In South Arica we are fortunate to have a very progressive legislative programme for conservation on private land. The Biodiversity Stewardship framework allows for the voluntary declaration of private lands into the protected areas network following a clearly defined process.  As the process is well established, it is relatively easy to implement it and commitments are well understood. However, governmental conservation agencies have constraints on their capacity and rely on NGOs such as the EWT, to facilitate the process of identifying suitable properties, engaging with willing farmers and/or landowners, and developing the associated tools such as the farm management plan and annual plans of operation.

Landowners sign an agreement with the provincial conservation authorities formalising the declaration into the title deed of the property. This framework largely results in a win-win as biodiversity is conserved, the country is better able to meet its conservation goals in terms of multi-lateral agreements, and the farmer has a more sustainable farming operation to support his livelihood. Subsidiary benefits can be accrued to local communities through entrepreneurship opportunities. To pursue our conservation exchange, we merged this framework with other agreements between the farmer and the EWT.

It goes without saying that change cannot take place unless based on sound partnerships that have clearly defined roles, responsibilities and deliverables. Changing farming practices is challenging as these ingrained practices have been passed down for generations. The EWT is able to assist the farmer to bridge the gap between traditional farming techniques and the skills required to transition toward nature-based tourism models.

We found it essential to select farmers who are open to change and then to build their trust through the provision of proven deliverables and mutual respect. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly outlined and defined in order to speed up the operationalisation of projects and avoid misunderstandings. Our project set holistic goals that supported the farmer and his family, the farm workers, the conservation of biodiversity and provided a unique experience for the outdoor enthusiast.

Building lasting and open partnerships are one of the hallmarks of this project. It is part of the foundation for our success.

In both our terrestrial and coastal sites we initiate community-led SMART patrol units that enable communities and government agencies to protect ecosystems in tandem. In our terrestrial sites, we identify, train, and equip local community members in using the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) to protect their forests in tandem with government park rangers. Teams are made up of 3 to 4 community members, 1 government staff, and 1 of our program team members. These teams carry out 7-10 days per month along paths generated by the SMART software based on historical data. Along with creating opportunities to track data on wildlife encounters, the SMART tool also allows tracking incidents of poaching and other illegal activity inside the protected forests. In our coastal site in Kubu Raya, SMART patrols are carried out by boats 3 days a week (12 days a month). These dates are chosen randomly to create uncertainty in the patrol schedules.  

A key component of our sustainable fisheries program in our coastal site is the ‘participatory fisheries management’ intervention through which we co-implement periodic river closures. We designed this intervention in light of communities’ worry of collapse in fish, crab, and shrimp populations that had directly led to reduced household income. As this decline in fish stocks stemmed from lack of clear fishing grounds, inter-and intra-village conflict, and high rates of migrant fishermen from other areas entering the fishing grounds, we proposed the idea of a 3-month long river closure. Mud crabs were chosen as the species that would be targeted as part of the river closures particularly because they were among the most valuable commodities to small-scale fishermen and also a fast-growing species. 

Before a river is closed to fishing, community fishermen use a map of their village's rivers to choose the location of the river that will be closed and decide the timing of the closure. The only thing they do not choose is the length of the closure, which has been chosen for 3-months in consultation with mud-crab experts. Once the rivers are opened to fishing, the small-scale fishermen are able to reap the benefits through the increased size of crabs and higher yields.

The purpose of our Sustainable Agriculture and Agroforestry program is to enhance soil nutrition and fertility while also regenerating degraded forest lands and ensuring food security. As part of this program, we develop groups of 15-20 farmers from a CC who are then mentored by a peer-selected lead farmer trained by us. This enables us to readily share information about improved techniques and maximize knowledge sharing and learning among the farming communities. Furthermore, since 2017, we have supported communities to select and plant over 60,000 seedlings of native species in the buffer zones in our terrestrial sites and replant abandoned aquaculture pond with 38,000 mangrove seedlings in our coastal sites. This not only ensures food, nutrition and livelihood for participating smallholder farming communities but also creates crucial habitat and connectivity for wildlife, and generates regulating and provisioning services.

Our Literacy Program creates access to basic education for our partner communities, especially rural women and youth, who lack the ability to complete their education. Our evaluative admissions method ensures students graduate through our literacy program in the shortest possible time in order to capitalize on opportunities for employment and further studies. We take the support of organizations who are experts in the education sector in Indonesia such as  Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat (PKBM). PKBM is a registered Indonesian NGO that provides literacy training and administers government national exams. Students who pass the national exam receive a certificate that helps with job placement and improves access to the labor force. 

As part of this program, we also support the training of local tutors in partnership with local government schools and PKBM. By training local people to become tutors in their communities, we reduce the costs for community members to gain access to basic education in hard-to-reach communities.

We train local women and girls to become health ambassadors (HA) in their communities and act as extension agents for public health services. As part of this program, we work with local government health offices to improve access to health services, community health, and improve women’s reproductive rights through the extension of government health services in partner villages. We follow the People- Health -Environment (PHE) approach that aims to improve community health through health advocacy and improve access to basic services. Once potential HAs are identified, they are provided with a set of training from our staff and 3 additional training from the relevant government agency. Once they have successfully completed these trainings, HAs start to make weekly visits to households in their communities. During these visits, they evaluate each household’s activities and provide information on pre-and post-natal health, contraceptives, sanitation issues, impacts of smoking, and nutrition. Information is provided through posters and videos played on smartphones carried by health ambassadors

As part of every CC, we help initiate and support a community-led savings and loans (VSL) program through initial start-up capital and financial literacy training to CC members. The purpose of our Village Savings and Loan (VSL) Program is to develop a community-led savings program that enables access to low-burden loans for CC members and addresses the barrier for lack of access to equitable financial capital for community members to rely on to meet their financial capital needs. As a result,  this program enables access to an equitable source of capital for CC members that they can use to develop and diversify their livelihoods and improve their family’s wellbeing.  

Once the VSL fund is operational, CC members can apply for a loan by submitting a proposal describing how they will use the funds and when they will return the capital along with other information. Based on the proposal and its merit, the CC committee on loans holds the authority to approve the loan to the requesting member. As loans are repaid, a small amount of a member’s profit (1-5%) is accrued in the community managed VSL program allowing it to grow and be sustainable in the long-run.

In Panama, farms are culturally extensive and without good livestock practices. The management plans that Yaguará Panama seeks to support producers in having a better sustainable use of the land, under intensive management so that the paddocks are small (with more small keepers they walk less and feed better, without spending a lot of energy) and the animals are healthy and in better condition. In the case of cows with calves, a corral is prepared to reduce predation, since we know that the most vulnerable animals are the cows with calves.

Anti-predation measures include: electric fences powered by a solar panel, collars with bells for the cows as an auditory and luminous repellent because they have lights that are activated at night.

The plans have a map of current and future use so that the producer can appreciate the changes and is taught to keep track of what is happening on the farm, only in this way will he be able to see how the changes are occurring and at what point he begins to have a real gain in livestock production.

An important change is that now the paddocks have water for the animals to drink; usually they do not and when the cows go to the river they get stuck or are preyed upon by jaguars.

The first thing we did was to talk to two teachers who own a cattle ranch in Agua Buena de Chucunaque, they are leaders. They told us the history of the site, so that we could understand the dynamics of the area and see if what is happening there has the same pattern as in other places with conflict. Then they supported us in making the call. It is easier to attract people through someone the community respects. On the 14 kilometers of road we always take the windows of the car down and greet people and if they need a ride to the entrance or to the farm we do it, because this creates bonds and trust, because it allows us to talk more with them. The teachers and we went house to house to tell the people at the meeting about the jaguars and other activities. The talk is presented, we give a space for each one of them to express themselves about how they perceive the jaguar and what has been happening in the area, and how they think they could minimize the conflict. After the community has expressed itself, we explain to them what we can do together, then we carry out the training and create stronger links and trust with the communities. Trust is the key to making the project work and it is a step-by-step process.