ANAI TI 2008

Asociación ANAI Apartado 170-2070 Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, COSTA RICA Teléfono (506) 2224-3570 • Facsímil (506) 2253-7524 Correo Electrónico: anaicr@racsa.co.cr

ANAI, Inc. 199 Uplands, Berkeley, CA 94705 USA Telephone/Fax (510) 547-3548 • E-mail: page@igc.org

Sustainable Development for the World’s Tropics Desarrollo Sostenible para el Tropico Mundial

ANAI’S TALAMANCA INITIATIVE: a people’s strategy

Introduction The Talamanca Initiative, represented by the Costa Rican-based organization ANAI and two of its grassroots partners, APPTA (The Talamanca Small Farmers Association) and CBTC (The Talamanca Caribbean Biological Corridor) received the prestigious Equator Prize at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (a.k.a. The Earth Summit) in Johannesburg, South Africa in recognition of its “remarkable success at linking conservation with economic development.”

The Equator Initiative, a global partnership of the United Nations Development Program, the government of Canada, the World Conservation Union, The Nature Conservancy, and a number of other international organizations promoting sustainable development in the tropics, presented only six of these awards worldwide to honor extraordinary work in this field. Referred to as the “Oscars of Sustainable Development,” these prizes recognize “innovative community partnerships that exemplify extraordinary accomplishment in reducing poverty in the tropics through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.”

Criteria for selection of Equator Prize recipients were: Impact: Initiatives that have reduced poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and/or through the equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the use of genetic resources.

Partnerships: Initiatives that have adopted a partnership approach through linking activities with nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations, the private sector, governments, research and/or academic institutions, and public or private foundations.

Sustainability: Initiatives that can demonstrate at least three years of successful and lasting changes in local socio-economic conditions and have positive impacts on biodiversity.

Innovation and transferability: Initiatives demonstrating new and adaptable approaches that overcome prevailing constraints and offer relevant knowledge, expertise and lessons learned.

Leadership and community empowerment: Initiatives demonstrating leadership that has inspired action and change consistent with the vision of the Equator Initiative, including policy and/or institutional change and local people's empowerment, especially that of marginalized groups.

Gender equality and social inclusion: Initiatives that incorporate diverse social and cultural needs and promote social equality and equity.

The Equator Initiative Technical Advisory Committee evaluated 420 nominated projects from 77 countries. Of these, 27 were recommended for final consideration by a jury of renown international figures including two Nobel Peace Laureates. Those 27 finalists were invited to present at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johanesburg, South Africa in August of 2002, where the six Equator Prizes were awarded.

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ANAI and The Talamanca Initiative Desarrollo Sostenible para el Tropico Mundial Sustainable Development for the World’s Tropics

Asociación ANAI is a Costa Rican-based NGO (Non Government Organization) founded in 1978 to help local communities in southeast Costa Rica’s Talamanca region integrate sustainable conservation and development initiatives and share those experiences throughout Costa Rica, Central America and other tropical areas.

ANAI, Inc., founded in 1980, is a U.S.-based 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the work of Asociación ANAI and its Talamancan partners through fundraising and other support activities.

ANAI’s members, board and staff are a mixture of local farmers and U.S. & Costa Rican professionals and scientists. Before the phrase “sustainable development” came into fashion, ANAI was pioneering people-centered development initiatives to strengthen local communities’ capacity to become more economically self-reliant while preserving their remarkable rain forests and other unique ecosystems.

The Talamanca Initiative led by ANAI is an alliance of community-based organizations that have put into practice innovative and successful sustainable development strategies that have produced tangible environmental and socio-economic benefits for this region and its inhabitants. Working with its grassroots partners, ANAI has for 25 years catalyzed and facilitated a process that has diversified the economy of the region’s rural communities through environmentally friendly activities that include the production, processing and export of certified organic products, locally owned ecotourism enterprises, reforestation with native species, carbon sequestration, community conservation initiatives, and community-supported science and stewardship.

This highly participatory regional process is based on the belief that sustainable development and biodiversity conservation in the tropics will be successful only if local people are active stakeholders whose welfare is improved through these activities. Local initiatives must not only hold enough economic promise to encourage people to take the risk involved in a different way of doing things, but their activities need to be practical, easily learned, and capable of being implemented. The successes to date of The Talamanca Initiative derive in large part from this ability to initiate and facilitate grassroot processes that relate to the peculiarities of people and place.

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Costa Rica and Talamanca “The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. That is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.”

- E. O. Wilson, Biophilia

Costa Rica is Latin America’s oldest and most stable democracy. It is the only Latin American country to survive the past 50 years with no military intervention in politics. The country is a biodiversity superpower, with greater than four percent of the planet’s total number of plants and animals. While more than 10% of the country has been designated as “protected areas”, paradoxically Costa Rica has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. Turmoil and poverty in the neighboring countries of Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have turned this nation into a magnet for poor landless peasants. Costa Rica’s political stability and respect for the rule of law create real opportunities for success in combating poverty and biodiversity loss. But its hardearned gains in education, economic development and protection of its unique natural resources are clearly at risk.

Greater Talamanca (shaded in green) is a vast region of mountains and coastline covering much of southern Costa Rica and northern Panama. Home to 4% of the world’s biodiversity and Central America’s largest remaining intact rain forest, this area has been recognized by all major conservation groups as one of the most Panama biologically rich and important places on earth. At the same time, as is the case in most other remaining tropical rain forest areas of the world, the people of Greater Talamanca are extremely poor, and this region is threatened with destruction during our lifetime in the name of “progress” and “development.”

The Costa Rican portion of Greater Talamanca (known simply as Talamanca) where ANAI has centered its work is culturally, as well as biologically, diverse. It is home to over half of Costa Rica’s indigenous population, including peoples of the Bribri and Cabecar tribes, each with their own language and customs. The Hispanic/mestizo population is unusually diverse as well, due to historic and continuing immigration from various parts of Central America. Along the coast the dominant group is English-speaking blacks of West Indian origin. Smaller numbers of immigrants from elsewhere have also established themselves there.

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If a grassroots process of sustainable development can be implemented in such a challenging, culturally diverse environment, it will be able to contribute to the conservation of tropical forests in other regions of the world. With this as a long-term hope, ANAI founded its work in Talamanca on five core beliefs: 1. No inherent contradiction exists between economic development and environmental conservation. If communities and nations are to thrive, development and conservation must take place together.

2. The best stewards of the tropical lowlands are the campesino, Black, and Indian farmers who have dedicated their lives to these lands.

3. The natural forest and other unique primary ecosystems are Talamanca’s most economically valuable asset in the long term.

4. All natural tropical areas that are not protected will be radically altered during our lifetime. We must work to protect these areas and preserve their biodiversity for future generations to enjoy.

5. A winning strategy to address these issues must successfully integrate environmental, social, economic and organizational needs.

ANAI’s Talamanca Initiative has involved the collaboration and cooperation of over 20 grassroots, community-based organizations, many small-scale producers, and the Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment. All share the common goal of improving people’s quality of life in Talamanca through the preservation and environmentally-ethical use of its outstanding biodiversity and unique ecosystems. A common core belief is that the key to conservation and sustainable development is the successful management of these issues by the local people.

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What ANAI Has Helped Talamancans Create “Because of ANAI’s efforts, Talamanca is now a region where rural economic development goes hand in hand with the conservation of biodiveristy and natural resources.”

- Thomas J. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, 1998-2001

ANAI has put into practice a strategy that integrates biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development through activities that directly benefit the environment, the communities, the people, and the local economy. The focus has been on establishing the conditions for a self-sustaining process, involving work in the broad areas of conservation, economic development, training and education, organizational capacity building, sharing and advocacy.

Accomplishments together with partners include: • A national wildlife refuge that is unique for the way it is being co-managed by local communities and government agencies.

• A marine turtle conservation Program that now provides 6 times more local income through funded research and ecotourism than the previous harvesting and selling of turtle eggs.

• A regional conservation alliance working to consolidate and protect a unique forested corridor that stretches from the continental divide at 12,533 feet to the sea.

• Initiation of a regional aquatic biomonitoring program promoting community-based scientific research and scientific validation of the important role small farm agro-ecosystems can play in biodiversity conservation.

• Central America’s only permanent raptor migration monitoring program: one of only three places in the world where more than one million birds of prey have been counted in a single season.

• A regional farmers’ coop serving over fifteen hundred farmers, which is now the largest volume producer and exporter of organic products in Central America.

• 11 locally owned ecotourism ventures which are a growing source of income for the region’s people.

• Youth leadership programs and a locally run regional training center that serves over 2,000 people per year.

• The creation and growth - at the regional and community levels - of more than 20 grassroots conservation and development organizations, dedicated to maintaining thriving human communities and a healthy, natural environment. Significant participation and leadership by women has been achieved in most organizations.

• Sharing the Talamanca Initiative model, and the knowledge and experienced gained through this process, with other community groups, NGOs, governments and international agencies working in the tropics.

• Leadership participation in many influential regional, national and international forums and organizations. Promotion of strategies, activities and laws that link economic development with nature conservation.

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What Makes the Talamanca Initiative So Unique?

Even more important than the many tangible results and impacts mentioned in this and accompanying documents is the ongoing process in Talamanca. While the concept of “sustainable development” has been promoted for over 30 years by leading thinkers and world leaders, the Talamanca Initiative represents one of the few cases in the world where theory has been put into practice. Poverty and outside threats have not disappeared and much remains to be done, but many Talamancans are actively creating a better present and future, with productive activities that are environmentally friendly and yet able to compete in the world marketplace. Talamancans themselves have taken responsibility for maintaining a healthy environment, strong local organizations, local economic stability, and respect for the different cultures that thrive together in their region.

ANAI’s members and staff are a blend of Talamancan farmers and Costa Rican & foreign professionals and scientists. Our formative years were spent working in one of Talamanca’s more remote communities, several hours from the nearest road, providing invaluable lessons for all aspects of our future work. For both philosophical and practical reasons, all work since has been carried out together with the local people. The intimate contact and mutual respect that characterize our daily interactions have allowed a continual synthesis of the practical with the visionary, the daily needs with the long term considerations, the social and economic development with the importance of sustaining natural communities.

ANAI’s philosophy and ideas are no longer new. The uniqueness of ANAI is reflected more by the practical steps taken in creating a grassroots process putting these ideas into practice in a region where most adults lack even a sixth grade education. This process has resulted in tangible results that have positively affected the lives of many people. The creation of a constituency for economic development through biodiversity conservation is among the most important advances because, in the long run, it is local people who will continue to make the hard decisions.

ANAI is also special because of its long term, serious commitment, to the people of Talamanca, to its biodiversity, and to its future generations. For over 20 years, ANAI’s key people have expressed this commitment through hard work and a focus on its long-term goals. Very attractive offers to do other things in other places have been offered to ANAI’s staff and to the organization as a whole. They have chosen to fulfill their commitment because they are convinced of the importance of the Talamanca process, for Talamanca and for the world.

ANAI and its Talamancan partners have found ways to advance a sustainable development agenda in one of the most logistically and socially difficult areas of Central America. This alliance has successfully nurtured local entrepreneurs to carry out economically viable activities that are environmentally sound. It has also nurtured local and national technical capacity and leadership.

Talamanca is making a contribution to biodiversity conservation far beyond its borders, and ANAI is demonstrating the significant effect that an experienced, creative and dedicated group can have in a strategically important region such as Talamanca.

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The Next 25 Years: ANAI’s Vision for Talamanca “ANAI has laid the social and economic foundations for a self-sustained and lasting development process at the local level.”

- An independent evaluation contracted by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA)

Through its Talamanca initiative ANAI is helping create a self sustaining process in the region – a process characterized by a clear shared vision, innovative thinking, adaptiveness and the long-term commitment of ANAI and its Talamancan partners. Real environmental and economic benefits are being realized by the poor majority in the form of sustainable agriculture and forestry production systems, biodiversity preservation, capable grassroots organizations, and effective local participation and control. The work of the many community and regional groups that have been formed is testament to the promise of this process.

Nevertheless, although significant progress has been made, Talamanca's people, cultures and unique natural resources continue to be at great risk. Recently opened to an outside world eager to exploit its riches, Talamanca - and its long-term ecological and economic stability - is severely threatened. The process we are pursuing there needs further nurturing, innovation and advocacy leadership. In light of the urgency of the global biodiversity crisis, an ever greater effort must also be made to document and share the experiences, results and lessons learned in Talamanca, and where feasible, to support the replication and adaptation of this unique model of integrated development in other threatened areas of Costa Rica and the tropics.

Our work focuses on creating a future for Talamanca in which its rainforests and other natural communities continue to thrive. We envision that a high percentage of the land stretching from the Continental Divide to the sea will remain forested and protected, while surrounding ecosystems remain productive and environmentally healthy. Privately held lands will be mostly owned by native Talamancans, with a healthy mix of agroforestry systems, sustainably-managed forests and totally natural areas, while the official Protected Areas will be well managed for biodiversity protection and beneficial for the neighboring communities.

Talamanca’s current and future inhabitants will enjoy a high quality of life, with adequate incomes and excellent education, health and other services. Agriculture, forestry and other productive activities will be sustainable and environmentally friendly, while capable grassroots organizations will provide effective local leadership of the sustainable development process and be empowered to participate in civic society. A locally owned and controlled ecotourism economy will direct proceeds into local hands, provide incentives for biodiversity conservation, support grassroots organizations and educate both visitors and residents.

Talamanca will continue to be a living laboratory and model for uniting biodiversity conservation with sustainable economic and social development. The documentation and sharing of Talamanca’s experiences, results and lessons learned will help lead the way toward a better future for the world’s tropics and its inhabitants.

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ANAI and its partner organizations in Talamanca are committed to 5 interrelated strategic objectives over the next five years: 1. Consolidate and advance biodiversity conservation initiatives, especially in the TalamancaCaribbean Biological Corridor. This may soon be the only forested corridor left in the world that stretches from an ocean to a continental divide.

2. Achieve widespread adoption throughout Talamanca and neighboring areas of Costa Rica and Panama of sustainable development practices that utilize organic agro-ecosystems, sustainable forest management, ecotourism, and community resource management.

3. Continue to organize, strengthen and promote grassroots constituencies, organizations and networks that demonstrate participatory and inclusive community processes and champion conservation, economic development and indigenous stewardship of Talamanca's natural resources.

4. Support the successful replication and adaptation of these sustainable development strategies in other tropical areas by: 1.) evaluating the results achieved in Talamanca, documenting the lessons learned and publishing & disseminating this information, 2.) sharing the Talamanca experience with visitors from other projects and areas, and 3.) continuing to participate and provide leadership in regional, national and international forums for biodiversity conservation and community-managed development.

5. Assure economic and institutional sustainability for ANAI and its grassroots partners in Talamanca.

Each of these strategic objectives will be addressed through programs that are carried out in close collaboration with Talamanca’s people and their organizations. These programs are outlined in other planning documents and a longer background document that also recounts more of ANAI’s history and accomplishments (available upon request).

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ANAI and Finances ANAI is an efficiently run, cost-effective organization with a very low overhead. There is no better testimony to that than the informed opinion, based on an external audit and field evaluation, of an external review conducted for the Swedish International Development Authority, one of ANAI’s biggest donors: “It is evident that ANAI’s style of work is fairly ‘simple’. No ‘sumptuary’ spendings could be observed, and the salary level seems to be modest…It is the team’s opinion that the cost effectiveness of the SIDA donation (to ANAI) was higher than that of other projects supported by Sweden in Costa Rica during the same time.”

Standard internationally accepted accounting procedures are used. Quarterly reports are prepared for all projects. Donors are reported to on a schedule normally determined by the donor. Annual reporting using the Costa Rican fiscal year ending September 30 is complemented by a calendar year annual report for the many organizations and individuals using the calendar year as their fiscal year.

ANAI began as a voluntary organization with no resources other than the time of its founders.

Major donors over the past 25 years have been the Swedish government, the Dutch government, The Development Fund (TDF, a Norwegian NGO), the Kellogg Foundation, The World Conservation Union (IUCN), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Other donors include the Costa Rican government, the Canadian government, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Inter-American Foundation, General Service Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, Appropriate Technology International, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Tropica Verde, Homeland Foundation, National Wildlife Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, Compton Foundation, Flora Family Foundation, Tides Foundation, Cultural Survival, and many small private foundations and individuals. The diversity of financial support over these 25 years (local and foreign governments, international NGOs, private foundations and individuals) speaks to the international importance of our work.

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Looking to the Future The synergy created from the Talamancan people's love for their shared culture, families, and land, together with the long-term commitment of capable professionals, has transformed this region into a model – a model that offers hope to others in the world facing the shared crises of poverty and environmental degradation. People-to-people sharing of the Talamanca Initiative experience has already led to tangible results outside of Talamanca. Such transfer of knowledge will grow in importance as other regions of the world realize the power that dedicated grassroots organizations can assemble and wield against the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of tropical ecosystems.

This process is alive, struggling with the issues of today and tomorrow. It continues to be a very participatory and creative process. A true integration of social, economic, cultural, organizational and environmental needs requires a monumental and continual effort, whereas quick and easy approaches lead to short-lived solutions. The people of Talamanca have accepted this challenge and are today working hard to establish and consolidate new approaches to living that produce immediate tangible results and also promise a better future. They can see that their efforts are already making a difference.

Over the past 25 years, ANAI and its Talamancan partners have achieved incredible success (in so many ways that were not even imagined) with scarce resources, starting from nothing and with little experience. As a new starting point, 25 years of experience and adequate resources will pave the way to new successes in ways we are still not even imagining. The next round of investment in ANAI and its grassroots sustainable development network will enable this small but highly effective NGO to continue its pioneering and innovative work of “preserving biodiversity with a full stomach.”

Who we are Asociación ANAI, founded in 1978, is a Costa Rican-based non-profit NGO focused on: implementing integrated conservation and development programs; supporting the establishment, sustainability, promotion, and stability of community-based organizations; and sharing its experiences throughout Costa Rica, Central America and other tropical areas for the benefit of local communities, regional socioeconomic development, and preservation of biological diversity. ANAI has 25 years experience fostering locally owned and operated organizations dedicated to sustainable economic development and biodiversity conservation. ***********************************

ANAI, Inc., founded in 1980, is a U.S.-based 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to advancing the work of Asociación ANAI and its Talamancan partners through fundraising and other support activities.

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