Almost 7000 Small-Scale Farmer Producers to Benefit in Six States
Rural Communities among Biggest Beneficiaries
WASHINGTON, August 30, 2012 – The World Bank (WB) Board of Directors approved a US$11.7 million grant today to promote sustainable production and in favor of Mexico’s biodiversity. It seeks to create sustainable production systems combining production activities, natural resource management, preservation and conservation of biodiversity, in nine biological corridors located across six states: Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Chiapas.
The project supports more than 6900 small-scale producers, organized around 190 farmer groups and associations, with the intention of reducing continuing threats to protected natural areas and their species, while fostering economic opportunities in rural communities. To this end, it will promote the adoption of improved plant nutrition systems, integral pest and disease management, as well as shade-tolerant crops. It also seeks to maintain the connection between “production landscapes” —understood as the combination of production systems, natural resource management and conservation— and explore the possibility of bio-labeling to take advantage of the opportunities offered by green markets.
“The Sustainable Production Systems and Biodiversity project is innovative because it reconciles rural production with ecosystem conservation through improvements in the living conditions of rural farmers inhabiting those corridors,” highlighted Pedro Alvarez-Icaza, General Coordinator of Biological Corridors and Resources at the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO).
The project will undertake three main activities:
- The adoption, in at least 34,500 hectares, of biodiversity-friendly best practices in selected biological corridors, through sustainable production systems;
- Strengthen the production capacities of hundreds of small-scale beneficiaries, so that they can increase or gain access to different markets, create commercial partnerships, improve their organizational capacity and business and marketing management.
- Improvements in the institutional framework, institutional capacities, regulations and South-South cooperation to support biodiversity-friendly production activities and financing.
“Mexico has taken another step toward consolidating its green growth agenda, promoting the integration of its biodiversity into the country’s production systems,” said Gloria M. Grandolini, World Bank Director for Mexico and Colombia.
The agencies responsible for implementing the grant are the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA) and the Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). The National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) will serve as the general coordinating organization and implementing agency.
The project will cost a total of US$30.9 million, US$11.7 million of which will be donated by the WB through the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The remaining US$19.2 million will be contributed by the Mexican government via SAGARPA and SEMARNAT. The project is expected to end on September 2017.
About the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the World Bank
The Global Environmental Facility is a mechanism that provides grants and funds with the intention of achieving global environmental benefits in six focal areas: climate change, biodiversity, international waters, persistent organic pollutants, land degradation and ozone layer reduction. The GEF also supports the work of global agreements to combat desertification.
The World Bank Group is one of the GEF’s implementing agencies and helps countries prepare projects that are co-financed by the GEF, as well as supervise their implementation. The Bank plays a primary role in ensuring the development and administration of investment projects. It relies on its experience of investing in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and mobilize private-sector, bilateral, multilateral, governmental and non-governmental resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and different national sustainable development strategies.
