The GENERAL SECRETARIAT of the Andean Community, hereinafter the “GENERAL SECRETARIAT,” represented by its General Secretary, Guillermo Fernández de Soto, and CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL, hereinafter “CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL,” represented by its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Seligmann, within their authority and respective attributions agree to promote a proposal to collaborate according to the following terms.

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL is a U.S. based nonprofit corporation, whose mission is to conserve the Earth’s natural living heritage, the global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature. CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the hotspots, major tropical wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL works in more than 30 countries on four continents.

The Andean Community is a subregional organization with legal international representation constituted by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and composed by the bodies and institutions of the Andean Integration System (AIS). The GENERAL SECRETARIAT is the executive body of the Andean Community. Permanently based in Lima, the GENERAL SECRETARIAT manages the subregional integration process; solves problems submitted for its consideration; oversees the accomplishment of the community commitments assumed by the Members Countries; keeps permanent contact with the Members Countries and maintains working links with the executive branches of other regional and integration organizations, as well as with other cooperation organizations.

The objective of the proposed collaboration between CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL and the GENERAL SECRETARIAT, is to promote and facilitate the implementation of the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries through:

• The development of common projects and initiatives identified in the Regional Biodiversity Strategy’s Action Plan;

• The creation of a trust fund that will serve to support the implementation of such Action Plan; and

• The identification of key partnerships with national, regional and international organizations.

The proposed collaboration will specifically involve from CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL, the Andes Center for Biodiversity Conservation and the Center for Conservation and Government, and from the GENERAL SECRETARIAT, the Environment and Sustainable Development Program.

The Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries (RBS) is a binding agreement approved by the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Lima on the 17^th of July of 2002. The RBS responds to the mandate of the Heads of State of the Andean countries, who commissioned the environmental authorities the definition of a strategy that “would help to produce viable alternatives for sustainable development in the region based on our natural resources and to orchestrate joint positions in the various fora for international negotiations.”

The Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries constitutes one of the first efforts of the subregion to develop an integrated platform for community action, promoting cooperation among the Member Countries and projecting them towards the rest of the international community with a new identity, own and unique. It is also one of the first strategies of communitarian nature adopted on this topic by a group of signatory countries of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and it is a specific contribution to meeting the goals of the Convention.

The goal of the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries is “to identify and agree on joint priority actions for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity components in areas where CAN member countries can make the best of their comparative advantages to promote the region’s sustainable socioeconomic development.”

• In this sense, the RBS pursues the following specific ends:

• To facilitate the concurrent action of the States, indigenous, Afro-American, and local communities, the private sector, the scientific community, and civil society, for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;

• To guide international financial cooperation agencies and keep them informed of the community priorities; and,

• To strengthen the execution and effectiveness of the national biodiversity strategies and their respective plans of action.

Its specific objectives are:

1. To conserve and sustainably use ecosystems, species and genetic resources in situ, and carry out complementary actions ex situ;

2. To equitably distribute the resulting benefits with due account of a correct economic valuation of the various biodiversity components;

3. To protect and strengthen the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous, Afro-American and local communities on the basis of the recognition of their individual, communal and collective rights;

4. To develop scientific knowledge, innovations and technologies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity while preventing or minimizing risks to the environment and human health;

5. To ensure that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are built into sectoral policies and development projects with a subregional impact; and,

6. To develop international negotiation capabilities regarding the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the Andean Community.

With this framework, the GENERAL SECRETARIAT has the mandate to report annually to the Andean Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs on the progress made in the Action Plan and projects of the RBS.

Building on its conservation priorities of working on Hotspots and Wilderness Areas, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL has identified three main areas -institutional outcomes- to focus its investment:

• Preventing species extinctions,

• Promoting the creation and sound management of protected areas; and,

• Connecting such areas through the promotion of land use activities compatible with conservation.

Within CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s structure the centers that are most relevant for the implementation of this Memorandum of Understanding are the Andes Center for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC) and the Center for Conservation and Governments (CCG).

Acknowledging the tremendous biological importance of the Tropical Andes, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL maintains offices in all five Andean Nations and has recently established a regional Andes Center for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC). Key areas where CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL focus its investment in the Andes include six major “conservation corridors”: Vilcabamba Amboró (Perú - Bolivia), Cóndor Kutukú (Perú - Ecuador), Chocó Manabí (Colombia - Ecuador), Guyana Shield (Venezuela - Guyana), NorAndino (Venezuela - Colombia), and Cocos Galápagos (Ecuador - Colombia - Panamá - Costa Rica). Activities and investment in these geographical areas aim to achieve the institutional outcomes at the regional and national level. Specific outcomes for the Andean Region have been identified and are aligned with the three institutional outcomes previously described.

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s new Center for Conservation & Government (CCG) works around the world to strengthen the capacity of governments to conserve biodiversity. The CCG’s initiatives include programs that build the capacity of government leaders and institutions to adopt sound environmental policies, understand the linkages between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, enforce environmental legislation, and secure increased funding for conservation actions.

The Andes CBC regional and national outcomes, as well as the objectives of the Center for Conservation and Government significantly overlap with the results identified by the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries. Both, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s Andes CBC outcomes, and the results of the RBS are included in Annex 1 and 2 respectively of this Memorandum.

Acknowledging that the outcomes and objectives identified by CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s Andes Center for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC) and Center for Conservation and Government, reflect the spirit and approach of the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropical Andean Countries (RBS), and significantly overlap with it, the GENERAL SECRETARIAT and CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL agree to collaborate in the following areas to promote and facilitate the implementation of the Action Plan of the RBS while achieving CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s Andean biodiversity outcomes:

The GENERAL SECRETARIAT and CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL will identify projects from the Action Plan of the RBS for CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL to develop and implement within its geographic and thematic priorities, achieving in that way, the objectives of the RBS, as well as the Andes CBC and CCG conservation priority outcomes and objectives.

These projects will also seek opportunities to build the capacity of government leaders and institutions to adopt sound environmental policies, understand the linkages between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, and enforce environmental legislation.

The implementation of the Action Plan to achieve the objectives of the RSB requires sustainable and long term funding. In light of this, the GENERAL SECRETARIAT has sought the support of CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL in the creation and establishment of a fund to support the development of the activities identified in the Action Plan.

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL agrees to collaborate with the GENERAL SECRETARIAT in the design, creation and establishment of the fund to support the implementation of the RBS. CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL and the GENERAL SECRETARIAT will determine the specific terms, roles and responsibilities for the establishment and management of the fund under separate agreement.

Given the broad dimension of the RBS, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL and the GENERAL SECRETARIAT agree to identify and build up partnerships with other national, regional and international civil society organizations. These partnerships will complement and strengthen the work that both CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL and The General Secretariat do in the region in pursuit of the objectives and results identified by the RBS and CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL’s conservation priority outcomes for the Andean Region.

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL agrees to assign Roberto Roca, Vice President for the Andes, and Nicholas Lapham, Vice President for the Center for Conservation and Government, to serve as the designated managers responsible for carrying out the terms, commitments and intent expressed in this MOU.

The GENERAL SECRETARIAT agrees to assign Luisa Elena Guinand, Coordinator of the Environment and Sustainable Development Program, and Saúl Pineda, advisor to the General Secretary of the Andean Community, as the designated managers responsible for carrying out the terms, commitments and intent expressed in this MOU.

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL and the GENERAL SECRETARIAT will endeavor to finalize implementation arrangements, including specific description of responsibilities and timeframes, within the 60 days following the signature of this MOU.

This MOU will be in effect for three years from signing, and may be modified or amended by the written agreement of both parties. Either party may terminate this Memorandum by giving a minimum of 60 days notice to the other.

VIII. Nothing in this MOU shall be construed as creating any legal partnership, joint venture or agency relationship, and neither party shall have the right or authority to assume or create any obligation of any kind or to make any representation or warranty, whether expressed or implied, on behalf of the other or to bind the other in any respect.

IN GOOD FAITH, AS AGREED:
 

Signed in Washington D.C., on the 11^th of June 2003



 

ANNEX I

1. The extinction of 44 Critically Endangered species (CR), within the 6 current conservation corridors of the Andean region (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC) avoided.

2. The extinction of 46 Critically Endangered species (CR), outside the 6 current conservation corridors of the Andean region (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC) avoided.

3. 156 of the Endangered species (EN) within and outside current conservation corridors of the Andean Region (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC), with improved conservation status.

4. New, expanded, and established protected areas protect habitats of Critically Endangered species (CR) within the 6 current conservation corridors (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC).

5. Protected areas within the 6 current conservation corridors (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC) include best management practices.

6. Protected areas of the Andean Region protect representative zones of 50% of the ecosystems that currently are not included within existing protected areas

7. Connectivity maintained or established among priority protected areas of the 6 current conservation corridors (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC).

8. Productive landscapes of the 6 current conservation corridors (VACC, CKCC, CHMCC, EG, NACC, CGCC) include best compatible practices with the conservation of biodiversity.

9. New conservation corridors identified and designed in the Andean region.