Rehabilitation of the irrigation system to mobilise alternative sources of income

The district's damaged irrigation canal had led to a loss of income from agricultural activities. The community could not afford maintenance. With the support of the programme, the irrigation system was put back into operation and the residents were able to successfully resume the cultivation of maize, barley and vegetables the following year. The financing of the 1.5km long canal provided a sustainable alternative source of income.

Participative dispute management

Out of several other potential solutions, the one that really worked was embedded deep in the community norms and culture. In order to solve longstanding communal conflicts that hindered the restoration of land and protection of the Chilgoza forest ecosystem, the programme seek consultation and advice from representatives and heads of the involved communities. Starting with a smaller group of forest owner families in conflict over an abandoned piece of communal agricultural land, the programme was able to set an successful example for a dispute settlement approach in the region that enabled further landscape restoration activities.

Our ground-breaking applied research is focused on shark presence and behavioural ecology in Cape Town to inform public safety policy, conservation and management strategies and education and awareness. We drive an adaptive management approach to human-shark conflict which is responsive to conflict and proactive in using research and best practices. Shark Spotters also collates shark bite information and respond to all local incidents to collect factual and objective information.

We have published our results in multiple peer-reviewed journals (see attached) and presented at numerous scientific conferences.

Following the covid-19 pandemic, it has become even more imperative that we understand the negative impacts we are having on our environment to mitigate these timeously before they escalate into large, global issues. Our research focus is therefore shifting to not only understand the behaviour and distribution of sharks in our bay, but also to look at the role they play in maintaining ecosystem structure and resilience, and how human impacts, as well as environmental changes, influence this. We can then target our conservation strategies to ensure that the marine environment can continue to provide important ecosystem services that will help protect us from future pandemics or environmental disasters. 

Engagement of 500 private forest owners to set aside 6000 hectares for conservation of chimpanzee corridors

To incentivise conservation, the benefits must be locally meaningful and transparently distributed. Here, we worked with the communities to identify priority areas (healthcare, education and veterinary medicines) and translated points into benefits every 3 months. The village requested the benefits and the project sourced and delivered them. They were distributed at a large village celebration, where the programme was explained again. Then the number of points was reset to zero and the process began again.

-Use non-invasive 21st century genetic barcoding techniques to catalog the biodiversity of the main Galapagos Islands and surrounding marine reserve, from microbial to mammal;

-Train locals in key field, lab and curatorial techniques, and employ them to undertake the project, which can also open new job opportunities in the future

Char is carbonized organic matter that is produced by pyrolysis.

Biochar is char used for biotechnology, such as in agriculture.

Charcoal is char used as fuel.

Biochar has some important properties:

1. Resistance against biological and chemical decomposition, so it lasts in soil for centuries and can be used to store atmospheric carbon.
2. A high surface area
3. Negatively charged surfaces and some positive charges with can hold soluble plant nutients such as nitrogen and potassium and other minerals.

In Bangladesh, the soils are often low in soil organic matter, because the warm-humid climate and agricultural tillage promote organic matter breakdown.   Soil that are low in organic matter become hard and open pore space.  Crop growth can be severely limited.

Given the excellent climate from growing crops, improving the organic matter in Bangladeshi soils can have profound results.  Biochar can do this because it doesn't break down.  Instead, it combines with manures, composts and soil organic matter to from new, stable humus.

By increasing soil organic matter there is:

1. An increase in soil crumbs and large pore space
2. Increased aeration
3. Increased water penetration
4. Increased plant-available water
5. Increased soil life
6. Increase root growth and crop yield.

A TLUD is a simple gasifier that is composed of a vertical tube that is filled with small pieces of wood, or densified biomass like pellets, balls or small briquettes. This is called a 'fuel bed.' It is ignited at the top, and underfed with primary air from a grate at the bottom. The ignition front travels down through the fuel by radiating heat into the raw fuel, drying it, and initiating pyrolysis. Released volatiles are ignited by the flame. The reaction is sometimes called a “migratory flaming pyrolytic front” (MFPF). Residual char is left on top of the fuel bed as the MFPF moves down.   

The burning volatiles create an orange gas flame for cooking.  Once pyrolysis is completed, the orange flame goes out, and the left-over char is colleded and smothered, or quenched with water.

We needed the "Akha," a culturally-appropriate TLUD for Bangladesh.  It had to be made locally, study, and made with with as little (imported) metal as possible.  Because of its heavy construction, it has a hinged grate for removing the char.  To protect the Akha for free use, an there is an open-access patent.  The current version of the Akha is a prototype being evaluated for acceptance, and obvious improvements can be made.

Environmental education: raised environmental awareness among community members and helped them better understand the balance between ecology and development through environmental education workshops.

Volunteer opportunities: the promotion of dry farming has led thousands of farmers in the surrounding communities to participate in the project, to be engaged throughout the process of trial planting, adaptation & adjustment as seen fit, and harvesting. They did not need to test out the effects in their own fields.

Skill trainings: improved the ability of the community to apply new technologies and new models to farming and herding methods. Assisted the community to set up new cooperatives.

Maintaining and strengthening the established stakeholder’s engagement mechanism with  overarching  provincial, district and divisional governance bodies with sustainable financing solutions and capacity building is required for sustainability and replicability of the solution.  'The National Policy of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas management' provides the required policy framework for replication of this solution. When the communities identify the potential of resilience building of their livelihood through conservation, it becomes an incentive for their active collaboration on co-management and join monitoring of natural resources. Within given Sri Lankan context, there are many environmentally sensitive seascapes, where it could replicate this model, and this is being factored within National Environment Action Plan 2021-2030 for Sri Lanka. Therefore, there is an evident potential for sustainability and replication of this model.