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In Focus, November 2002
Four CEPF grantees from Africa, Asia and Latin America gave presentations on their conservation projects in a special workshop on the CEPF during the Global Environment Facility's Second Assembly held Oct. 16-18 in Beijing. CEPF donor partners hosted this workshop to increase awareness about CEPF results among representatives from ministries of environment and finance attending the assembly.
The organizations—Association Fanamby, Instituto Machu Picchu, the National Botanical Institute and WWF-Indonesia—also participated in the workshop alongside about 40 World Bank and GEF staff, advisors to various governments and others.
"It was really interesting to be part of a larger forum where conservation and strategies are being outlined," said Alfredo Ferreyros, President of Instituto Machu Picchu (IMAPI) in Peru. "I had always participated very much at a national and regional level and to be there in Beijing and see what is going on in different places and at an international level struck me as a magnificent experience."
Ferreyros gave a presentation on how IMAPI will soon launch a campaign to enhance public awareness of the need for improved management of the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary and its surrounding environment in the Vilcabamba-Amboró corridor of the Tropical Andes hotspot. Visited by up to 500,000 people each year, the sanctuary in Peru includes an amazing urban creation of the Incas. The natural setting on the eastern slope of the Andes encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of species. It also faces significant threats, including no plans to mitigate the impact of tourism, settlement expansion and illegal hunting.
The campaign includes a documentary video, media kits, a special newsletter and Web site and separate workshops with local authorities, the tourism industry and rural communities. The project also is a good example of knowing when to strategically reassess plans. Lots of materials have been created for an official launch originally planned for October, but IMAPI decided to delay because of the country's first regional elections to be held this month.
"There are mayoral elections too and there are a lot of posters everywhere," Ferreyros said. "Our effort needs to wait because it is aimed more toward creating long-term awareness."
Another participant in the Beijing workshop, Khungeka Njobe of the National Botanical Institute, gave a presentation on major projects under way in the Cape Floristic Region and Succulent Karoo hotspots in southern Africa.
"It gave South Africa an opportunity to share with the international community the work (much of which is innovative) it is doing in conservation," said Njobe, who is responsible for bioregional/ecoregional programs at the institute. "It also provided an opportunity for me to learn and network with colleagues from other parts of the world who are implementing conservation programs under different political and socio-economic situations and provided an opportunity to expose our work to other funding institutions."