Dominican Republic - Procaryn
Protection and restoration of forests in Yaque del Norte, Dominican Republic
Summary
This project will enable local communities to protect and restore native forest ecosystems within the Juan B. Perez Rancier/Valle Nuevo National Park and its buffer zone; thus, sequestering carbon in native forest and reforestation activities on 6,071 hectares. The project addresses the development of ecologically and economically viable forestry, agroforestry and agricultural systems along with participatory measures for community development and securing land tenure arrangements.
Maturity of the initiative
Began in 2006 and ongoing in 2011. The program is entering its second phase.
Stakeholders
Supply
Current area 6,071 hectares. PROCARYN works with smallholders.
Demand
Finance comes from KfW and La Empresa de Generación HIdroeléctrica Dominicana (EGEHID).
Intermediary
Procaryn, through the Secretaria de Estado de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales.
Facilitator
La secretaria de medio ambiente y recursos naturales (SEMARENA), La Corporación de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Santiago (CORAASAN), Monitoring from GTZ.
This pilot has been facilitated by an independent facilitator, a private consulting company (PICOTEAM). The services delivered by this group included: Analysis of the extension system applied in PROCARYN, design of the Competence Development program for extension agents, facilitation of six learning workshops, backstopping and coaching on-the-job of extension agents, vision-based assessment of the for mainstreaming and institutionalisation of the approach – which was adopted by a range of organizations, advice/coaching of the PROCARYN project management and strategic orientation, design of scaling up/out strategy.
PICOTEAM members facilitated the first implementation of the PEA approach in Latin America in the Dominican Republic. In the upper watershed of the Yaque del Norte river a group of 20 extensionists, coming from government and non-government organisations, were trained in six learning workshops and coached on-the-job in facilitating community development processes during a learning cycle of two years. Each extensionist applied PEA in at least one pilot community of the watershed. After the first learning cycle, the initiative was evaluated sucessfully by participating organisations and other key actors. These 20 competent staff were later used as base for scaling up of the approach in the watershed and beyond in the Dominican Republic
Market design
Service
Bundled: carbon and reduction of sediment.
Commodity
Reforestation and forest restoration; forest conservation, avoided deforestation, forest protection.
Payment Mechanism
PROCARYN focuses on the following issues:
- co-financing sustainable forest management (support in elaboration of management plans and managerial support for implementation, etc). The project co-finances a part of the investment, for example, 60 per cent of all costs of reforestation for up to five years, and the farmers have to finance themselves.
- Applying sustainable forest management techniques, applying low negative impact management techniques which maintain permanent forest cover, and in its practical application are easily understood by farmers.
- Investing in smallholders' knowledge
- Certifying forest management (FSC) – still in process
- Organising smallholder forest owners through extension services.
Terms of Payment
Unclear. Co-financing of reforestation costs for first years.
Funds Involved
La Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE), KFW, Biocarbon Fund, la Empresa de Generación Hidroeléctrica Dominicana (EGEHID) - $US1.7 million. Reported on 12/09/11, Procaryn invested RD$6.8 million in Rio Yaque del Norte. (http://www.diariodigital.com.do/?module=displaystory&story_id=7415&format=html)
Analysis of costs and benefits
Economic
The project is entering its second phase. So far the project has supported 17 micro-projects (out of 78 presented).
Social
Learning regarding community level from the PICOTEAM facilitator group in this pilot include: (http://www.picoteam.org/experiences/exp_long2.html)
•New forms of local organisations (e.g. community umbrella organisations) were coming up and spreading as a way to represent the community’s interests towards outsiders and to self-organise their activities in a concerted action.
•Rural people in the pilot communities "learnt" how to organise around community challenges and how to tackle these challenges successfully. Many challenges have been mastered through their self-initiative and self-organisation (e.g. aqueducts were built, roads for market access, reforestation of degraded land, improved agricultural production and value chains (coffee, flowers, and forests) or electrification, etc.). All these successes were driven by communities with their resources. These successes triggered a range of other collective actions in the communities which unleashed the potential and created economic opportunities for the villagers.
•Rural people are aware of the significance of innovations for community development. A range of innovations in the field of NRM and income generation were developed and introduced which enabled the development of new potentials and economic enhancement
•Local organisations have improved their performance and have been able to increase their membership drastically through a good governance inside. Today they commercialise the agricultural produce of their members.
•After having facilitated change processes by extensionists, new leaders which stand for the new governance style and culture have come up and drive the development process which was slumbering before in communities.
•People in rural communities exchange knowledge between peers. An active learning and sharing culture which enabled to speed up the innovation process and to reach a broad spectrum of the communities.
•Generally livelihoods in the pilot villages have improved in terms of individual and collective well being.
Legislation Issues
Possible PES in Procaryn are based on the Ley Marcode Medio Ambiente de 08.2000.
Monitoring
Monitoring is done independently by GTZ.
Main Constraints
The main constraints to implement PES at national level include: Who charges and manages for PES? How to prevent the diversion of PES funds into national budget, who decides on the use of the funds for PES, how much to pay, and how to monitor? At the moment, most of the discussions have not reached ground level (http://www.rlc.fao.org/es/tierra/pdf/heindrichs.pdf).
Contact
Thomas Heindrichs. Natural Resources Management Programme, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ),
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
References
Diario Digital. 12/sep/2011. Procaryn invierte RD$6.8 millones en el río Yaque del Norte. http://www.diariodigital.com.do/?module=displaystory&story_id=7415&format=html
GTZ. 2009. Disaster Risk Management and Food Security in San Pedro Watershed. http://www.gtz.de/en/weltweit/lateinamerika-karibik/bolivien/14257.htm.
Heindrich, Thomas. GTZ. http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5305b/y5305b02.htm
Peter, H. (2004) “Disillusion and hope of smallholders in Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic: is PROCARYN the right way to change the trend of forest deterioration”, in Baumgartner, D. M. (eds.) PICOTEAM: Institute for People, Innovation and Change: http://www.picoteam.org/experiences/exp_long2.html
Proceedings of Human Dimensions of Family, Farm and Community Forestry, IUFRO International Symposium, March 29 – April 1, 2004, Washington State University, Pullman, USA: 213 pp..
The World Bank: http://ashleycamhi.com/projects/view/procaryn
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