The Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation, and Drought

have a strong influence on NRM (Anderson and Ostrom 2008). Specifically, interaction between
municipalities and local institutions is the key to better NRM (Anderson and Ostrom 2008).
One of the examples of the self-initiation of communities to manage natural resources is
community tourism. A good example is the Posada Amazonas, which is a joint tourism agreement
between an independent tour company (Rainforest Expeditions) and an indigenous community
(Infierno) resident in the rainforest. The community is responsible for protecting the forests and
providing tour guide services. The independent tour company provides marketing and transportation
services to the tourists. Since the project started, the income of the participating community has
increased by 70 percent (Häusler 2009). What is different for this project is its collaboration with a
private tour company instead of external funding from the government or donors (Kiss 2004).
Similarly, a new clean development mechanism (CDM) started in Piura in 2009. This CDM
plans to use the community-based forest management approach to reforest 8,980 hectares of land in
the degraded dry areas of Piura. The project will increase the biodiversity in the arid and semiarid
areas of Piura, where overgrazing and deforestation have depleted biodiversity. The reforestation
program will still be adapted to silvopasture 66 systems and family orchards in the Piura area and will
provide fodder for livestock. In addition, the CDM project is supporting family orchards in order to
increase the community’s interest in planting and protecting trees and to strengthen the perception that
the forests belong to the communities. AIDER (Asociación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo
Integral) is also providing support to enhance the capacity of communities to manage natural
resources.
Discussion with communities during this study showed that even before the CDM project
started, communities in northwestern Piura took deliberate actions to promote agroforestry and
silvopasture, which was especially important in the dry forests in the Lambayeque region. AIDER and
the community developed a silvopasture strategy in which rotational grazing and other pasture
management practices were promoted. AIDER also played a key role in raising the communities’
environmental awareness and helped build collective natural resource management. In addition,
AIDER promoted the establishment of vaccination and other animal health services. Even though the
communities still do not have a mandate to enact bylaws due to the weak decentralization in Peru, the
communities’ increased awareness helped them to build a more sustainable silvopasture system,
which has led to recovery of the arid and semiarid areas of Piura. AIDER tested the sustainability of
their program by leaving the communities to operate without support; many of the villages have
continued to operate the silvopasture systems more sustainably than before. With the help of AIDER,
the communities were able to plan for the conservation of dry forests, from which they benefited from
nontimber forest products (NTFPs), such as fruits from the algarrobo tree. The boiled fruits of the
algarrobo are rich in minerals and sugars and are used to make algarrobina, a staple food in Peru’s
arid and semiarid areas. The fruits also are ingredients for livestock feed. The AIDER study showed
that the value derived from algarrobo NTFP was greater than the value of charcoal made from the
same tree.
These case studies in Peru further demonstrate the importance of involving communities in
managing and benefiting from natural resources. It also shows the role played by NGOs in enhancing
the capacity of local communities to manage natural resources.
India
The nature of land degradation in India is different from what we see in the Sub-Saharan African
countries. India is among the countries that benefited from the Green Revolution. Agricultural
productivity in India has generally been increasing, due to the increasing use of fertilizer and
improved crop varieties. As Table 6.5 shows, the total factor productivity (TFP) of more than 50
percent of the major crops increased from 1970 to 2000, due to the increasing use of fertilizer and
other inputs. Nitrogen and phosphorus use has been increasing, respectively, by 4 kilograms per
hectare and 2 kilograms per hectare each year from 2002 to 2008 (Figure 6.14). Such high fertilizer
use makes soil nutrient depletion a smaller problem.
66 Silvopasture is a production system which combines forage and forest production.
110