The World Bank/WBI’s CBNRM Initiative

Case Received: February 5, 1998

Author: Juan J. Jiménez-Osornio

Email: juanjose@diario1.sureste.com

Initiatives for community-based natural resources management have appeared and spread in Mexico. In order to ensure, or at least, to increase the likelihood that sustainable land management strategies are available and can be applied it is necessary to establish relationships between all actors involved. Unfortunately, partnership between groups working in management and conservation of natural resources seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

A major problem for management and conservation of natural resources in Mexico is the lack of collaboration between groups working with the common objective of "sustainable development".

Academic institutions conduct research that might or might not be applied and/or appropriate in the region due to ecological, social, economic or cultural constraints. How do researchers know about it? Once there is an alternative generated, who will try it and promote it? A growing number of students are interested in pursuing a career in natural resource management, what opportunities for field experiences can they have access to during their training? How can they be exposed to real life situations? How are research and training priorities determined and by whom? NGOs may be promoting technology that has not been validated in the region and so may increase the risk for producers; if a problem develops, who will give a solution or another alternative? How can long-term production systems be put into practice without the support of governmental and private institutions? Who will provide credit?. There might be laws that need to be modified, implemented or discarded to promote sustainable land use, who is in charge of identifying, modifying and implementing them? If by chance a campesino organization is able to apply techniques and strategies that "seem" to be sustainable (ecotourism, organic agriculture, etc.) who will evaluate and improve them? How they can get access to regional, national and/or international markets?. How can these practices be implemented in other communities? Who is in charge of ecological assessments, investigating the viable resource management alternatives, providing a scientific base for environmental policy, implementing and supporting sustainable land management? Could some strategies be more viable if they were shared by several organizations?.

Absence of liaisons between the institutions has consequences such as duplicity of efforts, and inefficient use of economic, infrastructure and human resources available. There is no doubt that comprehensive agendas for sustainable development need to be shared by the different regional actors: campesino organizations, NGOs, universities, research centers, and governmental organizations.

In this case study it is presente the conceptual framework, structure and functional strategy developed by a group of academics from the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán that have designed, established and developed the Department of Management and Conservation of Tropical Natural Resources (PROTROPICO).

In 1992, the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán created PROTROPICO to formally bring to the forefront the urgent need to address the complex ecological, social, political, and technological problems, priorities, and issues related to sustainable agriculture, rural poverty, natural resource management, and biodiversity conservation in southeast Mexico, and in particular the Yucatan Peninsula. The target area of PROTROPICO is the Yucatan Peninsula where the dominant land use systems include shifting cultivation, sisal plantations, homegardens, cattle grazing systems, and succesional vegetation.

PROTROPICO’s mission is to improve food security, income generation, and natural resources, through the sustainable management and development of agroecosystems; including crop, livestock, and forest-based systems, in order to ensure a better livelihood and quality of life for present and future rural communities in the target region.

The Peninsula is considered to be a well defined ecological region due to its particular environmental conditions. The plain topography and humid winds from the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean create a humidity gradient ranging from the semiarid climate to the north, to the hot-humid climate in the south. Eighty percent of the area is covered with flat layers of calcareous materials of marine origin, with soil present in between this material. The soils are a mosaic of different soil types, consisting of rendzinas, lithosols, luvisols, and cambisols, varying in proportions according to the local conditions. There is high spatial variability within these soil types, with very different characteristics over short distances. It is this microvariability that the Mayan culture has based its well-developed soil. As a result, a vegetation mosaic can be found which varies from high to low deciduous forest. The high heterogeneity of the soils, their low fertility and impossibility of being mechanized, and the fragile equilibrium with the vegetation reduce the possibilities for agriculture in the area, making crop production a challenge.

The traditional Mayan population has historically valued their natural resources. There is a rich indigenous knowledge inherent with the culture in respect to these resources and their management to obtain food, shelter, fiber, and other goods. The campesino family (rural family production unit in Latin America), keeper and user of this knowledge, has created a complex management system that integrates its environment in different levels. The main subsistence production systems are the homegarden, the milpa, and successional vegetation. Energy flows and nutrient cycling in the three systems are intimately related. Because of this interdependence, it is important to study the components, processes, and interactions among the homegarden, the milpa, and the successional vegetation as a whole to understand and improve the Mayan rural production system.

Henequen (Agave fourcroydes Lemarie) is a native plant species of the Yucatan Peninsula that has been used for fiber production since pre-Hispanic times. In the mid 1800s, henequen production acquired a high commercial value and became the axis of Yucatan’s economy. In the beginning of this century, 96% of the world production of sisal was from Yucatan. With the progressive substitution of artificial fibers and the competition of other sisal-producing countries coupled with unfavorable socio-economic and political conditions in Mexico, the henequen economy of Mexico declined. In the 1950s and 60s, the Mexican government controlled and coordinated the production and processing of the fiber through state industries and subsidies for campesinos. All subsidies ceased in 1992. This lead to negative socio-economic and ecological impacts in the Henequen Zone, with people migrating in search of employment, intensification of traditional swidden agriculture (milpa) under high land pressure and low yield conditions, and long-term degradation of resources and quality of life.

PROTROPICO's research is basically focused on the most common agroecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula: milpa (i.e. shifting cultivation), homegardens, and successional vegetation.

To understand the underlying principles, determinants, and potentials of these systems, some strategic areas which are currently being addressed include: environmental economics, Geographical Information Systems, nutrient cycling, technology development and adaptation, and biodiversity. Instead of creating a separate research thrust for each one of these areas, they are being addressed in an integrated manner, within the research agenda.

To achieve its stated mission, PROTROPICO employs:

1. A strong participatory approach to set priorities, to implement projects, and to evaluate the impact of its programs.
2. Multidisciplinary teams, working with a systems approach to generate, adapt, test, and/or diffuse viable and adoptable alternatives which ensure sustainable development.
3. An integrated strategy for interfacing research, education, and extension-promotion activities.

The strategy for sustainable development is to develop alternatives based on the integration of the ample traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge. The production situation is first characterized and diagnosed from the farmer’s and scientist’s perspective using field observation, knowledge of cultural principles, and evaluation of scientific concepts. The production problems are defined together among farmers and researchers. Then, solutions to these problems are designed as alternatives to the present situation, and tested by scientists through on-station and on-farm research. Solutions are adapted/adopted through farmer experimentation. The strength of this process is that it is able to combine traditional and scientific knowledge at any stage, and therefore, the different stages of the process may occur simultaneously. This strategy is illustrated in the following diagram.

The two parts of the knowledge universe are integrated through activities involving research, teaching (to university students in bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, and/or campesinos) and diffusion (with other institutions and/or rural communities). In this process, it has been necessary to collaborate with other institutions (NGO’s) to provide the regional framework (Pastoral de la Tierra - school of ecological agriculture for campesinos), and the financial means to carry out the program activities (NGO’s like PROAFT, Rockefeller, MacArthur, and Ford foundations, United Nations Development Program, and governmental organizations like CONACYT and the University of Yucatan).

PROTROPICO’s interdisciplinary team is integrated by

There is a coordinator who can be any of the researchers, he/she is changed every four years. The main role of the coordinator is to facilitate the activities conducted, promote the Department and search for funding opportunities for any of the projects. The coordinator, two of the researchers and the administrative assistant conform a commission which facilitates PROTROPICO’s functionality. Planning and evaluation activities are conducted annually jointly with some of the advisors that collaborate with PROTROPICO.

                                             Anthropologist

                                             Agronomist

                                             Soil scientists

                                                                      N

PROTROPICO has been, since its creation, a dynamic and fast growing program, and has therefore needed to constantly review and evaluate its on-going and emerging components from the stance of its mission and objectives. It is still a new initiative, and its future is planned based on its experiences in the past, experiences of other teams and organizations addressing sustainable development, and on the need to collaborate with these other actors to achieve a wider impact.

As an innovative approach, its structure is based on interdisciplinary work, and on the interaction of the basic functions: education, research and promotion in collaboration with other organizations. In recent times, PROTROPICO’s efforts have been targeted towards the challenge of strengthening each of these functional axes, without losing their interactive nature. As a result of these efforts, the program of Master of Sciences in Management and Conservation of Tropical Natural Resources was initiated in 1994, and PROTROPICO was actively involved in the redesign of the Bachelor of Sciences in Biology (1996-97) together with the other departments of the Faculty. Both these programs are based on an interdisciplinary curriculum and a problem-based orientation leading to the ability to plan research and development projects searching for sustainable options in management and conservation of regional resources in accordance to socioeconomic needs. Parallel to this, the department facilitates opportunities for students of other universities to carry out research projects in accordance to PROTROPICO’s mission. Another move in this direction has been the collaboration in the development of the School of Ecological Agriculture in Maní, Yucatán, since its planning in 1995. Its objective is to train students (especially campesinos of all the Yucatan Peninsula) in the integral management of natural resources in rural areas to fulfill the basic needs of rural communities, and increase the available options for economic and social development. This initiative involves technical, cultural, human and spiritual aspects; it is managed by Pastoral de la Tierra –a catholic organization in Mérida - with the collaboration of PROTROPICO and CRUPY (Centro Regional Unidad Peninsula de Yucatán de la Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo) on technical aspects. As an early initiative to establish links with different organization with similar objectives PROTROPICO has been part of the Red de Gestión de Recursos Naturales since 1993, this network involves 13 different organization working in Mexico in management and conservation of natural resources supported by The Rockefeller Foundation. The most recent attempt in this direction has been the creation of technical collaboration links between PROTROPICO and twelve NGO’s in the Yucatan Peninsula with rural sustainable development projects as the establishment of the ROSDESAC network (1997). Staff members and collaborators of PROTROPICO are encouraged and expected to participate in the different events and initiatives according to need, interests and skills. This involvement of personnel in the different areas of action and in collaborative projects involving research, education and promotion, is planned to facilitate a more holistic formation of human resources and a better unity in the activities of the department.

With this view, we consider sustainable development not as a final goal, but as a dynamic process determined by the interactions among the variable economic, social, cultural, and ecological conditions of a specific region. Sustainable development therefore is site-specific -to a degree- and may arise from the process of manipulating through time the controllable elements of a system in search of the best combination of all the elements of the system at a given time. The best combination of circumstances could here be defined by PROTROPICO’s mission statement (to improve food security, income generation, and natural resources in order to ensure a better livelihood and quality of life), and the inclusion of the majority of the rural communities in the region.

1. The first Department activity was focused exclusively on the generation of alternatives for the milpa, and was localized in only one community (Sahcabá) of the henequen region. The generation of sustainable alternatives was to be supported with the milpa strategic research program at the university. Research and base development (where community is an active element in the research) are both needed in the search for sustainable alternatives. In this stage students of other universities with interest in doing their research projects in collaboration with PROTROPICO were invited.
2. As an outcome of this first activity campesinos and researchers agreed to include and integrate the homegarden and successional vegetation systems into the research agenda as well. This was needed to understand and visualize the whole campesino production system as each subsystem was analyzed and studied individually. Parallel to this, the need to expand the target area beyond the community of Sahcabá was foreseen. Efforts to involve educational activities in the process occur with the development of the Master of Sciences program, where students are encouraged to carry out their research projects addressing the problems typical of the rural communities in the area.
3. PROTROPICO has started a third phase, where the target area is not solely the henequen zone, but the whole Yucatan Peninsula where some problems are shared by all rural communities, and some are site- and circumstance-specific. This regionalization of sustainable development activities is attempted through collaboration with other institutions. As a response to this need, PROTROPICO collaborated in the planning and establishment of the School of Ecological Agriculture, in Maní; and later establishes collaboration links between NGO’s in the Peninsula, forming the ROSDESAC network, as well as part of the Red de Gestion de Recursos Naturales.

The emergence of the more recent phases has not resulted in the abandonment of the initial strategies, but instead, the Department has grown in team members, activities, and collaborative projects.

1. There are no magical solutions that can be imposed on local communities to solve the problems of conservation and rural development. A menu of viable alternatives must be offered which will allow both development and improvement of the environment. The participation of local people is imperative to accomplish the objectives of conservation and development.
2. Campesinos are as eager as anybody to accept techniques that will improve their quality of life. However, as they are the most familiar with their environment and socio-economic realities, collaborative research that includes traditional knowledge as its base and evaluation tool should take place. Local people - as well as all actors involved - should be included in the decision-making for planning and execution of all development and conservation projects and policies.
3. Conceptual frameworks based on a systems approach are helpful to understand complex situations; however, there is no unique conceptual framework valid in all instances as these are only mind maps or representations of realities that are too complex to understand linearly. Limits of the levels of the system are fixed according to personal perceptions or practicality, but reality occurs as a continuum. A systemic representation may also fail to represent all factors involved in situation. Therefore, conceptualizations, as complete as they might be, are not necessarily reproducible in practice.
4. One of the biggest challenges in developing a truly interdisciplinary work lies in the formation of the team. Personal differences and points of views (often due to overstating disciplinary approaches) may limit the interaction of the team-members and the outcomes of the initiative. This is an urgent challenge that needs to be faced during training and education of professionals.
5. In order to achieve successful and self-sustained grass-roots development, activities must be arranged in consideration of the inherent social organization of the community (authorities, leaders, etc.). Working with isolated campesinos involves the risk of only favoring a few and not the complete community.
6. For more regional success in sustainable development, partnerships with other actors (NGO’s, GO’s, educational institutions, donors) involved in sustainable development is needed. Collaboration here is understood not only as joining efforts and resources towards a ‘common’ goal, but as a synergistic process where the results exceed the sum of the parts. To achieve this synergy, several elements are important:
1. a common objective (which does not imply agreement in worldviews, values, or backgrounds)
2. interdisciplinary teams with a diversity of tools and knowledge universes
3. a systems approach
4. an ability to view situations through different perspectives and system levels
5. an attitude of flexibility, tolerance, and cooperation
6. a long-term activity and project conception timeline
7. and an excellent capacity for coordination