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Hands On The Equator is one component of a partnership
which brings together the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), BrasilConnects, the Government of
Canada, the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC), IUCN - The World Conservation Union, The Nature
Conservancy, Television Trust for the Environment
(TVE), and the UN Foundation.
The UNDP's Equator
Initiative project is designed to highlight successful
initiatives undertaken by economically poor communities
in the Equatorial belt. The Equator Initiative focuses
on the region between 23.5 degrees north and 23.5
degrees south of the Equator as this zone holds the
world's greatest concentrations of both human poverty
and biological wealth. The awards identify and reward
innovative community projects that represent outstanding
efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation
and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Seeing the match between the Equator Initiative and
the philosophy behind Hands On, TVE is featuring 25
Equator Initiative stories as part of the 'Hands On
- Earth Report' series over the next 12 months. This
programme shows how five nominated finalists are working
to make biodiversity and poverty reduction mutually
inclusive.
Biodiversity and Poverty Reduction
Poor people, especially those living in areas with
low agricultural productivity, depend heavily and
directly on genetic, species and ecosystem biodiversity
to support their livelihoods. The interests of more
powerful groups often overshadow their livelihood
needs and they receive fewer benefits from biodiversity,
yet bear most of the cost of actions that reduce it.
Genetic diversity offers low risk. A broad
genetic base allows crops and livestock to adapt to
changing conditions. This is vital for the poor who
cannot afford to rely on chemical fertilisers or pesticides
to protect monocultures from disease, pests and soil
problems.
Species diversity supplies a range of wild
plant and animal products on which people rely for
subsistence, barter and trade. These include food,
wood for fuel and building, grasses, reeds and leaves
and products such as oils and resins for use in medicines
and soaps. In times of shortage when staple crops
become unavailable, the poor fall back on a wide range
of these gathered species.
Ecosystem diversity involves interactions
between plants, animals and micro-organisms, such
as crop pollination and pest control, which are crucial
for maintaining wild and agricultural landscapes.
The interaction between living and non-living parts
of the environment also provide ecosystem services
such as soil formation, water recycling, carbon sequestration,
and climate regulation on which productive livelihoods
depend.
Biodiversity is subject to human as well as natural
selection pressures. Opportunities for supporting
or enhancing the livelihoods of poor groups are most
likely to occur where communities depend directly
on biodiversity and so are more likely to have a commitment
to long-term investment in resource management. After
all, it is often human activity that can conserve
or destroy biodiversity.
The programme shows some of the ways in which organisations
and communities are working together to creatively
and effectively use natural resources in sustainable
ways to improve their livelihoods:
Dollars
From Scents:
Follows a group of Brazilian women who are proving
that conserving the Amazon rainforest can also bring
in desperately needed cash through the sale of medicines,
cosmetics and aromatic oils from the forest.
Bee
Fair:
Sees how new hives and 'bee friendly suits' are encouraging
small farmers - particularly women - to take up beekeeping,
a traditionally male preserve in Kenya.
Gene
Savers:
Looks at how Indian tribal communities are reviving
traditional varieties and saving genes through seed
banks and other techniques which are helping the 'old'
varieties compete with the new as their yields increase
and even beat the hybrids.
Greening
The Desert:
Finds out what 'ngitili' - a traditional method of
land conservation - is doing to turn the 'desert of
Tanzania' back into productive land.
Going,
Going, Gum!:
It's hard to believe that forest surrounding the ancient
Mayan ruins was one of Wrigley's first gum suppliers
- years later chicle, a natural chewing gum, is still
a major earner for the local people, as is xate -
find out more!
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