Czechia has developed tailor-made methodology on habitat mapping that is carried out as a field inventory in the whole country. Only trained experts are involved in the process, and all results are verified. 

The result is a country-wide habitat layer giving fine information about each natural and seminatural habitat occuring in the country. That is now one of the most important datasets on which the national nature conservation builds its strategy and plans measures both inside and outside of protected areas.

For the successful application of the approach, sustainable and integrative forest management needs not only to be piloted and practiced on the ground but also integrated into national strategies, development plans, and long-term forest management planning and monitoring. Consequently, it is equally important to work with forest tenants on the local level as to mainstream the approach on the national level.

The Join Forest Management approach has been anchored in the Forest Code of Tajikistan in 2011. This builds the legal basis of the implementation and accelerates the further dissemination to other parts of the country. Since 2016, a more integrative forest management is practiced for which an inter-sectoral dialogue has been established. This inter-sectoral dialogue facilitates to address environmental, economic and social challenges beyond the mandate of the forest agency. Forest monitoring and management planning are being strengthened through support to the forest inspection unit. Only if a forest management planning system and a forest monitoring structure are in place, an approach such as the integrative forest approach can be out scaled throughout the country and mismanagement, corruption, and wide-scale violations of regulations (e.g. grazing on forest plots) prevented. 

The project’s communication strategy was aimed at the local population through press and social media. It was important to produce press releases and invite journalists to report on the project, as was communication through the internet and social media.

A regular programme of activities aimed at the general public, including volunteering activities, was developed. These activities allowed locals (and sometimes visitors) to participate in and learn about conservation activities taking place in the protected area, as well as learning about Azorean biodiversity.

In the end of 2007 the Priolo's Interpretation Centre was opened. Its mission is to raise awareness for the “Priolo” and its habitat, the Laurel Forest. It contains an exhibition that tells the story of Azores bullfinch, explains the conservation actions developed on the ground and talks about the biodiversity of the protected area and of the Azores archipelago. The Priolo’s Interpretation Centre increased the communication capability of the project. This centre provides information for visitors to the protected area and promotes educational activities for schools and the local population. This centre also has a small souvenir shop and donation box, gathering some funding for the implementation of the project.

A comprehensive environmental education program was developed for all levels of basic education, from pre-school to 12th year and including professional training. It includes activities adapted to the learning curriculum of each year. This way, school children would get information about nature conservation and its benefits while learning relevant concepts for their education. These activities are also offered to non-formal educational groups during the school holidays. More than 20,000 students have participated in a programme that has reached all the schools on the island.

The environmental education programme was designed with the contribution of teachers through several workshops that led to the definition of an education strategy. It includes a set of activities to be developed in the schools, ranging from lectures and practical classroom activities to more recreational activities and educational games. It also comprises some school visits to the Priolo’s Interpretation Centre, the Nurseries of Azorean Plants and the protected area.

Teaching tools and child-friendly materials were prepared for the programme and for teachers’ independent use. A certified teacher education program has been developed with 150 teachers trained so far.

Natural Resources management and community mobilization requires an interplay of stakeholders who are very critical to success of community conservancy model. There are those involved in advocacy and community education and their input is very important in creating awareness and facilitating information exchange. This makes it possible for community to develop trust and appreciate their contribution to environmental conservation and ultimately to economic development. The NGOs play an important role in information sharing data and drumming up for international support in research and education. Other important collaborators include the local and national governments which develop framework of collaboration with communities and set guidelines on administration and management of wildlife in areas outside the conventional national parks and reserves. The government land office is very crucial as all land adjudication matters are vested in them and they set guide lines for leases and laws that govern them. Most important all sectors of the community, including youth and women, must be involved in conservancy management and benefits sharing to ensure they mainstreamed in conservation and guarantee sustainability of the initiative

The communities are at the heart of the solution. They own the land and have the property rights on the land. The challenge is that the land in individual parcels is not economically productive in the rangelands bordering national parks. When communities join their individual parcels of land and form a large conservancy unit, it becomes ecologically viable for conservation and can support large populations of wildlife and their habitat requirements. These wildlife populations can then support tourism activities by attracting visitors on safari and nature expeditions at a premium fee since its more exclusive than the typical national parks. This in turn generates revenue that can pay the landowners the cost of not using their land, while creating other livelihood opportunities like employment and support with other community projects like education. The primary objective is to endear the communities to the concept and get them to accept that collectively they stand to earn more long term benefits by not fencing or developing their individual lands and instead forsaking it as a wildlife habitat together with the other parcels of other community members

This building block´s approach is reflected in various activities ranging from training measures, spaces for exchange and dialogue between stakeholders and between institutions as well as support in the development of agreements. One example is the agreement between the Ministry of Environment, the protected area management unit and the university with regard to participatory monitoring and evaluation of nurseries and restoration trials. Strengthening of the protected area management committee is another key measure that aims to improve the area's governance.

In addition, the appropriation and integration of the national climate change policy in meso-level actions, such as the development of climate change plans, the implementation of adaptation measures in productive sectors and in the management of ecosystems, are reflected.

Hsinchu Food Forest is a result of an open and participatory process between the municipality and several stakeholders of the city, like local residents, community groups, city agencies, schools, and even those that might not initially like the idea of an urban food forest. In order to assure public participation and support, it is essential to make every step of building the food forest an open and participatory process. We held over 30 hours of talks to educate local and surrounding communities the idea of a food forest, we even invited the co-founders of the Beacon Food Forest to share their experience with the municipal government and communities, which was a big help in getting the official to say yes. We also held a competition to collect people’s idea on the design of the site, and later asked a landscape designer to combine the ideas of the winning groups. We kept a close relationship with the managing official and local communities (and media) to make sure that the stakeholders would be informed of the latest progress of the food forest, and to modify the design in a timely manner when someone came up with concerns that had been neglected, such as people might trip and fall into the pond at night. We added a short hedgerow and lighting to prevent such possibilities.

Soariake is an IUCN category VI MPA, that aims at protecting natural ecosystems while allowing the sustainable use of natural resources. It is currently co-managed by WCS and local community gathered in Soariake Association.

Local communities are at the same time actors and victims of overfishing.  As MPA co-manager, WCS  is in charge of scientific research and monitoring to assess the value of the site, communicate, raise awareness and support local communities to identify and implement suitable conservation measures, identifying alternatives to better manage natural resources, and identifying key partners if needed. WCS also provides capacity building in terms of project management, social organization and fishing regulation; thus ensuring the integrity of the MPA and the livelihoods of the communities.

WCS also supports the local community to define different zoning of the MPA, local conventions on resource management, ensure patrolling through Community Control and Surveillance, collect  fish catch data, and promote alternatives that are environmental friendly.

Community involvement in the management of the MPA is key to build a local ownership, one pillar to warrant sustainability of on ground activities.

Our partinership building block includes IFOAM-organics international, German development aid, Rural Development Administration of South Korea. These two organizations organized the Organic Farming innovation Award for which I won the science prize award 2014.