It is not straight-forward to build trust. It can take time, skill, and resources, particularly finance and personnel. Nekton ensured that early engagement with the Government of Seychelles and Seychellois stakeholders began a year prior to the actual start of the Seychelles-Nekton field expedition. This allowed ample time to start building connections and relationships with the stakeholders and partners based in Seychelles. The Government of Seychelles gathered other locally based partners and stakeholders to build and frame a joint agenda of needs that would inform the research during the Seychelles-Nekton Expedition which took place in 2019. Co-production of the expedition included organising workshops to identify research locations, defining the pertinent research questions along with determining the stakeholders’ interest in leading specific projects.

Nature Collectibles are digital twins of a real world species or NFTC (non-fungible tokens for conservation) living on a zero-carbon blockchain. They can be collected and traded and create non-ear-marked funding for protected and conserved areas. 

To enable automatic and instant biodiversity impact assessment enquiry, the BiA tool has been developed to facilitate enquiry services for land planners and other interested parties via Azure platform. The BiA tool works by overlaying the enquiry site or region (or existing construction projects) with multiple geographic layers including species distribution and protected area range to investigate if the site or region is within certain distance (e.g., 3 km, 5 km) from and may cause impact on endangered species habitat and/or protected areas. The assessment reports illustrate ecological and environmental risks of construction projects for decision-makers and could hopefully promotes them to take biodiversity into consideration.

A brief timeline of the BiA tool:

• Apr-Jun 2020: team formation, requirement communication, system development plan
• Jul-Sept 2020: tool development
• Oct 2020: trial test, application and dissemination
• (in preparation) Apr-Sept 2022: system upgrade

Program personnel visited villages in areas considered at-risk for Ebola virus outbreaks. This engagement helped to identify community interest in contributing to animal mortality reporting and assess the potential role of hunters in the network. While researchers and ecoguards initially provided some reports of carcasses, the majority of reports were ultimately received from hunters, allowing for more focused engagement of this demographic group. In addition to reporting, outreach was conducted to reach hunters and communities in several ways to support awareness of risk reduction strategies. For example, in the Étoumbi region, the Field Veterinary Program provided outreach education on Ebola and livestock husbandry to the Étoumbi Hunters’ Association, as well as hunters and other villagers of Mbomo and Kellé. Communities around national parks (Nouabalé-Ndoki and Odzala-Kokoua) were engaged, and visual posters and books were also provided to a village nurse for further dissemination.

Components of the system involved mortality reporting by hunters and community members, investigation of reports by veterinarians trained on specimen collection and handling protocols, specimen transport to national laboratories, and laboratory screening for disease diagnostics. Each of these involved specialized inputs, but the coordination between entities created the system. Information management and communication were conducted throughout the process. A Carcass Data Collection and Reporting Protocol was integral to the process, ensuring consistent reporting.

OMCAR signed MoU with government institutions (Wild Life Institute of India and Sacon) to work with other stakeholders efficiently and quickly respond to the dugong rescue and release in Palk Bay. With the partnership of Tamil Nadu Forest Department and Wild Life Institute of India, OMCAR established “Friends of Dugongs” in every fisher village in northern Palk Bay. The volunteers were trained to respond to a dugong strandings, and how to organise rescue and release with forest department. The volunteers have been actively supporting to share the information about dugong sightings, rescued and released dugongs in the past six years. As a result, several dugongs have been rescued and released in Palk Bay, and fishers received rewards and honoured by government. OMCAR published its stranded marine mammals record in a scientific journal, which helped as evidence for the need for the establishment of conservation reserve. 

Restoration of seagrass beds is different from the restoration of terrestrial plants, as it needs to work underwater ecosystem. Seagrasses reproduce through sexual reproduction and vegetative reproduction. In seagrass restoration, the seagrass sprigs were removed from the donor site and transplanted to degraded sites. There were already established methods obtained from scientific publications using 1m2 PVC frames for transplanting seagrasses. Although this method is successful, we determined not to use the PVC plastics that need to be permanently fixed on the seafloor for seagrass restoration. So, OMCAR discussed with local fishers to develop an eco-friendly, low-cost method for seagrass restoration. For the first time in India, we used bamboo frames and coconut rope frames as an eco-friendly frames for fixing the transplanted seagrass sprigs from healthy sites to degraded sites. Local fishers were trained and involved in the seagrass restoration work. As both bamboo and coir ropes are available locally, they are cost-effective, and they can be presently fixed on the seafloor until they get degraded naturally. This method is now being adapted and replicated by the government for seagrass restoration in other areas of Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. 

Before this survey, there was no accurate scientific data available about the extension of seagrass beds in northern Palk Bay. The preparation started in 2010, and the actual survey started in 2013 and was published in 2018. We had to come across issues related to funding, logistics, and how to build technical knowledge within our organization. Due to poor water quality, it was difficult to map the seagrass beds using satellite imagery. So, OMCAR built a survey boat (a modified fishing boat), developed skills in GIS and acoustic methods, and scuba equipment from 2010 to 2013. With the funding from NRDMS, DST, Government of India – OMCAR started to conduct the acoustic survey in shallow nearshore waters in northern Palk Bay for proposing the site as a conservation reserve.  This was the first such attempt to survey the seagrass beds using acoustic technology in India. The final reports were submitted to Government and also published in 2018. This baseline survey revealed the distribution of seagrass beds in the ‘dugong conservation reserve’ up to 35,000 hectares of northern Palk Bay, so 500 square kilometers area in and around this seagrass bed has been selected to be declared as a” Dugong Conservation Reserve” based on this research by Government. 

Wildlife disease surveillance in bats, rodents and non-human primates, was conducted in key interfaces where wildlife was most likely to interact (directly or indirectly) with livestock or humans. In Bolivia, key interfaces between wildlife and domestic animals and people included subsistence hunting by indigenous communities, captive wildlife settings (rescue centers and sanctuaries), peri-domestic settings (in and around human dwellings or fields), wildlife trade, extractive industries and livestock production areas. Additionally, wildlife disease surveillance was conducted in remote protected areas for comparison purposes, as well as during zoonotic disease outbreaks in people. By targeting healthy free-ranging wildlife and stressed or sick wildlife, we aimed to increase the possibilities of detecting known and novel viruses likely to impact human health and affect wildlife conservation.

Key stakeholders (including government personnel from public health, veterinary and biodiversity services; wildlife rescue centers staff; field veterinarians; biologists; laboratory technicians; and inhabitants of indigenous communities), were trained to survey for zoonotic disease spillover risk using the USAID PREDICT surveillance protocols. Training covered diverse topics including biosafety and PPE use, animal capture, sampling methods for various species of animals, data collection, sample packing and shipment, emergency preparedness, early warning systems, and safe laboratory operations. Woven into all training on surveillance tools was the emphasis on clear communication channels. All stakeholders were made aware of the specific agencies and individuals to liaise with regarding wildlife disease risk, so that the appropriate parties can be notified in a timely and effective manner.