Protecting and managing forests to build socio-ecological resilience in Bolivia

The local communities of the dry forest in the Chiquitania and Chaco region of Santa Cruz, and the tropical amazon region of Pando and Beni, contribute to improved resilience of the forest landscapes and the socio-ecological environment they inhabit, ensuring a triple win for biodiversity, climate and wellbeing of the people in the communities The outcome focusses on a triple win, tackling climate change whilst protecting biodiversity and integrating social development. The program empowers local communities in the departments of Santa Cruz, Pando and Beni to become the guardians of the forests they inhabit. To achieve this, BOS+ identified 5 local partners specialized in sustainable forest management, forest conservation, diversification of agroforestry practices, forest restoration, and with sufficient administrative and technical management skills. By training ´sentinels´ or environmental monitors the program will improve forest conservation. They will monitor borders, forest changes, and hot spots, contributing to fire prevention. At the same time, we will support campaigns to raise awareness on the importance of forests. Local communities will be strengthened to develop qualitative sustainable forest management plans, being an essential part of forest conservation. We will also focus on a sustainable way to generate income and secure the livelihood of local communities, through the commercialization of forest products. The program will expand, improve and diversify agroforestry practices. The objective is to extend the duration of farmland use by applying improved agroforestry systems. This way, the program will also boost product quality and benefit the health of local consumers. In the long run this will also generate market opportunities, improving the income security of the local communities. Forest restoration areas will be enriched with local species and new restoration techniques. Policy work, both locally and nationally, will be key to achieving this result. The established partner mix will strengthen the policy work, as partners with more experience in policy work can rely on the input of local beneficiaries. Administrative and technical management capacities will be improved through mutual learning (partners, beneficiary organizations and BOS+).