PROMEBIO strengthens and integrates the region’s ability to generate, analyze, and

make available accurate information on the status of biodiversity throughout

Central America

www.promebio. irbioccad.org

Biodiversity is Life!

“Biodiversity is Life! How well we use and manage it determines the quality of our lives. . . . If we are to succeed at conservation and sus-tainable use of our biological diversity, we must start looking beyond single protected areas or conservation blocks and start considering entire landscapes. And we must unify efforts within our region. We must understand that the question is not about conservation VERSUS development but instead conservation AND development.” Opening remarks of Dr. Paul Flowers, representative for the Belizean Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Gaspar Vega, Workshop on Biodiversity Protocols for PROMEBIO, August 5, 2010, in Belize City.

Implicit in the creation and design of PROMEBIO is the understanding that to effectively conserve and sustainably manage environmental resour-ces and systems they must first be understood. Created thru a consensus of and by the seven Cen-tral American countries, PROMEBIO has five in-terrelated goals to be implemented region-wide:

1. The creation and adoption of a scientifically-based methodology to monitor and evaluate bio-diversity.

2. The construction of an information system as a central repository and linkage for biodiversity and ecosystem data.

3. The establishment of mechanisms for easy acce-ssibility to this repository and to analysis of the

data.

4. To strengthen the technical capabilities and pro-vide tools, such as the Global Methodology for Mapping Human Impacts on the Biodiversity (GLOBIO), and to supply the means to assess the past and present impacts of human activi-ties on biodiversity, and to predict future ones.

5. To promote the use of this data to inform natio-nal and regional environmental management and conservation policy makers.

The Inter-American Development Bank toge-ther with the governments of seven countries and Zamorano University have provided the financial, human and technical resources to implement the first phase of PROMEBIO between 2009 and 2011.

Central America is deeply committed to protec-ting its rich biodiversity and natural resources for the long term, and recognizes that successful con-servation and management will allow the region to “restore the environment, adapt to climate change, reduce poverty, and, above all, develop a process for sustainable human development.” Words of Arturo Harding, President Protempore, CCAD, October 2005 in the presentation of the document of PROMEBIO.

All seven Central American nations signed the Con-vention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that came out of the Rio “Earth Summit” of June 1992, and have individual conservation plans in place. The region’s governments however, also recognize that nature and ecological systems know no political or cultural boundaries, and sustainable management and pro-tection will require a collaborative and consistent effort.

Thus via the Integration System for Central America (SICA), the institutional framework for collaboration among the Central American governments, and more specifically through the Central American Commi-ssion on Environment and Development (CCAD), the SICA´s secretariat responsible for the region’s envi-ronmental agenda, the seven nations have been ad-vancing a unified and active management strategy. CCAD has now begun implementing this plan which will respond to the CBD goals laid out and agreed to for the conservation and sustainable use of bio-logical diversity. It is called a Strategic Regional Pro-gram for Monitoring and Evaluating Biodiversity, orPROMEBIO.

Construction of a Scientifically–base methodology for evaluation and monitoring of biodiversity

Nine indicators agreed upon and implementing the standardized protocols

“As a region, we need to be unified, and our positions and policies as consensual as possible – about protec-ted areas, climate change, coastal and marine resources -- so our management decisions are more effective. PROMEBIO is one means towards this end,” observes Lesbia Sevilla, the PROMEBIO Biodiversity commi-ttee member from Costa Rica. “Integrated data and decisions will also mean we are better listened to and heard on the global stage, such as at the Convention on Global Biological Diversity. We are small countries and our cooperation as one voice will help us safeguard our biological diversity, and gain needed support.”

The protocols development team formed by Wilfredo Matamoros, Ph.D specialist in Community Eco-logy, Biogeography, and Conservation Biology, Samuel Rivera Ph.D. specialist in Geographical Informa-tion Systems and Remote Sensing, Hector Portillo Reyes, M.Sc. specialist on Protected Areas Management and Biological Monitoring and Juan Carlos Carrasco M.Sc. specialist on Restoration of River Ecology and Management of Coastal and Marine Resources, after a participative process with the involvement of fo-cal points from the CCAD technical comities for Biodiversity and Environmental Information representing the seven countries, is currently in the last phase of preparation of the protocols for the nine indicators.

The nine indicators to monitor biodiversity en Central America are the following:

Approximately thirty people, including Central American government representatives, biodiversity experts, staff and special guests attended the most recent meeting of the PROMEBIO during August 5-7, 2010 in Belize City. The event was hosted by Marcelo Windsor and Edgar Ek, representatives of Belize, and the Presidency pro tempore of the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD). The meeting provided the opportunity for presentations, discussion, and planning for the final development phase of the monitoring and evaluation tool, and also for the upcoming United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010.

During the two day meeting in Belize, developing the protocols for the indicators to be used to standar-dize PROMEBIO data gathering to monitor and evaluate biodiversity was discussed. Three biologists presented their work on a methodology to evaluate river health. An expert on satellite mapping tech-nologies and global positioning systems (GPS) spoke about the advantages and challenges in effectively mapping biodiversity trends and the used of the latest tools and software to be implemented by PROMEBIO.

A Workshop on Biodiversity Protocols for PROMEBIO

Participants at the PROMEBIO meeting in Belize City, August 2010

A training and validation course on protocols was held in Honduras

The protocols

Infrared trap camera proto-cols for mam-mals

Avian monito-ring Protocols

Technicians from Central American government offices and from NGO partnership institutions participated in this course held in Zamorano, Honduras, 11-13 of October 2010. The course objectives were to provide a practical approach to implementing the protocols for the nine biodiversity indicators and get feedback from the participants.

The protocols proposals for the indicators at the species level are of inclusive format, which means they can be use for sampling or monitoring of several species or popula-tions at the same site. For example, sampling in the rivers will serve for the monitoring of fish, macro-invertebrates, or other specimens collected, this with the intention of not focusing on a particular species and protocols may have a wider range of use. For camera traps, the technicians will take pictures of all kinds of animals, as well as the specifically targeted groups.

The technicians were presented with infrared cameras for assisting in field observation of mammals and data collection. The cameras are easy to use and are a non-invasive option to monitoring mammal populations. The infrared cameras are secured to tress using cables at knee level above the ground. This provides a wide angle view to observe other small and medium-sized species captured in the photos.

The technicians were also presented with a protocol for the monitoring and eva-luation of bird populations. This protocol will be part of the manual to be published in 2011. The protocol describes the steps required to establish a monitoring program for birds. It includes methods to calculate the population size, indexes of producti-vity and survival, age and sex distribution, relationships with habitat and other para-meters. It describe in detail four methods for the determination of the size of the po-pulation, two methods for the measurement of demographic factors and two habitat assessment systems. It also provides information on basic requirements for equipment, personnel, resources and techniques necessary to implement the program. Depen-ding on available financial and human resources, various combinations of the methods described in the protocol can be adapted to virtually any situation and budget.

The protocols proposed for the river biomonitoring is the concept of river conti-nuum. The River Continuum Concept indicates changes in the composition of species that are related to variations along an altitudinal gradient in ri-verine systems from the lower basin of the river up to the lower basin. Under this concept, taxa will be identified that allow us to track changes in biota and enable us to assess ecological integrity, also measure the displacement of exotic spe-cies that compete with native species by presenting a risk to the integrity of the species and its envi-ronment. This concept was first developed by Robin L. Vannote in 1980 with researchers at Stroud Water Research Center. This metho-dology is used in some rivers of North and South America, but little research has been done in Central America, the use of this protocol presents a good opportunity to better understand the ecology of the region’s rivers and de-velop an experience on the topic.

It is important to emphasize that without basic information on bio-diversity, distribution, biology and ecology of the fish communities that inhabit the region’s rivers, the task of developing management measures for the conservation of our river systems is even more difficult for both governmental natural resource management agencies and private agencies. This protocol is designed with the purpose of providing a common use understandable sampling tool to be adopted and used by different agencies of natural resource manage-ment in the region, aiming to gene-rate significant and useful information about our river systems and its biodiversity.

The Central American rivers are being radi-cally changed due to hydroelectric development in the region, the introduction of exotic species, and contamination with both inorganic and organic chemicals. These interventions, that may negatively affect our river systems, can be at least prevented or mitigated pro-perly only when you have the knowledge of the biological and ecologi-cal functions that are being affected by the interventions in these systems.

An example of technology to be used for selecting images.

Protocols for Ecosystem, Ecoregion and Fragmentation Indicators

Eco-regions are “natural pro-vinces” where the main ecologi-cal processes that maintain di-versity occur. Therefore the ad-ministration of any eco-region resources should be coordinated beyond geopolitical boundaries (TNC, 2007). Monitoring eco-regionally allows us to envision landscape linkages and gives us a picture of conservation by coun-try but in an integrated manner.

For this reason, monitoring is extremely important to high-lighting those ecosystems of large tracts of continuously, and also those small ecosystems and unique remnants found for some reason near to disappear.

For the indicators at the ecosystem, eco-region level and fragmentation the protocols will use different infor-mation system technologies and data bases, which are available to the countries and provided by the regional and global databases.

Ecosystem map for Central America

Remote sensing has become an impor-tant tool for the analysis of the dynamics of the vegetative cover. Its use combined with GIS technology has allowed increa-se the chances of retrieving information from landscapes and regions in a compre-hensive way optimizing natural resource planning. The proposed protocol will ex-plain step by step the methodology for the calculation of the different indicators.

The PROMEBIO team is planning to implement (in 2011) six pilot projects in the field to test and refine the system and demonstrate the feasibi-lity of its usefulness. The pilot projects are loca-ted in natural habitats and protected areas that exist within two or more regional nation’s borders.

These areas include 1) the Mayan jungle shared by Belize and Guatemala, 2) the Plan Trifinio, a tri-na-tional conservation area in the Montecristo Trina-tional Protected Area located within contiguous areas of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, 3) the Gulf of Fonseca within borders with El Salvador, Hondu-ras and Nicaragua, 4) the Heart of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor shared by Honduras and Nica-ragua, 5) the Rio San Juan watershed located along both sides of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica and 6) the Rio Sixaola conservation area located along the Costa Rican and Panamian border.

The project is now creating web portals and other tools to ensure the information is readily accessible and easy to understand. “When trying to find out about a species or habitat, you often don’t know where to go,” explains Gilberto Lara, the PROMEBIO In-formation System for the Environment (SIAM) committee member from El Salvador. “You end up contacting scientists, universities, local and fe-deral governments, and even international con-servation organizations trying to find what you need and this takes significant time without a gua-rantee of success. PROMEBIO fixes this problem.”

The objective of the conceptual model is to deve-lop a preliminary design for all the aspects of the system, including sub-systems, databases to be integrated, and how to carry out the exchange of information with other networks.

PROMEBIO is planned as a system whose main ob-jective would be to “generate and provide harmo-nized and systematized information, of regional interest about the state of biodiversity, that would allow us to evaluate the changes in its prioritized components and that would contribute to the decision making process” (PROMEBIO operational plan).

The information systems specialist Boris Ramirez explain that “ in order to reach this objective, the in-formation system of PROMEBIO must be a union of several sub-systems, which would be integrated into a central system. The biodiversity thematic node is based on the concept of distributed informa-tion networks. A distributed network is one in which the information is not stored exclusively in just one place, but it is stored in a distributed manner in several places at the same time. In this way the to-tal of the information in the network is the sum of each of its parts. The system should permit easy inte-gration with existing national and regional information networks such as IABIN, GBIF and CBD-CHM”.

The Coordinator of the project, Suyapa Triminio Meyer, also announced the launch of the PROMEBIO website (www.promebio.irbioccad.org) where reports on biodiversity modeling results, manuals and other infor-mation related to the region´s biodiversity can now be accessed.

Report cover for the Technical Report for the modeling of the drivers for bio-diversity loss in Central America. The maps present the actual status of the biodiversity for 2008 (right) and pro-jected for 2030 (left).Complete information on the subject and this report are available at the PROMEBIO web site.

First GLOBIO workshop, held in February of 2009 on Geographic Information System Center, De-partment of Socioeconomic Development and the Environment, Zamorano University, Honduras.

The last step to effectively integrating PROMEBIO into regional planning and management is to pro-vide training and capacity building for key govern-ment officials to facilitate the incorporation of this valuable data into environmental management and conservation projects and policies. Towards this end GLOBIO specialists supplied by the Neth-erlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) have provided technical assistance and training to two information coordinators from each regional country. The project experts also plan to provide

additional workshops in the future to explain PROMEBIO’s uses and applications to the staff of SICA’s environmental ministries and other in-terested parties.

“GLOBIO provides information easy to under-stand displayed in maps and reports that show the relationships between human activities and biodivesity,” observes Suyapa Triminio Meyer, Coordinator of the PROMEBIO and GLOBIO Central American Projects. “As such it is a valu-able tool for Central America to use to find ways we can change our behaviors to better protect our valuable natural systems and resources.”

Capacity Building GLOBIO: a modeling tool for drivers of presures on Biodiversity

PROMEBIO integration with other

regional and global

initiatives

Life Web InitiativeIn the Global scenario, during the Belize Workshop, Jason Spensley, Program Officer for the Life Web Initiative, Managed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) presented the Life Web’s initiative “partnership platform,” which is a means to connect financial and technical assistance from developed nations to developing countries.The platform acts as a clearinghouse for information on pro-posals and lines of investments from cooperating nations and the priorities and specific conservation projects of recipient’s countries. It gives developing nations assistance in communi-cating with multiple potential financing entities and by conve-ning roundtable meetings to pursue development cooperation. Life Web is currently assisting CCAD with the organization of a donor roundtable to be held in Guatemala in 2011.

Road to Nagoya 2010The country representatives agreed on a strategy for fleshing out their positions and coming to a consensus before the CBD meeting. They resolved to have a unified proposal drawn up that Belize, as president pro tem of CCAD, would have to re-ference in representing the interests of Central America. As Marcelo Windsor the Belizean representative observed “Our Central American forests and marine sanctuaries secure biodi-versity, combat climate change and help reduce poverty when they are managed sustainably”.“At the Convention on Biological Diversity we want to find alliances with funding nations that will help us move forward as a region. Belize intends to see to it that the interests of all Central Americans are respected. Because really, protecting the Central American environment and our biodiversity is in the best interest of the whole world.”

Regional partnerIn the regional scenario PROMEBIO has invited the Biodiversity Partnership of Mesoamerica (BPM), a platform for public-pri-vate alliances to promote sustainable development.BPM was originally created in 2008 as a cooperative effort between three private corporations: REWE, a European su-permarket chain, Chiquita Brands International, Corbana the National Banana Corporation of Costa Rica and the German In-ternational Development Agency (GTZ).

Protected Areas CommissionDr. Eduard Müller of the International Union for the Conserva-tion of Nature’s World Commission on Protected Areas (PAs) expressed “If we don’t have information about what’s happe-ning with biodiversity we can’t make decisions. We know from anecdotal evidence that there are massive changes in the cloud forest. We see that climate change is starting to hit hard. But many world bodies can’t adequately address these problems, because there is not enough evidence. With data collected by tools like PROMEBIO we can better examine and prove the efficacy of Protected Areas and other conservation methods, and harness our resources more effectively.”

In NagoyaCCAD presented PROMEBIO at a special event on Central America, held du-ring the 10th meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The PROMEBIO committee members see the system as an important way to integrate not only their environmental policies on a regional level, but also their ability to affect decisions on a global scale.

PROMEBIO Partners: PBL, Universidad Zamorano, CBD in the environmental de-partment held a meeting during the Conference of the parties COPX in Nagoya to analyze the results of the modeling of biological diversity, the collaboration that they had for three years and its future. Their eloquent words on the re-sults of this collaboration were expressive and confirmed the desire to con-tinue this collaboration expanding to other subjects and tools that have been developed to be used in Central America.

Poster presented at Nagoya 2010 on its English version and presented at the Mesoameri-can Congress of the Biology and Conservation Society in Costa Rica 2010 in the Spanish version

Contact informationSuyapa Triminio MeyerCoordinatorProyecto PROMEBIO-BID-CCAD-Zamorano504-27766140 ext 2428smeyer@zamorano.edu

Arie Sanders Socioeconomic Development Faculty Zamorano Universityasanders@zamorano.edu

Margarita Salazar CCAD-SICAmsalazar@sica.int

CreditsEdition: Suyapa Triminio MeyerInterviews: Lee ShaneDesign: Mildred Lagos Vivas

Expert partners:Boris RamírezWilfredo MatamorosJuan Carlos CarrascoSamuel RiveraHector Portillo

Pictures: Suyapa Triminio Meyer Lee Shane (Belize group metting)Pictures page 5: Juan Carlos Carrasco

Officers of PBL Holanda, Zamorano University and PROMEBIO in Nagoya, japan

www.twentyten.net/affiliatepartners