PEOPLE POWER
by Charlotte Mathiassen
s fires rage through the
Amazon and the world
seems to prioritise making
money over preserving
irreplaceable habitats,
how can we make sure that the world’s
most important forest IBAs get the
protection they so desperately need? We
cannot achieve progress unless we work
directly with the indigenous peoples and
local communities who live around these
sites and depend upon the resources
they provide. To ensure lasting change,
we need to empower local people to
manage their land in a way that can be
sustained for generations to come.
The People Partner with Nature (PPN)
A
programme does just that, supporting
sustainable forest management in seven
key IBAs across Kenya, Nepal and
Uganda. Backed by Danish funding and
implemented by DOF (BirdLife in
Denmark), the programme has been
working with BirdLife Partners Bird
Conservation Nepal, Nature Kenya and
NatureUganda since 2015.
PPN’s pathway towards positive
change includes raising public
awareness, empowering people both
educationally and financially, and
integrating conservation into human
wellbeing. To achieve this, they provide
training and resources for alternative,
nature-friendly livelihoods that boost
incomes and take pressure off the forest.
Throughout, PPN actively involves
women, indigenous people and
marginalised groups who may not
usually have a voice. In order to get
everyone’s voices heard, they support
cooperation between local authorities
and forest conservation groups, and
engage nationally and internationally
in political decisions.
One of PPN’s wider aims is to share
these best practices with the entire
BirdLife Partnership, so sustainable
participatory forest management can
spread across the world. In the
meantime, here are some
success stories…