MainDBNew: “Food Security Support for the Indigenous Population of the Talamanca – La Estrella Valley Territory in the face of Climate Change Effects by Fomenting Resilient Family Agriculture through the Recovery of Local Indigenous Traditions”

Title: “Food Security Support for the Indigenous Population of the Talamanca – La Estrella Valley Territory in the face of Climate Change Effects by Fomenting Resilient Family Agriculture through the Recovery of Local Indigenous Traditions”
NWPWeblink:
NWPTypeOfOrganization: Civil society; Non-governmental organization (NGO)
NWPGeographicRegion: Caribbean and Central America
Scope of work:
NWPMandatesandFrameworks:
NWPModalityApproachandMechanism:
NWPEffortsToAddressSOE:
NWPRelevantStakeholders:
NWPFocusonNElossesFlag:
NWPImpactAreas:
NWPOutputs:
Good practices and lessons learned: With regards to lessons learned, please also specify any specific success factors, challenges, and how these challenges were overcome. For enhancing the value of appropriate traditional practices, the implementation of the project included the creation of a manual in which they are compiled and validated. Seventeen adaptation practices, both traditional and non-traditional, have been developed in the Manual of Bribri and Cabécar Ancestral Practices, as mentioned below:
Integrated farm conservation (traditional)
Evaluation of our farms in the face of climate change risks and threats
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
Climate change records
Protection and conservation of water sources
Recovery of collective or communal work on the farms
Interplanting of trees and crops (Chamugrö)
Crop association and rotation (Teitö)
Use of traditional native (local) seeds
Reinforcement of patio gardening (Witö)
Cultural and ancestral soil protection and crop management practices
Rainwater capture
Water resource conservation
“Let’s not dump garbage”
Establishment of family gardens and family and community mini-greenhouses
Soil conservation
Model farms Challenge: The biggest challenge to achieving the results has been getting the different institutions involved in the project’s implementation to work in a coordinated manner between themselves and with the indigenous peoples’ authorities. We feel the way this challenge has been overcome is through dialogue and coordination, exhausting all forms of negotiation between the parties and, specifically with respect to the indigenous peoples, permitting the participation of cultural spokespersons.

Success Factors / Lessons Learned for Achieving the Expected Results:
Indigenous community participatory construction and validation: Seventeen agricultural practices were compiled through participatory workshops and field days on model farms with Bribrí and Cabécar producers, identification and ownership being the main goal of this process, which will have repercussions on the use and implementation of these practices in traditional ancestral farming.
Identification and participation of cultural spokespersons in the consulting and construction processes: The participation of cultural spokespersons was necessary to ensure understanding among the parties and facilitate processes between the indigenous peoples and the institutions. The use of these spokespersons was a suggestion by the local indigenous government that was put into practice by the project as a reciprocal learning process.
Value enhancement of traditional production practices: The recovery of traditional production systems has facilitated the learning and implementation processes, since it goes from known to unknown, simple to complex, opening up the possibility that, over time, indigenous communities will adopt and take ownership of not only the production system of their forebears but also the exploration and use of other production practices that will enable them to reduce their vulnerabilities and strengthen production opportunities without disparaging ancestral knowledge.
Joint work with the autonomous governance structures of indigenous territories: Respect for the autonomous authorities and their governance mechanisms was a determining factor for progress, since the success of participatory construction is based not only on consultation with and participation of the local population but also on the creation of forums for consensus so that the actions of this project can transcend local policy guidelines.
NWPGapsChallenges:
Date of submission:
Abbreviation:
Activities:
Adaptation element: Adaptation planning and practices; Capacity building; Communication and outreach/awareness; Education and training; Knowledge management; Stakeholder involvement
Adaptation sector/theme: Agriculture; Food security; Biodiversity; Human settlements; Indigenous and traditional knowledge
Climate hazard: Drought; Floods; Increasing temperatures; Land and forest degradation; Loss of biodiversity; Shift of seasons
Country: Costa Rica
NWPDataSource: Local, indigenous and traditional knowledge
Description: Home of the Bribrí and Cabécar indigenous peoples, with an approximate population of 50,000, the Talamanca – La Estrella Valley territory is characterized by having the country’s lowest Human Development Index and being one of the most vulnerable cantons (type of Costa Rican socioeconomic division) to climate change, creating conditions affecting agricultural production (one of the activities on which the population depends the most) in different ways. With the area’s vulnerability to climate change, extreme rainfall, temperature, and drought events, among others, are occurring more and more frequently.

Faced with this situation, the recovery and implementation of integrated production systems are being proposed as an adaptation strategy for the area’s Bribrí and Cabécar indigenous communities under the traditional farm model for these Talamanca canton communities in the Costa Rican Caribbean Huetar region. Said recovery has been accomplished through the project entitled “Food Security Support for the Indigenous Population of the Talamanca – La Estrella Valley Territory in the Face of Climate Change Effects by Fomenting Resilient Family Agriculture” being implemented by the Rural Development Institute (INDER) with the support of the Ministry of Planning (MIDEPLAN), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and the Adaptation Fund through the Ministry of the Environment and Energy’s Climate Change Directorate and Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible, hand in hand with the Bribrí and Cabécar indigenous communities.

This project is framed within a larger intervention called “The Rural Environment in the Face of Climate Change Challenges” funded by INDER and AECID. Sustainable production models are part of the indigenous cosmovision of the Bribrí and Cabécar peoples, who use a variety of ancestral diversified production and ecological farm management practices. The project, therefore, proposes, first, to recover and enhance the value of this ecological farm management knowledge, establishing best practices for the coexistence and reinforcement of different economic activities on a single farm.

Although these practices are native to the indigenous culture, a significant portion of the population has been abandoning them, establishing monoculture plantations that generate faster and more abundant income in the short term but which are not economically and socially sustainable in the long term. The best practices compiled in the manual have served as a basis for training aimed at indigenous families so that such families can design management plans for their farms. These plans constitute strategies for improving the management of their farms and resources, reducing vulnerability to the effects of climate change. It has been necessary to work together with the indigenous peoples to create the manual and implement the measures on the farms, since it is these people themselves who have identified the measures and who, with technical support, are implementing the actions. The organizations have conducted workshops with the help of cultural spokespersons hired by the project. The manual and management plans are definitely aimed at increasing the resilience of agricultural production systems and fostering food and nutritional security hand in hand with the recovery of traditional and local indigenous adaptation knowledge and practices.
Expected outcome:
Further information: Funding: The project has international cooperation funding from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the United Nations Adaptation Fund, which is implemented in Costa Rica thanks to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy’s Climate Change Directorate and Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Costa Rica’s National Implementing Entity for the Adaptation Fund). The project also has national institutions that contribute counterparts and technical knowledge.
NWPGeographicScope: Local
Indicators of achievement:
NWPInformationType: Case study
NWPJoinDate:
NWPPartner: Rural Development Institute (INDER) - INDER- www.inder.go.cr/
Purpose:
Regional group:
Target group: Communities; Policy makers
NWPWorkStream: NWP
NWPYear:
NWPOutcome: The project facilitates the creation of farm management plans, inputs, and technical assistance for at least 176 selected families, reaching 528 families all told over three years by means of a cascading system up to a second replication. The project contributes to maintaining the indigenous culture, which is characteristically respectful of the earth. In this respect, the beneficiary families and their surrounding communities are ensured of the maintenance of ecosystem social services.

This project enhances the value of the integrated diversified farm model (based on the cosmogonic model) of the Bribrí and Cabécar cultures as a more appropriate technological adaptation option for indigenous families, developing and implementing traditional agricultural production activities that help establish it as a replicable, sustainable model. In the interest of recovering key adaptation measures that are also traditional measures implemented by the indigenous peoples, one of the project's main outcomes in traditional and local knowledge management is the Manual of Bribri and Cabécar Ancestral Practices, which helps compile the knowledge of the indigenous communities and promote climate change adaptation measures, without restricting the appropriation of other measures.

The manual seeks to act as a guide to help strengthen the traditional indigenous farm, enhancing resource conservation, family economy, food security, environmental conservation, and other climate change adaptation measures, basing itself on the indigenous cosmovision and reassessing the strategies used by this population to deal with climate change. The manual’s target public is the producers, educators, youths, and children of the Bribrí and Cabécar indigenous territories since it seeks to disseminate the ancestral knowledge and practices used in the area, which are gradually being lost.

The project’s participating institutions have recovered the fact that indigenous farms are the theoretical foundation of current agroecological farms since these use impact- or damage-minimization mechanisms stemming from pressures on natural resources. Furthermore, it should be noted that the manual was created by the two indigenous territories themselves; that is, they are the owners and creators of the document.

Expected Outcomes:
Recover Bribrí and Cabécar ancestral knowledge, identifying and enhancing the value of their agricultural and forestry practices as an adequate technological option for dealing with climate change.
Raise the awareness of indigenous community inhabitants of the effects of climate change and the need for technical capacity building of the indigenous families involved in the project so that they can implement the adaptation measures.
Implement the agricultural and forestry practices of traditional indigenous farming to establish integrated production systems on family farms.
Manage knowledge through the systematization of lessons learned and best-recovered practices, and disseminate this knowledge through a manual.

The most significant outcome of the manual is the incorporation of the best agricultural practices identified in the planning of the production activities developed by families on their farms. In this respect, to date, there are 76 farm management plans that show the implementation of the best-identified practices in the daily work of the families.
NWPPartners:
Type of knowledge resource:
Scale of work:
NWPSlowOnsetEvents:
NWPReferences: Manual of Bribri and Cabécar Ancestral Practices (Manual de prácticas ancestrales Bribrí y Cabécar): http://www.calameo.com/read/0047140859c1a66ce6402
Implementing partners: This project is being implemented by the Rural Development Institute (INDER) with the support of the Ministry of Planning (MIDEPLAN), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and the Adaptation Fund through Costa Rica’s Climate Change Department (DCC) from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy’s (MINAE), and Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible, in association with the local indigenous Bribrí (ADITIBRI) and Cabécar (ADITICA) governments in Talamanca. Responsibilities: INDER: The project is being implemented by the National Rural Development Institute (INDER) in compliance with its legal mandate (Law 9036). It is included in the rural development strategy for the Talamanca – La Estrella Valley territory, which has its own governance structure, the Territorial Council for Rural Development comprised by government institutions with a presence in the territory and entities representing civil society. Among these entities are the Indigenous Development Associations of the two indigenous peoples involved in the project, ADITICA and ADITIBRI. MIDEPLAN: The Ministry of Planning, MIDEPLAN, is responsible for ensuring proper alignment and harmonization of international cooperation funds with government plans and policies. To this respect, MIDEPLAN is also the ultimate guarantee of project ownership by government institutions. AECID: AECID participates in the project as co-funder, contributing financially to implementation of the actions. It participates on the project’s Steering Committee, but without a vote or decision-making capacity. ADAPTATION FUND: This participates in the project as co-funder, contributing financially to implementation of the actions. The Fund contributes through the National Implementing Entity, Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible, and Costa Rica’s Designated Authority for the Fund, Costa Rica’s Climate Change Directorate (DCC) from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE). Costa Rica’s Climate Change Directorate (DCC) is the institution responsible of reporting the country efforts in the National Metric System of Climate Change and also reports Costa Rica’s achievements internationally in order to respond to the INDC. ADITICA and ADITIBRI: The Cabécar and Bribrí Indigenous Development Associations (ADITICA and ADITIBRI, respectively) are the autonomous indigenous governments representing the Cabécar and Bribrí peoples. The two organizations, set up under the Associations Act, Law 218 of August 8, 1939, are the main stakeholders and direct beneficiaries of the identified best practice. Their role in the project’s implementation is to select the beneficiaries, monitor implementation, and ensure the participating families’ compliance with their project commitments, establishing adequate mechanisms for this to happen. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, they are the owners and creators of the document.

Project Governance Structure:
Project Steering Committee The Project Steering Committee is the project’s highest management structure where strategic decisions are made. These decisions include, among others: Project approval (scope, outcomes, budget, timeline); Approval of project management plans • Approval of the project’s quarterly monitoring reports; Approval of changes to the project management plan and/or subsidiary plans; Approval of project close and delivery of results The Project Steering Committee consists of the following regular members; Territorial Council for the Rural Development of Talamanca – La Estrella Valley; INDER; MIDEPLAN; AECID (Spanish Cooperation), with a voice but no vote; and Adaptation Fund, through the National Implementing Entity, Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible and Costa Rica’s Climate Change Directorate, with a voice but no vote.
NWPYearPublication:
NWPUpdate:

Created at 10/10/2018 14:30 by Serkant Samurkas
Last modified at 28/04/2022 21:40 by Nicholas Hamp-Adams

Go back to list
Home(NWPStaging)