Merry Christmas from the Bio-rights team

While we are all getting ready for Christmas, and the Christmas lights and candles dominate the nights in both Guatemala and the Netherlands, the team of CARE and Wetlands International are delighted to be preparing for the implementation of a very innovative approach in Disaster Risk Reduction: Bio-rights. When we received the news that the HIF had rewarded us with a grant to pilot the innovative financial incentive mechanism Bio-rights as a Disaster Risk Reduction tool, we were all very happy. CARE and Wetlands International (WI) have been working together in several countries, like Mali and Indonesia, on linking ecosystem approaches to livelihood resilience and sustainable development. As of 2010, CARE and Wetlands International are official members of the Partners for Resilience (PfR) Alliance, with Netherlands Red Cross, Cordaid and Red Cross Climate Centre. The overall aim to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities amongst others in Guatemala to deal with increased disaster risk, effects of climate change and environmental degradation. In this collaboration we got to know each other well, and went from a ‘getting to know each other’ to ‘embracing each other’. That is why we are so excited to have the opportunity to assist the people in Guatemala, in those communities where the PfR programme works and others, with an incentive to invest in their natural environment, which can play a crucial role in the reduction of disaster risks, as well as contributing to livelihood resilience. Together with the Humanitarian Innovation Fund we can contribute to the development of a new risk reduction paradigm, where humanitarian and environmental solutions are brought together. In the PfR project, we work with communities to strengthen their resilience, through support at household level, community based preparedness and mitigation, and capacity building and policy dialogue with relevant parties. The Bio-rights project will boost this process, by actually enabling people to overcome opportunity cost for doing so. Poor families have many things to worry about, so providing them with a (conditional) financial incentive will from experience in a development context, motivate people to invest in their environment. This can show that an alternative way of living with the environment may benefit their safety and their lives. We are currently preparing for the start up of the HIF Bio-rights project in February 2012, and preparing for a workshop with the Partners for Resilience on harmonization of ecosystem, DRR and adaptation approaches in Central America, The next steps planned for the HIF Bio-rights project are to arrange the contractual matters, prepare for the project with the communities. Also we are looking at an Outcome Mapping start-up session, so the team and communities will be able to monitor the progress and learn from the changes they experience throughout the project. Until then we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful and Disaster Free 2012!! The HIF Bio-rights team: Edwin Kestler, Amilcar Miron, Julio Montes de Oca, Pieter van Eijk, Tialda Veldman, Anne te Molder