ABSTRACT
Although small-scale farmers manage their valuable plant genetic resources (PGR), they have yet to benefit from successes in conservation and crop improvement (Bellon, 2006). The empowerment of farmers and communities seems to be a precondition for halting the rapid disappearance of local crops and varieties from farmers’ fields (Shrestha et al., 2008). Access to financial resources is one way of contributing to the economic empowerment of farmers, within the larger framework of community biodiversity management (CBM). The knowledge and skills (human capital) that can be acquired through a CBM process enhance the capacities of farming communities to improve their well-being and livelihoods. As described by Shrestha et al. (Chapter 1.3), CBM is composed of a number of components and practices that can be tailored to particular agrobiodiversity contexts. In the current chapter, we focus on the CBM component that is described as the ‘establishment of a CBM fund’. This component aims to sustain collective action in conservation and facilitates the payment of conservation services in the interest of the collective, and of society as a whole (Sthapit et al., 2008b).
