Transcript for GFP Barcelona IUCN WCC

We work in partnership to implement

the concept: “think global, act local”

Cleary if we’re going to make a difference in the world is through partnership

It’s actually working at all levels,

for a common aim

We need partnership, because on top you can’t do it all by yourself,

and on the bottom you cannot do it all by yourself.

You need a coalition among all segments.

Getting communities to participate

is not just to sit them down one afternoon

and talk to them about your topic.

It’s about making the local population responsible

in the management of natural resources.

We have seen development programs at a global level,

and they come impose them on communities.

They will do what you want them to do.

But when you are gone,

they will go back to what they were doing before.

But if you have an initiative with them,

they own it, it’s more likely to be sustainable.

It’s hard to conserve or sustainably manage forests and resources

if populations are still in poverty

I know that what works with our organization

is the domestication of fruit trees.

Populations at the base adopt these types of programs easily.

As long as we consider ourselves like the one who gives

and that in all regards has rights over the other,

then the scheme is distorted.

It’s not about big organizations that pass by and make a lot of noise

Non, it’s about actions of proximity.

It’s the mechanism that’s worked best for us

We have done something to do with

income generation activities at the local level.

You can plant bamboo around your home.

It will grow between five or ten years, you will have bamboo

And trees, if you use good trees,

you can still have firewood within the ten years.

That’s exactly what we have done.

And we have reduced illegal

access illegal entry into the forest

from about 70% to about 5%.

It’s not a matter of I am

international, you are local, I am bigger, you are smaller,I have more resources, you have less,

Pressure, pressure, pressure, it delivers.

But after, you have to leave a real time, time for discussion.

Help governments to do things well,

but challenge them when they are doing them badly.

We have to have a relation, a dialogue,not

a parallel conversation that exists at this moment

We are part of the solutions to the climate changes

that are happening now.

The process we have learned the most from is

when we’ve engaged those individuals that are most difficult to reach,

and perhaps were least comfortable with.

But they are the ones that add the greatest value to our work.

If it’s worked for us it’s because the population understood that

doing conservation and valorization, brings benefits,

especially socio-economic ones.

When there is success, we share it.

When there is failure, we share it.

I just know that partnerships take a lot of time

and it’s just like a relationship, it takes time to cultivate it,

get to know your partner,

and I can’t see any formula for getting that done.