Credits for sustainable development
Women in Ecuador: Invest in people, preserve biodiversity.
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Sustainability needs people, people need trust in their abilities
For a long time, protected areas were set aside to protect spectacular landscapes without too much concern for their impact on local people. However, 30 years ago a new paradigm for protected areas emerged. It was evident that nature can not be protected in the long run if not accepted and supported by the local people. New approaches came up, amongst them UNESCO´s concept of reconciling conservation of biodiversity with the sustainable use of the natural resources in so-called "biosphere reserves".
A contribution to sustainable development is not easy..
In the world wide network of biosphere reserves it shall be demonstrated how a sustainable balance between conservation and human development can be achieved. This means that in your area people have to find ways to make their living without depleting the natural resources. Their impact has to be ecologically sustainable. But how can this be achieved from the economic and social point of view? Especially people from rural areas of developing countries often lack knowledge and financial resources to realise business ideas corresponding to the conservation objectives in protected areas.
Credits for biosphere reserves
Granting technical support and credits for people normally not having access to loans from conventional finance institutions could be one of the solutions. With the initiative presented business ideas putting into practice a sustainable development in biosphere reserves shall be supported by facilitating access to loans. For this purpose a co-operation between Oikocredit and UNESCO´s biosphere reserves has been established. Pilot actions focus on biosphere reserves in Latin America but they shall be extended to other regions if the cooperation proved to be successful.
As this initiative aims at implementing environmental, economic and social sustainability in biosphere reserves it is a direct answer to the Mission Statement for the World Network of Biosphere Reserves within the Man and Biosphere Programme.
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2009-11-24 | Copyright 2009 |