CSF-Brazil is conducting an analysis of the management and commercialization of the pirarucu fish caught in protected areas (PAs) in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.

Photo: Shutterstock/ Dr. Morley Read

With generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, CSF is working on a project to identify the relative riskiness of planned road projects in terms of economic, social and environmental costs in the Amazon basin, and to engage decision makers to ensure that this analysis is relevant, understood and to the greatest extent possible considered in decision-making processes.

CSF-Brazil - in partnership with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Agency of the state of Amapá (EMBRAPA-AP) and the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA) - is conducting a study focused on the Area of Environmental Protection of the Fazendinha farm (APA da Fazendinha) located in southern Macapá municipality, Amapá state, Brazil. The study aims to use the Integration of Ecosystem Services (IES) approach to support processes of territorial management and the development of socio-biodiversity value chains.

CSF is conducting an economic analysis of the impacts of the Teles-Pires dam construction in the Brazilian Amazon.

Conservação Estratégica (CSF-Brazil), in partnership with Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), International Rivers and Operação Amazônia Nativa (OPAN), is carrying out a detailed study on the construction of the proposed hydropower plant Castanheira in the Arinos river, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This study has three goals: (1) evaluate the financial feasibility of the project; (2) contribute to the analysis of socio-environmental impacts associated with the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon region; and (3) assist the decision makers about this kind of infrastructure work through a cost-benefit analysis of the dam.

Photo: Liz Bailón, Paracas National Reserve

With support from the Andes Amazon Fund, CSF conducted an analysis on multiplier effects of tourism spending in Peru’s national parks. Peru has created eleven national parks and numerous other protected areas in its Andes Amazon region covering approximately 18 million hectares. While efforts are currently under way to address existing funding gaps, the long term financial sustainability of Peru’s protected areas requires a substantial, long-term increase in allocation of public funds. Furthermore, Peru’s biological importance justifies expansion of the existing protected area system in the Andes Amazon, further increasing funding required.

CSF conducted a desk-based study of potential local costs associated with the construction of the proposed Isiolo Dam in the Ewaso Ng’iro River in Kenya.

The dam has been identified by Kenya’s National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation as necessary to improve local livelihood by providing water for domestic and livestock use, small irrigation activities, and in the future, for tourists in the proposed Isiolo Resort City.

However, there has also been opposition to the proposed construction, based on concerns that the dam could expose herders downstream to drought, negatively affect endangered wildlife, and put the local wildlife-tourism based economy at risk.