Gef-iw5 etps mangroves

N.Country Ownership and Drivenness

The intention for ETPS countries to participate in the project was confirmed during the early PIF stage. During the PPG phase meetings were held between the relevant authorities, CI-ETPS and the corresponding CI-field offices of each of the four ETPS countries (Please see the Stakeholder Engagement Plan in Appendix VIa for more details). In each case the OFP was established and details concerning the project clarified.

Each country is committed to mangrove conservation and sustainability and formalized their intentions as part of the development of the CPPS Regional Mangrove Strategy and Action Plan and commitment to the Ramsar Wetland Convention and Regional Mangrove and Coral Plan. These countries are also actively involved in a number of international programs and partnerships that demonstrate their engagement in mangrove conservation including participation in pilot initiatives such as the Common Approach under Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and official involvement in the UN-REDD capacity building programs.

O.Project Consistency and Alignment with CI Institutional Priorities

Conservation International has nearly a decade of implementing large regional marine projects in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape. During this period CI has invested over $30M in the region of which nearly half has been re-granted in over 200 sub-projects to nearly 100 national and local partner organizations. Over the past decade CI has developed constructive working relationships with multiple local communities, the private sector and governments at all scales which makes it well placed to tackle multi-scale projects.

CI’s $30M investment is targeting locally owned, effective, sustainable and evidence based management of ETPS. CI’s primary achievement has been successfully moving from science to policy to action. Perhaps CI’s greatest achievement has been to take policies, such as the declaration of new MPAs and the creation of updated management plans to in-the-field conservation action that produces demonstrable ecosystem recovery and indications of associated human wellbeing. The current proposal builds on previous investments and aims for increased local capacity as well as transferable knowledge. Even though there are conservation actions underway at field sites, at this point there is no single local partner in the region that is equipped to execute a multi-country program and that has access to the considerable body of biophysical, social and other scientific information generated from over 10 years working in and for ETPS conservation.

Since 2013, the ETPS program has been identified among CI’s 15 institutional priorities, a set of mission-critical achievements that require cross-institutional focus and collaboration. These priorities will represent 80-90% of CI’s investments over the coming years. This project contributes to pursuing CI’s effort in this key area where participation of colleagues in CI-HQ ensure collaboration and alignment with the CI’s strategy and the nature of the organization.

CI Field Programs are among CPPS’s recognized closest NGO partners, having collaborated on a multitude of multi-country initiatives relating to the conservation and management of sharks, sea turtles, the regional MPA network, marine debris, small-scale fisheries recovery and Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fisheries management. Most recently, CI Field Programs and UNESCO were tasked by CPPS member nations with developing the regional mangrove strategy that underpins this proposal.

SECTION 4: PROJECT STRATEGY

1. Project Vision and Objective

The project envisions that development and implementation of the CPPS regional Open Mangrove Initiative by the four ETPS countries of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador will catalyze and support implementation of a multi-scale mangrove sustainability agenda for the region. The project will work to generate, centralize and consolidate tools and technical criteria to policy makers stimulating the improvement of at least two national policies that integrate principles of EBM and ridge-to-reef planning. It will provide guidance, trans-boundary learning experiences and knowledge sharing through outreach and capacity building to key stakeholders and jointly explore incentives for on-the-ground conservation actions in at least two local communities that depend upon the resource.

As a result of the project, trends in mangrove degradation across the ETPS coastal fringe will reduce and where possible reversed through conservation and reforestation projects and initiatives conducive to natural regeneration. The important ecosystem goods and services that mangroves provide to local, national and global communities regenerate, recovering effective natural coastal defenses, reducing along-shore erosion, and improving local livelihoods through improved fisheries food security, health and alternative incomes. Over larger scales a net recovery in coastal mangrove coverage in the ETPS countries towards pre-1960 aquaculture levels will contribute to climate mitigation through the effective sequestering and storage of mangrove and soil carbon. Additionally mangrove conservation and restoration across the region will contribute to adaptation by communities, ecosystems and species to adverse global and regional climate change impacts such as sea level rise, erosions, flooding and associated threats such as human health risks.

The objective of the project is to implement a comprehensive, multi-government ratified and regionally articulated mangrove conservation strategy in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape (ETPS) countries of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador through on-the-ground management activities and the strengthening of national and local policies that inform ridge-to-reef development planning and practices relevant to mangrove conservation.