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Annual budget:$145,415
Major donors:
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Conservation International (CI)
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Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).
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Rare Center for Tropical Conservation (Rare)
Objectives:
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General goal:
- Conserve, promote, and guarantee the protection of natural resources and biological diversity by developing sustainable alternatives to improve the quality of life without affecting the environment.
Specific goals
- Present proposals for policies, programs, and projects that will improve the management of ecosystems and the quality of life of the communities of the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast.
- Investigate and promote economic alternatives such as ethnotourism, ecotourism, agrotourism, and ecological agroforestry.
- Improve the use of sustainable practices in the communities.
- Promote the conservation of biological diversity through environmental education with the participation of the local authorities and the media.
- With full support from all the members, create an environmental law unit in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region that promotes the application of environmental laws and regulations by lodging complaints and following up on accusations and sanctions related to the environment.
- Promote the sustainable management of natural resources by the community.
- Facilitate the organization, monitoring, and follow up of the conservation of biological diversity through institutional coordination.
Description of the area where organization works:
The South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) makes up 28% of the Nicaraguan territory, holding most of the protected areas in the country that include: Cerro Silva Natural Reserve, Cerro Wawashang Natural Reserve, Punta Gorda Natural Reserve, Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, Bluefields Municipality Wetlands Network (RAMSAR site), Llanos de Karawala Natural Reserve, and Llanos de Makantaka Natural Reserve. These areas cover most of the Nicaragua’s Southeast Biosphere whose vast corridors extend over 9,320 square miles and hold many species of endangered flora and fauna.
This exuberant region, rich in biological and cultural diversity, is extremely fragile. The indigenous people, who make up the majority of the multi-ethnic communities of the area, live in extreme poverty, are marginalized in society, and lack environmental education. For these reasons, the advance of the agricultural frontier has become a concern in this area and has led to the development of projects that incorporate social factors as well as biodiversity. Memberships:
COCBIO accepts new members to co-manage programs and projects, carry out environmental education activities and dissemination, exchanges of projects, and consultancies. Benefits of membership:
Members can use COCBIO’s equipment and have access to information. As well, COCBIO’s legal status facilitates the implementation of projects and consultancies. A multidisciplinary team is also available to provide members with good feedback.
Members:
Projects:
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Ecotourism Development in the Mahogany Wetlands Municipal Ecological Park, Bluefields-Rama, RAAS, Nicaragua
Summary: To contribute to biodiversity conservation in the Mahogany Wetlands Municipal Ecological Park in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua, the Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University (BICU) promotes ecotourism to develop environmental awareness and economic sustainability for the communities living the park’s buffer zone. These efforts will improve the quality of life of the inhabitants, and contribute to the sustainable development of the area.
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Environmental and Socio-economic Study of the Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers Wetlands, Nicaragua
Summary: The Foundation for Sustainable Development (Fundación para el Desarrollo Sostenible - FUNDESO) directed an environmental and socio-economic study of the Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers wetlands, in which 20% of the families of the San Sebastián de Talento 1 and 2 and Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers were surveyed and interviewed, all of them located in the buffer zone of the Cerro Silva Nature Reserve in the Municipality of Bluefields, South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), Nicaragua. The study was meant to reveal the environmental, social, and economic status, and the characteristics of the ecosystems present in the communities adjacent to the Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers wetlands.
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Supporting Volunteer Park Guards in the Mahogany Wetlands Municipal Ecological Park in Nicaragua (Phase II)
Summary: The Mahogany Community Park Guards Association (Asociación de Guardaparques Comunitarios de Mahogany - AGCOMA) and the Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University (BICU) developed this project to continue its support to park guards in the Mahogany Wetlands Municipal Ecological Park in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) of Nicaragua. Through this project, better equipment and maintenance helped the park guards improve surveillance, control, and monitoring of the area.
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Strengthening the Coalition of Conservation Organizations and Park Guards in the Wetlands of the Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers, Municipality of Bluefields in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region of Nicaragua
Summary: Fundación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Foundation for Sustainable Development - FUNDESO) supplies park guards with equipment to carry out their surveillance, control, and monitoring duties in the buffer zone of the Cerro Silva Natural Reserve and its wetlands ecosystem. Policies, programs, and projects that focus on improving the quality of life in the communities will help to strengthen the Coalition of Organizations Working in Biodiversity Conservation (COCBio).
Principal accomplishments:
- Achieved the cohesion of the communities to facilitate work in sustainable development in the RAAS and participation and management of biodiversity.
- Improved the socio-economic conditions of the families living in the areas adjacent to the target areas.
- Achieved goals that have made a notable impact and have shown other producers that this work is worthwhile.
- Obtained the participation of the communities in planning for the reserves and determining the land use in the region.
- Trained the park guards in public relations, interpretation, and environmental education.
- Controlled illegal logging, forest fires, fishing, and hunting.
- Identified and conserved the biodiversity of the Southeast Biosphere.
- Created and delineated the buffer zones of the Caño Negro de Kukra Rivers wetlands.
- Established local reserves.
- Consolidated the biological corridor between Indio Maíz, Cerro Silva, and Punta Gorda, and established alliances for protection.
- Developed a management plan for the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve.
- Guaranteed the quality and quantity of production of southeastern Nicaragua from an ecological standpoint.
Volunteers:
COCBIO accepts volunteers to work in the conservation of natural resources and biological diversity by carrying out surveys, internships, and scientific studies of biodiversity for theses, masters, and doctorate degrees. Food and lodging, transportation, and other expenses are not covered but COCBIO members try to help as much as they can mainly with food and lodging.
Related links:
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www.cepf.net
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). Foundation that provides strategic assistance to nongovernmental organizations, community groups and other civil society partners to help safeguard Earth's biodiversity hotspots.
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www.conservation.org
Conservation International. Links are provided to the regions where this international conservation NGO works.
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www.marena.gob.ni
Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources of Nicaragua. (Spanish only).
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www.intur.gob.ni
Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism. In Spanish only.
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www.idr.gob.ni
Rural Development Institute, Nicaragua, supports the development of production for small and medium-sized producers and small rural businesses, by implementing, managing, and coordinating investment programs and projects that increase the productivity and efficiency in harmony with the environment. (Spanish only)
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www.pnd.gob.ni/raas3.shtm
Rural Plan for Development – Strategy for Development of the RAAS. Includes general information on the region and actions carried out. (Spanish only)
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www.rainforest-alliance.org
Rainforest Alliance. International conservation NGO that protects ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.
Publications:
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Open letter “No al monodiesel.” August 2006. Public demonstration by COCBIO against the Nicaraguan legal decree to promote mass cultivation of African oil palm in southern and northeastern Nicaragua to produce bio-fuels. Makes brief references to the impacts this crop would have on the region. In Spanish.
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Boletín informativo de COCBIO. January 2006. Subscription requests are to be directed to cocbio@yahoo.com or eahodgso@yahoo.com. In Spanish.
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Alvarez, Alejandro y González, María Lourdes. Memoria del taller “Identificación de ONG que trabajan para la conservación de la biodiversidad en la RAAS”. Conservation Internacional, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and Fundación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (FUNDESO). September 2003. 18 pages. In Spanish.
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Selected photos of some of COCBIO’s work. 2006.
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