Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Alwang, Ph.D.
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Virginia Tech

Abstract

This SANREM project integrates research, teaching, and outreach/community engagement to promote sustainable natural resource management (NRM) in sloped areas in the Andean Region of South America (AR). Such areas often have limited communications and transportation infrastructure, and are characterized by poor integration with central governing institutions. This project will identify and introduce new productive technologies and innovative use of natural resources within and beyond agriculture in ways that are consistent with sound management of the natural resource base. The project will identify and analyze new income-generating livelihood alternatives, investigate constraints to the adoption of such alternatives, and foster community and producer organizations to facilitate broad-based participation. Impacts of changes in livelihood activities on social, economic, and environmental outcomes will be monitored in a participatory fashion. The participatory and community-based approach incorporates watersheds in two countries (Ecuador and Bolivia) in a process of identifying natural resource and human asset bases; identifying technical alternatives for livelihoods given asset bases and the natural and policy context; measuring and monitoring social, economic, and environmental impacts of livelihood alternatives; and using the economic and environmental focus to effect community change.

The project will bring teams of social scientists, agricultural and natural resource scientists, and geo-spatial experts (from the U.S. and host countries) together with local government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and outreach specialists. The project is thus building upon a substantial base of expertise and will facilitate synergies among the actors. These teams will help identify and generate, in a holistic fashion, livelihood alternatives consistent with sound NRM. Training and capacity building form a central part of the project. Cross-community study tours will help cross fertilize ideas in the two sites, high-school curricula will be fortified, undergraduate internships will facilitate learning about watershed management, and graduate training will occur in host countries and at U.S. institutions. Partners include host country technicians, academics, and students; local governments in the targeted watersheds; representatives of International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs); host-country and international NGOs; and U.S. university faculty and students.