U.S. Intends to Share 'Stewardship' of Amazon Conservation Efforts

The U.S. government wants to heighten its role in coordinating conservation efforts in South America’s Amazon Basin, asserting a shared “responsibility for the stewardship” of this and other critical regions of biodiversity. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) acknowledged last week that commodity markets are driving much of the overfishing, logging, petroleum and minerals extraction in the basin, leading to deforestation and the construction of poorly planned dams and other infrastructure in the area.

Contributing to the challenges of resource management in this region is coca production and narco-trafficking, USAID claims. Governmental corruption and “limited coordination of national, provincial, and regional agencies” also fuel these threats and undermine sustainable economic-development efforts, it said in a concept paper governing the new endeavor, formally known as the Amazon Basin Conservation Initiative (ABCI). USAID said it is cognizant that:

sensitive national sovereignty issues surround many, if not most, questions related to natural resources. USAID recognizes that decisions on how to address resource and development related issues are ones that Amazon countries need to make themselves and sees its role as one of collaborating with national governments and civil society organizations to help generate ideas, facilitate implementation of national decisions, and provide financial support.

The agency on March 20 launched a search for a private-sector organization capable of helping it execute the first phase of its ABCI plan. This five-year preliminary initiative aims to bring together “community groups, governments, and public and private organizations in their efforts to conserve the Amazon’s globally important biodiversity,” the paper said.

Conservation projects supported by private, bilateral and multinational donors have led to the creation of important national parks and ecological reserves in the Amazon region. Three of the largest projects are the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rainforest, the Amazon Region Protected Areas program and the Amazon-Andes Initiative of the Moore Foundation.

The agency estimates that private and governmental donors spend about $200 million annually on Amazon conservation, including $36 million that the agency says it spends annually on such efforts in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The ABCI would deliver an additional $50 million during its initial phase from 2006-2010.

USAID said it is necessary to replicate existing efforts on a regional and national scale. It therefore expressed its intention to work closely with Amazon-region governments as well as with the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), a Brasilia, Brazil-based secretariat represented by the governments of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

ACTO in 2004 unveiled its own eight-year strategic plan to address Amazon Basin conservation issues. However, USAID wants to complement those efforts by creating up to five consortia focusing on ABCI-designated “priority threats.”

Those threats include:

(1) Habitat conversion or degradation stemming from unsuitable agriculture, ranching, mining, logging or over fishing. (2) Unplanned or unsuitable infrastructure development. (3) Conditions of instability and conflict that adversely affect natural resources management. (4) Low institutional or individual capacity for conservation and environmental management.

About 75% of total ABCI funding would be devoted to region-wide partnerships stemming from the consortia. USAID said this approach will facilitate its goal of uniting the ABCI “into a broader program with Basin-wide impact.” Uniting ABCI with ACTO will enable the U.S. to pursue its policy goals “within the parameters and interests of the Basin’s national governments,” according to USAID.