DEVELOPMENT: Mesoamericans Show the Way

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Dec 13 2002 (IPS) - For Guatemalan farmer Ovidio López, that cup of coffee in a Paris hotel was more revealing than enjoyable.

He paid 4.50 dollars for the coffee, which makes it 70 dollars a pound, he figured. "We small farmers sell our organic coffee ready to brew at 1.50 dollars a pound," he told IPS. "Take the enormous cost of transport, distribution and the hotel, and the price difference is still too large."

López, who is also general secretary of Frente Solidario, the Latin American federation of small coffee producers, tasted the difference at a World Bank meeting in Paris with representatives of international donors, Central American officials and farmers. The meeting was called to discuss sustainable development in the Mesoamerican region that runs from southern Mexico to Panama.

Mesoamerica, roughly the size of the United Kingdom, has a population of 45 million, almost half of them below the poverty line. The area covers Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Mesoamerica has been chosen by international financial institutions for an ambitious plan for rural development while recovering natural resources. The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) as the plan is called, was launched in 1997 and has 470 million dollars funding. Of this, 400 million dollars has been marked for national programmes, and the rest for environmental and development projects that integrate different countries in the region.

That made it just the place for López to talk coffee. "We small coffee producers have been developing environmental and conservation strategies to improve the quality of our organic grains," López said. But what the farmers are getting in return is a pittance, he said.

Presenting his case at discussion of the business plan for the next five years, López said that "instead of burning wood to dry our grains, we now employ solar dryers." That way, he said, "we spare some three square centimetres of forest for every cup of coffee, and we urge you to reward our efforts." Mauricio Castro, executive secretary of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), said López’s concerns were legitimate. "The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor needs to guarantee access to markets and secure better prices," he said. The CCAD administers the MBC.

Castro said Mesoamerica has already regained natural resources. "It is reforesting," Castro told IPS. "Satellite maps show that forest area in all countries of the region has increased both in size and in quality."

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, minister for the environment in Costa Rica said the aim of the Mesoamerican corridor is that "in a few years monkeys can go from Southern Mexico to Panama from tree to tree without needing to touch the soil."

Castro added: "Those monkeys will pass through areas where people are cultivating their land in a sustainable, organic way, and by so doing, have improved their own standard of living."

The MBC has become the "natural platform for regional development strategies in Central America," said Rodríguez, acting president of the CCAD. "In a region devastated by civil wars and natural disasters, the MBC represents a shared vision of a future of peace and stability based on a responsible path of economic development."

The World Bank welcomed the achievements of the MBC. "The MBC is showcasing that combining growth and sustainable development is not only viable, but that it is already happening in Central America," said Kristalina Georgieva, director of the Department of Environment at the World Bank. "This balanced approach enables the use of natural resources to fight poverty in a way that is both socially and environmentally responsible."

Governments were asked to help groups like coffee farmers, but were warned against too much governance. "Communities are in most cases more efficient than governments in the administration of natural resources," Gustavo Ramírez Santiago, director of the Mexican branch of the MBC told IPS. "People on the ground know that their lives depend on the right management of resources. Governments mostly have bureaucratic approaches to conservation of resources.."

Castro said there is no such risk. "One of our strategic objectives is to empower civil society," he said. "We work mostly with regional non-governmental organisations and try to implement proposals that originate among the people."

DEVELOPMENT: Mesoamericans Show the Way

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Dec 13 2002 (IPS) - For Guatemalan farmer Ovidio López, that cup of coffee in a Paris hotel was more revealing than enjoyable.
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