Because Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) was a completely new concept to the stakeholders and communities, it was essential to build awareness about EbA and its potential benefits. Prior to this, the communities’ model of development was deforestation and overexploitation of plant species, which negatively impacted biodiversity. Training on EbA was first given to local partner organisations and then to community members, with a focus on how the EbA approach addresses climate change and helps communities address other issues such as income generation. After the trainings, a series of awareness-raising activities were conducted, including the publication of brochures, signboards, posters, and other materials. The objective was to demonstrate the different activities to be implemented, such as conservation of community water ponds, and their positive impacts. After creating awareness about the EbA concept and its practice, the community took a leadership role in implementing activities and was empowered to integrate their local knowledge and skills in water source and pond conservation. Technical experts supported the communities’ local knowledge with technical and scientific expertise.

Since 2006, more than 100 research papers on the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey have been published in academic journals, 30 papers were included in the Scientific Citation Index, and 2 papers were published in the Nature. Five national patents have been acquired, six books have been published, and three achievements have won the provincial award for progress in science and technology.

Every year more than 5,000 university students and researchers visit the Research Base for practice or research. Exhibition centers were built to display images, materials, popular science articles and live video of the species so that visitors can see the monkeys without disturbing them. The species was listed in the Top 10 Animals in the News in 2009, many photos have won domestic and international photography awards, famous documentaries have taken shots in Shennongjia, and dozens of major media companies have released stories of the species. 

The locals are now well aware of the importance of the species and human activities threatening the habitat greatly reduced, many locals and visitors have become volunteers, and donations have been received for the conservation of the species. The population of the species and the area of its habitat have significantly increased.

The Administration gave priority to the expenses on the conservation of and research on the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, send its technical staff to attend academic conferences and training courses, held the first National Forum on Conservation and Research of the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, hosted academic conferences and workshops including the annual meeting of primate experts, and reinforced the communication with the provincial Department of Science and Technology, the provincial Department of Forestry and the State Ministry of Science and Technology, etc. to get more financial and technical support. Since 2007, a series of research platforms have been established, such as the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation & Research Center of Hubei Province, Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Field Research Base of the State Administration of Forestry, Hubei Provincial Key Lab for Conservation Biology of Golden Snub-nosed Monkey.

Attracted by the research platforms and the promotion by the media, many researchers have swarmed into Shennongjia looking for cooperation in research. The composition and the academic level of the research team as well as its research methods and technology have been significantly improved.

Before 2005, the nature reserve was only capable of preliminary research in cooperation with a few institutions and universities. The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is a species endemic to China favored by researchers, and because it is rare, elegant and beautiful, it is very attractive to the public and the media. Good conservation and research of the species would definitely result in a chain reaction and a virtuous circle of conservation and science research. Based on the experience learned from other protected areas, the Director General decided to establish a special team to track and observe the species around the clock to get first-hand data for further research.

In 2005, the new team started on the long and difficult “monkey-tracking” road with heavy equipment and supplies. With over 400 days of effort, the team successfully reduced a group of monkeys’ natural vigilance against human: they were no longer afraid of the human followers and started to accept the food offered to them in the food-scarce winter. The harmony between human and the monkeys started to grow. Now, this group of monkeys has been indifferent to the activities of the research staff. Abundant data acquired has help researchers learn about the species. This method is called habituation-based research.

(1) Establishing ecological corridor to strengthen important habitats connectivity

The construction of ecological corridors strengthen the connectivity between different patches in the Park, and promote the diffusion of animals and gene exchange.

(2) Expanding effective habitat area by ecological restoration

The preparation of The Special Plan for Ecological Restoration has realized comprehensive evaluation of the vegetation status and identified the main areas that need ecological restoration in the Park.

(3) Reintroducing large carnivores for a complete food chain

In the future, reintroduction of large predators to reconstruct the integrity of the food chain will improve the ecosystem stability in the Park due to the increase or surplus of herbivores.

(4) Establishing compensation methods to promote ecological migration

The compensation policy for ecological migration actively encourages the residents living in scattered villages to move to towns or counties nearby and effectively enhances the effect of ecological protection.

(5) Conservation and community development coordination

The public participation mechanism has mobilized the enthusiasm of residents in the Park, and through information sharing, employment, etc, local residents' sense of belonging and honor has been cultivated.

(1) Integrated Space-Air-Ground biodiversity monitoring system

Space: used satellite remote sensing image to carry out multi-temporal image remote sensing monitoring in the Park, cross-provincial cooperation area and franchise area, and used ground and near-surface remote sensing data to interpret satellite remote sensing image.

Air: used aerial photography with Lidar, CCD high-resolution camera, and hyperspectral image to obtain the near ground remote sensing image of the whole Park.

Ground: established nearly 800 forest plots and set up 507 infrared cameras to carry out grid-level monitoring, covering the whole Park.

 (2) Establishment of National Park Research Institute

To promote the construction in a scientific way, the Park will set up a National Park Research Institute, which will provide support for the scientific, accurate and intelligent construction and management of biodiversity protection in the Park.

(3) Building "Smart National Park"

By utilizing advanced technologies such as remote sensing, big data cloud computing and artificial intelligence, a big data cloud service platform for the Park has been formed. By combining mobile phone terminals with Internet technology, a comprehensive management and service platform for smart national park has been built.

(1) Exploring the innovation system of easement reform and the diversified land management and utilization modes

According to the actual situation of different ownership of collective land, the Park studied and formulated different management methods of forest land, farmland, homestead, and water area in the Park and explored the land use modes of diversified land management in different functional areas.

(2) Realizing ecosystem integrity protection through cooperative protection

The criterion for regional cooperation protection is to protect the authenticity, representativeness, and integrity of the ecosystem and takes into account the area suitability and management feasibility.

(3) Optimizing functional zone division and implementing differentiated management

The current functional zone division is reasonable in the Park. On this basis, it can be further optimized and improved. For example, improvement of the proportion of core reserves and implementation of differentiated management.

(4) Formulating Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park

To regulate all activities and to protect the authenticity and integrity of the natural ecosystem, Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park has been preliminarily formulated according to China’s relevant laws and the Park’s actual situation.

Improved operational planning enables the PA managers clearly define their capacity gaps and most critical resource requirements for effective implementation of the activities. PONT’s long-term co-financing enables the PA managers in WPA to recruit new staff and deploy resources to sustain their core management functions. Using the budget Template developed by PONT, PA managers develop a detailed budget for each action that is broken down into 5 cost categories: staff costs; consultants; equipment and infrastructure; travel, meeting, and training costs; and consumables, operating and other costs. PONT co-financing amounts up to 50% of the total annual budget and is used for covering both recurrent and non-recurrent cost related to the core management operations, except for procurement of equipment and construction of new infrastructure exceeding 20,000 EUR

PA management authorities in WPA use a Template developed by PONT in Microsoft Excel to prepare annual operational plans and budget that are part of their grant applications to PONT. These operational plans state the actions to be implemented each year to achieve the objectives set out in the management plan for the PA concerned. While most of the actions are selected from among those identified in the management plans, additional actions arise from the (annual) METT assessments, by learning from experience, or in response to uncertainty and change. The operational plans integrate both recurrent (routine) activities and non-recurrent activities (projects) to ensure resources are adequately distributed across the different functional areas. The operational plans only include activities that are currently achievable with existing staffing, technical and financial resources, including the co-financing from PONT.

Using pre-defined templates developed by the national authorities on protected areas in both Albania and North Macedonia, the PAs in the WPA prepare annual (operational) plans that are subject of formal approval by the national authorities.

Regular Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) Assessments are becoming an integral part of the annual management cycle in the organizations managing the Protected Areas in the WPA. The METT is being established as an important decision-support tool enabling more transparent, evidence-based, and adaptive management, tied to the annual management cycle. It helps the managers to organize and streamline annual cycles of reporting while its findings and results help determine preferences among options in preparing the operational plan for the subsequent annual cycle.

METT assessments are an integral part of PONT’s monitoring and evaluation system at both program level and individual grants. Grantees managing protected areas are required to use METT to assess the impact of PONT’s grants on management effectiveness and track progress over time.