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Rest of the world
RNRRS legacy

Research reports for Ecuador

Fair trade for forest products
Lessons learned from assessing best practice in ethical trade schemes are now guiding organisations around the world. Ethical and conventional trading systems were compared for three forest products: cocoa, brazil nuts and timber - in terms of both their impact on local people and their economic viability. Researchers also analysed wider policies, markets and non-forest sectors, to get the big picture. An important conclusion was that assessing impacts on livelihoods and the environment must be a part of ethical trade initiatives. This and other findings have been disseminated through policy briefings and a draft manual on best practices. Lessons learned have already been used by Oxfam and CARE in Peru, Ecuador and South Africa, and by the Ecolabelling Institute of Indonesia (LEI). (Ref: FRP19)
New market chain approach gives fast results
The Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) stimulates networking, links small farmers to markets and fosters productive partnerships based on trust and knowledge sharing. Active participation - or a lack of it - by the many actors along the food chain can make or break the system. PMCA systematically involves people in identifying and assessing market opportunities and identifying commercial, technical and institutional innovations. A poverty filter helps identify the greatest probabilities of pro-poor impact. In just three to six months, partners are typically able to get new market products and innovations into use. PMCA is currently being applied in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Nicaragua, in Latin America, as well as in Laos, Syria and Uganda. Extensive testing has led to the publication of a PMCA User Guide. (Ref: CPH01)
Capturing farmers' demands and involving them in research
A new menu of methods now helps farmers and researchers work together more productively. Farmers want and need change. So finding out what they want isn't a one-off process, it's continuous. And, like everyone else, there are things out there that farmers don't know about, so they don't know whether or not they might need them. Then, when suggestions are made to meet their needs, they like to be involved in testing them out. Development agencies, research organisations, foundations and non-government organisations already use the methods. Teamwork between researchers and farmers relies on social principles. These principles work as well with new equipment for draught animals as with integrated pest management, whether the topic is potato, rabbits or rice. (Ref: CPP58)
Managing fisheries when there's not much data
Tapping into fishers' knowledge opens the door to a wealth of data. This is invaluable in fisheries where there may be very little information or no records at all. As new fisheries are still being discovered in less-developed countries - and there's very little information about many existing fisheries - asking fishers to share their knowledge helps managers quickly weigh up the state of a fishery. In Namibia, Zanzibar, the Galapagos, Kenya, India, Gabon, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the Seychelles fishers have shared important information with scientists, managers and stakeholders and helped develop plans for fisheries. Namibia, St Helena and Tonga have adopted precautionary management based on fishers' knowledge, and the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago are planning to adopt this approach too. (Ref: FMSP06)
Planning ahead with FIESTA
A new highly detailed computer model of climate, land and water interactions is now available that covers the whole of the tropics. The model, known as FIESTA, can help us to better understand the effects of land use changes and climate change on hydrological systems and poor users downstream. FIESTA can be used to help decision makers apply watershed protection in appropriate areas, build water-related infrastructure and target efforts to get water to people who need it. The model is unique because it looks at areas as small as one square kilometre. This helps planners account for the very different hydrological effects that land use or climate change can have from area to area at a very local level - boosting our ability to develop sustainable land and water strategies. (Ref: FRP30)

RNRRS legacy: Rest of the World

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