
Brazilian NGOs, which spawned 292 conservation projects and
strengthened a network of over 500 organizations in two corridors of
the Atlantic Forest Hotspot.
 Private reserves: programs in the Atlantic Forest and Pantanal
wetlands spur the creation and management of private commitment
to conservation.
 Territorial management: supporting empowerment of the Kayapo
indigenous people to continue to protect their lands and culture in
the midst of the Amazonian frontier.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
GUIANAS
 Opportunity: To protect ecological and evolutionary processes and
to generate revenue by preserving the largest block of intact tropical
forest on Earth.
 Develop human capacity: With other CBCs in South America, the
CBC trains local biodiversity analysts to carry out KBA analysis and
documentation, and forest cover monitoring; conducts RAPs with
indigenous communities (Masakenari, Wai Wai,) and helps
governments position about climate change.
 Funding mechanisms: US$15-million Suriname Conservation Fund
and the proposed Guyana National Protected Areas Trust.
 Community Owned Reserve: The first of its kind with the Wai Wai
totaling 625,000 ha in the far-south of Guyana. An important
precedent for other indigenous communities and the government,
which is now prepared to designate additional conservation areas.
 Conservation Concession: a 30-year agreement that protects
200,000 acres of high biodiversity-value rainforest of the upper
Essequibo River.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
MADAGASCAR AND INDIAN
OCEAN ISLANDS CBC
One of the original objectives of the CBC model was to
create a place where Malagasy conservation professionals
can develop a career. We have cultivated a cadre of experts
with a deep commitment to conservation who dedicate
themselves 100% to excelling at their work.
Leon Rajaobelina
Vice President of Madagascar CBC
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
MADAGASCAR AND INDIAN
OCEAN ISLANDS CBC
 Political will: In Sep 2003, President Marc Ravalomanana made an
unprecedented commitment to triple the surface of PAs (target: 6
million ha) over 5 years. The CBC has played a leadership role to
design and implement the System of Protected Areas in Madagascar
and more than 2 million ha of new PAs have been created.
 Climate change: With MacArthur Found. and WWF, the CBC is
modeling impacts in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The
ultimate goal is the creation of a network of PAs resilient to the future
effects of global warming.
 Value chain approach: Conduct socio-economic analyses of
ecotourism projects in Menabe and Ankehineny-Zahamena to ensure
that investments in local tourism directly respond to market
requirements and provide benefits to community micro-enterprises.
 Nodes: Provides small grants to community associations for activities
that directly contribute to conservation outcomes.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
MELANESIA CBC
The CBC persistence is one source of our success. We’ve
stayed in these places through ups and downs, so we’ve
gained trust with the local people. They are the stewards,
who are doing the conservation work on the ground in many
places.
Bruce Beehler
CI Vice President for Pacific Programs
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
MELANESIA CBC
 Cultural diversity: The CBC is spread across 6 countries, thousands of
islands with peculiar governing structures, use rights, and conflicting
claims where more than 1,300 different languages are spoken.
 Biological inventories: RAP expeditions to Papua, Papua New Guinea,
and New Caledonia; with CSIRO, the CBC assessed the habitat of 84
threatened species identifying 60+ KBAs in New Guinea.
 Community Conservation Agreements: in YUS, Lakekamu, Papua
Barrier, Makira Island and other parts of Melanesia. Residents of the
Mamberamo Basin have signed an agreement covering 100,000 hectares
of tropical lowlands. With the CBC’s technical help, community members
have created maps of their traditional lands and received assistance with
conservation planning.
 Ecosystem Services: Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessments (MLA) to
document what the environment, habitats, and species mean to local
communities in Mamberamo. The “natural resources use” maps are used
to broker voluntary statements from the communities about how they wish
to utilize and conserve their lands.
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
CBC KEY FACTS
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation
RESOURCES
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LEARNING
PORTAL
http:/learning.conservation.org
Centers for Biodiversity Conservation