Documentation and dissemination of results

Benefits generated to communities and livelihood improved

Community forestry in Nepal has brought a number of benefits including an increase in income. It has helped to fight against illegal logging by putting clear rules in place on timber access and a strong system of forest monitoring. Community livelihoods have also improved with easier access to firewood and fodder and better health care and energy access, for example through money from ecotourism and subsidies for renewable energy.

Community forestry shows traits of political, financial, and ecological sustainability, including emergence of a strong legal and regulatory framework, and robust civil society institutions and networks.

A continuing challenge is to ensure equitable distribution of benefits to women and marginalized groups.

The immediate livelihood benefits derived by rural households bolster strong collective action wherein local communities actively and sustainably manage forest resources. Community forests also became the source of diversified investment capital and raw material for new market-oriented livelihoods.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Communities empowered and trusted

Women in community forests

The Guardien

Conservation oriented community forestry is essentially a participatory process that requires strong technical assistance on both policy and implementation. Expanding the property rights of local communities over resources and empowering them with knowledge, information, resources, technologies, and required skills for forest management and institution building are basic building blocks for the community forestry. Gender and equity concerns are addressed from the program design so that the poor, women, and marginalized receive fair benefits from the program.

Legal rights over the resources, institutions, capacity, trust, and leadership,

It evolved from the community level, and is based on traditional uses of the forest by communities. This bottom-up approach is a great strength of the Nepalese model as it gives ownership and leadership to communities to decide both where to create a community forest and how to run it.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Forestry sector of Nepal

Environmental Guide: Wildlife Friendly Roads

Ocelots roadkills in 2020, Costa Rica

VAVS

Presenting the Environmental Guide: Wildlife Friendly Roads at ICOET

VAVS

This guide is the tool used to collect wildlife data on roads to identify the impact and recommed measures for Costa Rica. It can be inpmenented on new road projects and for existing roads. Since 2015, this guide is used by Costa Rican Government to implement masures on new road projects. We started implementing it on exisitng roads since 2020.

1. Government participation;

2. Funding for the data collection;

3. Legislation requesting measures to reduce development impact on wildlife;

4. Inclusion on the Environmental Impact Assesment;

5. Funding for the implementation of measures to prevent or reduce road impact;

In many countries of Mesoamerican region, guidance is needed to reduce road impact. So this document can be adapted to local characteristics and to legislation of the country to start the implementaiton of measures on roads for wildlife;

Documentation and dissemination of results

National

Implementation of the Environmental Guide: Wildlife Friendly Rods on Route 32

Environmental Guide: Wildlife Friendly Roads

Participatory management of natural resources

Batwa towers in the Bururi forest nature reserve

Photo. Nzigiyimpa Léonidas.2017

In 2017, 28 Batwa households (indigenous peoples of Burundi) were involved in activities to maintain 33 km of boundary and 15 km of internal tracks, open 2 km of tourist trails, fight bush fires and poaching.

- Mutual trust between the Batwa community and reserve managers.

- Commitment to ongoing dialogue between the protected area's conservation services and the Batwa community.

- Transparency in the management of funds allocated to the community's involvement in reserve management activities.

- Empowering the Batwa is a mark of respect and esteem that motivates them to become more involved in protecting the reserve.

Biodiversity management requires a holistic, ecosystem-based approach.

Nature conservation cannot be successful without taking into account the role of riparian communities.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Entirety

Local

Coral Restoration

Coral measurements

Simon Dowling

Only govermentally approved people are allowed to conduct these activities, however we do involved non-approved divers and non divers to assist in Coral restoration to help with maintenance work that does not involve collection or transplantation of any coral fragments (like cleaning coral tags etc)

Coral fragments are collected around the reef edge. These "corals of opportunity" are broken fragments that will enventually die if we do not collect them. Once collected, they are transplanted to artificial structures to help increase the coral diversity and population.

Some corals are adopted as part of our Adopt A Coral Program.The adopted coral is transplanted and named, then monitored, photographed and measured every 3 months. The data is published online and is freely available for research into coral growth. This program also helps provide data into coral growth and health states.

Goverment approval
Social media
Environmentally minded individuals
Logistics (scuba diving, dive boats)

The actual process of transplantation is quite simple. The other factors that we did not take in to account initially is the time that is required to keep the areas clean of fouling organisms, collect measurement data and photography records of corals. All the post care maintenance is vitally important to secure a high survival rate of coral transplants.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Governmental Approval

Collecting coral data

Simon Dowling

Some of our programs involve coral transplantation. In Thailand it is illegal to touch or damage coral, so we had to seek approval for some of our programs.

To receive approval from the government involves first submitted a proposal for a coral reef restoration zone. Including with this proposal are the techniques for transplantation, the people involved and their experience and qualifications, and a long term plan for monitoring and maintenance.

The DMCR has fully approved our restoration related activities and we conduct transplant research and provide them with that data.

Coral restoration experience
Long term plan
Proposal to government
Assessment and approval

This is a long process to get approved. Being able to show that our programs are successful and being assessed and approved took over 2 years of communication, submissions, and assessments.

To be able to obtain permission requires a group of committed volunteers that have relevant experience and are willing to participate in the program for a long term period of time.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Review phase

Entirety

Local

Asset Balance Sheets

Asset balance sheets log the stocks of assets and their values in the national accounts. Whereas flows of economic production--goods and services--have been used as primary indicators of the "health" of an economy, these measures do not take into account depreciation or degradation of the asset base form which these flows stem. Changes in the asset balance sheet would reflect, for example, the reduction in value of depleted fisheries stocks.

An asset balance sheet is useful for natural capital accounting and assessing the blue economy requires periodic assessments of asset stocks that are systematically collected and comparable. This would mean regular assessments of fishery stocks, undersea ocean and mineral deposits, and port infrastructure to name a few. Monetary accounts require prices for non-market natural capital assets.

While monetary accounts are the ideal, physical accounts (e.g. kg spawning stock biomass) can be useful where market prices do not exist.
Tracking changes in the asset balance sheet are more important than a comprehensive asset balance sheet compiled as a one-off exercise. These data must be collected with regularity to be useful for tracking the sustainability of the blue economy.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Capacity building and strengthening

Create and strengthen the capacities of the intended users of the Atlas, through workshops and training, in order to maximize the results obtained from the visualization and interpretation of the information provided by the Atlas.

Explicit interest and need on the part of the target audience to use the tool and learn about its possible uses for decision-making.
To have different spaces for training and discussion on the use of the tool.
It is favorable to have an enabling legal framework that establishes the duty of the stakeholders to use the tool. If it remains a voluntary aspect, it may not be used to its full potential.

Focus training processes around the needs of the target audience and exemplify through practical exercises.
It may be necessary to sensitize and train technicians and decision-makers at different levels, for which the training program should contain conceptual elements for each stakeholder group, based on their role, responsibility and specific tasks.

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

Inter-institutional working group for the creation of the Management Plan

Working Table

Caminantes del Desierto A.C.

Through alliances with different organizations and in coordination with the authorities, the development of the management plan was initiated.

In the first phase, work has been done to create the guiding document that will make it possible to implement the management plan by establishing roles and methods.

The organizations involved in the management plan are:

Instituto Municipal de Ecología de Hermosillo
Desert Walkers A.C.
Profauna A.C.
Ecological Collaboration.
Ecogrande A.C.
Naturally Fun

Involved conservation organizations with experience in Natural Protected Areas.
Support from the community living in the vicinity.
Governmental willingness.
Relevant stakeholders are already known.

It is necessary to know the terrain.
A good relationship and communication with the community is indispensable.
Use of electronic means of communication can speed up the process.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Documento Rector para la creación del Plan de Manejo.

Comunicado Gubernamental del Plan de Manejo

Reportaje

Documentation and publications

From all the activities and studies carried out, documents are prepared to be shared with the beneficiary groups and other interested parties, with the objective of generating awareness and knowledge about the recovery and protection of the protected areas, as well as the native plants that can be planted in these areas, in order to avoid their reduction or extinction or their inadequate mixture with plants from other places.

Document all activities carried out, as well as their results. Carry out constant studies of the native trees and plants used to reforest protected areas, as well as technical advice to provide accurate and quality information that can be used and applied by the recipients.

Supporting documents make it possible to keep information on the plants grown in the nursery, the activities carried out and their results, to be disseminated to collaborating groups, beneficiaries and other interested parties, which generates an environment of trust and satisfaction among the general population.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Subnational

Manual de plantas medicinales