For the Yaguará Panama Foundation, communication is vital at all levels, even though we are a science-based organization. Science must be translated to the community and to other scientists, but also in media that have real impact with communities, decision makers, students of all levels and people from a child to a senior citizen. In order to reach everyone, we communicate in international impact magazines such as National Geographic, which is seen by millions of people around the world. This project is related to the topic of agriculture and since 2014 every month we publish in a national magazine called Ecos del Agro, which reaches more than 10,000 people. We also publish in the traditional written press several articles a year. We go on radio and TV about 10 to 20 times a year, in addition to our social networks. We give virtual talks (in pandemic: more than 11,000 people have listened to our presentations), and face-to-face, workshops. If we REALLY want to reach the majority of people we must communicate in all available media, because those who watch or see one, do not see others and so on.

One of the interesting aspects of this project is to measure the biodiversity in each of the farms and to know how many jaguars there are or cross the farms. For this we monitor them with camera traps. As each jaguar has unique spotting patterns for each individual, it is possible to know how many there are and record when they are in the different farms. In addition, we combine the camera traps with GPS collars that we place on the jaguars on the farms to know where they move, how many farms they visit and how much time they spend on the farm. This helps us understand the jaguar dynamics in an environment dominated by cattle ranchers and forest corridors between farms.

With the data from the camera traps and GPS collars we have been able to give the community a better understanding of the jaguar and why it is an important species for the ecosystems and for our own existence as human beings.

Based on the information collected we can measure indicators such as: number of jaguars per year and abundance of other mammals that are important prey for the jaguar, and we can help local and national decision makers and farm management decision makers.

Through various trainings, exercises and case studies, local stakeholders such as technicians, firefighters, secretaries of agriculture and planning were guided in developing skills for the management and use of information built through Geographic Information Systems - GIS. For this purpose, we illustrated and practiced with free access and digital tools such as Q-Gis, to strengthen the analysis of information and cartographic graphic outputs for processes such as land use, water network, planning, zoning and municipal ordinance. In addition, brochures were prepared with the information obtained at the technical-cartographic level to facilitate the information to the stakeholders.

The nesting of the trainings within the AGRICULTURE Secretariat was a strong factor, since they were completely appropriate as they were installed within its internal platform and available to all staff. In this way, they were not perceived as an external intervention, but rather as integrated and promoted within the Secretariat itself, giving them complete control over their management and evaluation. In addition, as an incentive, they were made equivalent to double the number of hours taken in order to make them more attractive to users and to reach as many people as possible.

One of AESAC's first objectives as an organization was to promote the replicability of its sustainable production model by supporting the training of other producer groups in the Bajío region. The workshops provided by its members had a very important multiplier effect when other producers in the region felt identified and felt more confident in sharing their experiences and asking their questions. The members' plots functioned as demonstration plots, where they could show the results of the practices implemented and thus motivate other producers to initiate processes of improvement and conditioning of their productive areas.

INIFAP technicians and other organizations have accompanied Apaseo el Grande producers for many years, training them and encouraging them to seek their own solutions to the particular problems of their plots.

Over time, the growers learned that their plots have particular needs depending on their location, soil type, climate conditions, among other things, and that the "recipes" they sometimes find in books do not always work the same for everyone. This motivated them to continue experimenting with different practices within the five axes of sustainability they had learned, and to write down the combinations that gave them better production yields at lower cost. This has been at the heart of the AESAC experience.

They also learned to share their experiences and give recommendations to other producers who were resistant to change, and were able to organize training workshops even in other communities.

Las comunidades nativas y campesinas que se localizan en el ámbito de la RNM son aliados y participan en las actividades de vigilancia al interior de la RNM, en la zona de amortiguamiento y en el paisaje asociado a la RNM que utiliza cada comunidad. La información generada permite que se planteen estrategias conjuntas de acción para la protección de los ecosistemas o su uso sostenible por las comunidades y esta información a su vez es compartida con las autoridades para convocar, de acuerdo con sus competencias, su acción frente a la amenaza.

En base a sesiones de trabajo con el personal guardaparque, conocedores del territorio, la Reserva Nacional Matsés ha dividido su área en sectores según su vulnerabilidad a las amenazas, para implementar las acciones de vigilancia que permiten el seguimiento de amenazas actuales o potenciales. Esto ha permitido redireccionar los esfuerzos para no vigilar exclusivamente el interior de la RNM sino la zona de amortiguamiento y paisaje asociado donde se originan las amenazas.

Giant kelp is drastically understudied given the benefits it can deliver. The promise of cultivated kelp and its ecosystem services need to be quantified and unlocked to speed up the expansion of kelp cultivation at scale. This will help mitigate climate change and create sustainable products which will displace the current more environmentally damaging products.

The Kelp Forest Foundation was set up to help address the gap in science and knowledge around giant kelp forests’ ecosystem services – and to ensure this new knowledge is publicly available to companies, governments, regulators, not-for-profits, academics, and other stakeholders in order to accelerate the awareness and application of cultivated kelp forests as a powerful nature-based solution.

Hortimare, a Dutch-based company, is one of the few companies in the world specialising in the genetics, breeding and propagating of seaweed. Hortimare works with Kelp Blue to create starting material, increase yield and research on best growing techiniques of the Macrocystis pyrifera specie.