Context
Despite Ecuador's many protected areas, the country's rich biodiversity remains under threat. In addition to the unregulated extraction of natural resources, farmer families are moving into the forests to grow coffee or cocoa or to harvest timber. With world market prices for these products fluctuating wildly, many of the families live in poverty. Crop losses due to climate change worsen this situation.
In contrast, indigenous communities have preserved their traditional knowledge and use the land and forests in ways that conserve biodiversity and mitigate climate and market risks. They also collect wild forest products, but obtaining permission to market these products is a complicated process.
To date, the relevant institutions have not worked together closely enough to promote the sustainable use of these products. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial skills of the producer associations remain largely underdeveloped.
Objective
Indigenous and local communities in protected areas and coastal zones make sustainable use of the biodiversity in forests and agroforestry systems.
