Implementation | PANORAMA

Increase in the collection of tourist operation patents

The reasons that prompted the process of updating the fee were:

20 years without updating the value of the tourist operation patent fee:
It was derisory compared to the income that tourism operators receive;
The cost of administration and management of the reserve where users benefit from its environmental services;

Relevant aspects of the agreement reached to update the fee:

Sociabilization with the tourism sector for payment agreements;
4-year negotiation process
Different types of negotiations (larger and smaller depending on the type of tourism);
The value is updated each year based on the unified basic salary SBU in force in Ecuador, the formula multiplies the Net Registration Tonnage of the vessel by 80% of the SBU;
Payment facilities to the operator, i.e. the value can be paid in three installments.
The Reserve has optimized its systems to make the collection order online and payment through bank transfers.
Smaller vessels pay less
The state charged 492,000 USD for 162 tourist vessels, with the increase the charge will be progressive, in 2018 will be collected 1'902,847 USD; in 2019 2'885,540 USD; and from 2020 onwards 3'915,312 USD.

Socialization with the tourism sector and other stakeholders;
Political will;
Quality technical report;
Dissemination of management issues and needs of the reserve, community and key stakeholders;
The reserve's zoning process was created and socialized with the different users;
It was accepted by the tourism operators because they themselves were aware that the increase was necessary for good management of the reserve, meaning the conservation and preservation of the zones in which they operate.

That processes that are socialized and negotiated with key stakeholders from the outset bring fewer problems in their implementation;
That decision making with quality technical reports support the decisions taken;
Despite the high turnover of the highest authorities, the project had to be presented on several occasions to be approved by the current authority;
Despite the political will, the process has to be carried out in a technical manner and not get involved in the political arena;
The government itself realized that it is a process that can be replicated in other issues.

acuerdo_ministerial_086_cobro_de_patentes_2018.pdf

Sustainable coffee agroforestry systems

The agroforestry systems of coffee cultivation that are developed in the buffer zone of the PNN Tamá are part of a joint work that has been done from the protected area with the surrounding communities in order to promote processes of conservation of ecosystem services and sustainable local development. The consolidation of the Rural Women's Team of the San Alberto Village in the municipality of Norte de Santander has strengthened empowerment and the gender approach to sustainable rural development through the cultivation of organic coffee as a productive activity that has also strengthened the shared management of the protected area and its relationship with the communities based on the ecosystem services it provides.

These productive alternatives have been developed with strategic allies such as KFW, which has allowed the consolidation of a development approach that considers the importance of PNN Tamá and its ecosystem services. From this perspective, the rural women's association has become a successful management strategy represented in communities surrounding the park that are part of the conservation, planning, and management of the protected area.

Empowerment of rural communities under the approach of sustainable agroforestry systems that favor the conservation and connectivity of the buffer zone of PNN Tamá.
Strengthening of strategic alliances with local beneficiaries of the protected area's water resources, which has favored the recognition of the importance of the conservation of strategic ecosystems.
Building a gender focus that has allowed the development of sustainable rural activities that favor conservation.

The planning and management of protected areas must necessarily involve the management of the different beneficiary sectors and communities surrounding the protected areas, since shared management and the co-responsibility of the actors articulate the different interests in actions that respond to both the conservation of ecosystems and local and regional development.
The protected area has strengthened its management, planning, and administration through the support provided to the rural women's association, since the advances in coffee agroforestry systems have consolidated a productive alternative and built trust with the communities, which in turn represents an effective alliance for conservation as it generates appropriation of the importance of the protected area and its ecosystem services.

Creation of Civil Society Nature Reserves

Gallery National Natural Parks of Colombia

Isolation of properties for conservation

Galería Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia

Nursery for restoration in nature reserves

Galería Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia

The stability of protected areas often depends on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures to stabilize their buffer zone. Furthermore, these strategies become more effective to the extent that the inhabitants neighboring the protected areas are involved. In this sense, PNN Tamá has focused its efforts on supporting the creation of Civil Society Nature Reserves (RNSC) on the lands of neighboring communities to form a conservation corridor. This type of strategy has proven to be quite effective because the vocation of the property of the peasant families harmonizes with the conservation objectives of the strategic ecosystems. Among others, with the allies, land has been purchased to constitute RNSC.

The strengthening of ecological corridors through strategies such as the creation of Civil Society Nature Reserves favors the connectivity of strategic ecosystems, facilitating the provision of ecosystem services over time.
The purchase of land necessary to create Civil Society Nature Reserves contributes positively to the access of opportunities for local communities.

The creation of community-managed protected areas in the buffer zone is an important complementary strategy that harmonizes private land uses with the conservation objectives of the protected area and surrounding strategic systems.
In some cases, it is necessary to obtain resources to acquire the land on which the protected management areas can be established by civil society actors.

Participatory water resource monitoring

Rainfall monitoring

Galería Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia

Rainfall monitoring 2

Galería Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia

Knowledge of the hydrological cycle in watersheds supplying water resources is considered strategic to favor the provision of hydrological ecosystem services in quality and quantity that favor the different beneficiary sectors. In this sense, knowing through participatory monitoring the behavior and variability of water quality and quantity indicators of water sources is vital to understand how actions in the territory influence the state of the watersheds. Likewise, the inclusion of the communities represents an opportunity for the recognition and appropriation of the importance of conservation and the development of strategies that favor financial sustainability reflected in the attainment of monetary and in-kind resources that allow the development of ways of life of the communities in accordance with the conservation objectives of the protected area.

With our allies at KFW, we have been able to strengthen rural families and associations such as the Rural Women's Team of San Alberto in the municipality of Toledo, thus strengthening the gender perspective as an example of shared management in the planning and management of protected areas.

Consolidation of community networks with rural population.
Strengthening of the gender approach in local associations.
Knowledge of the hydrological ecosystem services and management strategies that favor the additionality of water resources for the various beneficiaries.
Strengthening of complementary strategies that favor the sustainability of long-term actions in the buffer zone, thus protecting PNN Tamá.

Knowledge of the importance of ecosystem services in protected areas should be based on integrated approaches that make it possible to relate social as well as biophysical and economic values and involve the integrated management of resources from a shared management perspective.
Importance of the gender approach in strengthening participatory processes.
The strengthening of community processes in buffer zones of protected areas is of vital importance for the sustainability of actions in the territory that help to reduce pressures on conserved ecosystems. Protected areas cannot limit themselves only to guaranteeing stability within the area, but also to articulating conservation efforts in the buffer zones.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

VIDEO SAN ALBERTO EMURSA

Practical support and capacity building for local livelihood improvement

FHA support local farmers in beekeeping business through conservation agreements. They use generated income to feed their families and to buy wire to fence their pastures to prevent cows from entering the forest.

We support 10 local cooperatives in capacity building and improving their products; and three of them are supported in eco-tourism development. They use income to buy alternatives of what they were collecting from the forest.

10 of our 12 employees are from local villages. The income they earn helps them to improve their families’ livelihoods and also helps them, families and neighbors to change the attitudes towards the forest conservation.

Community need alternatives to the forest resources for the proected area conservation sustainability

FHA relies on small grants and our impressive achievements confirm that no matter how much money is invested, the message behind create a strong partnership that a factor for success. FHA uses conservation agreement and it does help local people to understand whay they should take aprt in conservation.

Implementation

Local

National

Diversity as a starting point for land-use planning

Latin America and the Caribbean is a multidiverse region. In most Latin American territories, pre-Hispanic, colonial and modernist models of development planning and land use coexist. This situation generates socio-ecosystemic and territorial conflicts. In the study Integration of Protected Areas into Land Use Planning, a Necessity for Achieving Human Well-being in Colombia, it was concluded that in order to effectively plan and manage land use planning it is necessary to start from the recognition ofThe conclusion was that in order to effectively plan and manage territorial planning, it is necessary to recognize the socio-cultural, ecosystemic and political-administrative diversity of the territories, as well as to clarify the irreplaceable role of biodiversity and protected areas in the achievement of human wellbeing, the prevention and effective management of socio-ecological, territorial and humanitarian conflicts in order to propose differentiated public policies,
in accordance with biodiverse, multiethnic and pluricultural contexts, from an integral, complementary and

from an integral, complementary and synergic vision between territories.
territories. Based on this, some strategies and conceptual clarifications are proposed.

The recognition of ethnic and cultural diversity as a strategy for territorial planning, based on traditional knowledge and as a measure of adaptation to ecosystem conditions

The proposal of ways for the harmonization between ethnic planning instruments, environmental authorities and governments.

It is a product of the work in diverse territories in the country.

The technical, institutional and social factors that hinder integrated territorial management were identified.

The territory is a set of several territories, i.e. we are talking about multi-territories to be managed and harmonized to ensure biodiversity conservation and human well-being.

Language is a key factor for understanding and joint management.

Implementation

Local

La diversidad punto de partida para planificar el ordenamiento territorial

Planning and land management

Knowing and managing the instruments, instances and processes in which land occupation models, land use and activity regulation are planned is fundamental for the effective management of protected areas and the viability of the territory.

Capacity building in land-use planning.

The rise of rural areas in planning and the new global urban agenda that allows us to see that there are not only cities but also human settlements.

The trend and commitment to manage protected areas beyond borders.

The Sustainable Development Goals

Territory is not only a polysemous concept but also the scenario where different social and institutional interests are managed.

In the territory there are not only socio-environmental conflicts but also ethno-territorial, sectoral and political-administrative conflicts, but the management of all of them requires a social agreement.

Positioning biodiversity and protected areas in public policies of development and territorial planning requires intersectoral management and the development of skills for the participation of technical bodies with technical contributions that contribute to common goals, i.e. learning to be part of a collective and to manage in a network.

Bases de la Política General de Ordenamiento Territorial de Colombia

Lineamientos para adelantar el proceso de ordenamiento territorial departamental

Comite Especial Interinstitucional de la Comisión de Ordenamiento Territorial

Tourism Policy Enforcement

Policy enforcement is an important aspect of destination management that is often overlooked. In an emerging market such as the Philippines, many citizens are used to disobeying simple rules such as traffic and littering in the streets. Hence, an innovation we made for Masungi Georeserve is to make sure this habit does not penetrate into our sanctuary.

Policy enforcement is important in our overall solution because it ensures the structures and trails and engineering are properly and excellently maintaned and that the destination is always in pristine shape.

Policy enforcement comes in three phases: pre-trip, during the trip and after the trip.

Pre-trip, we are able to have an agreement with all visitors on the policies and corresponding penalties concerning their visit through our timed entry online booking platform. This includes policies of Leave no Trace, no smoking, no littering, no boisterous noise, no feeding of wildlife and no vandalism on our limestone formations.

During the trip, park rangers are not allowed to receive tips. This helps lessen any undue influence tips may have on the park ranger's ability to enforce the rules on the visitors.

After the trip, we ensure feedback is always given to visitors and our pakr rangers through evaluations and follow up communications.

Attention to developing skills of local rangers to implement rules. As many park rangers are from the local community, they need to be trained to enhance leadership and communications skills to be able to handle erring guests effectively.
No tipping to prevent favors from guests.
Online booking system to ensure policies are read, understood and agreed upon beforehand.

We learned that it is better to implement and be strict with the rules despite possible resistance, as long as WHY of policies are communicated well.

We learned to put the lead contact (person who did the booking) responsible for all guests in the party. This increases accountability of the group and ensures one line of communication.

We also learned that it may be helpful to restrict access of middlemen - travel agencies and tour operators. We have come up with strict accreditation process in terms of operators and agencies who can sell the trail experiences at the Masungi Georeserve. This helps manage the overall experience, the visitor's expectations, and reinforce policies and values that the conservation area upholds.

Implementation

Local

Mindful Engineering

Sapot - Spiderweb Viewing Deck

Masungi Georeserve

Mindful engineering, design and construction is a key component of this solution. For Masungi Georeserve, this means carefully planning the placement, material and method of constructing temporary structures inside the conservation area.

One method that is particularly evident at Masungi is the use of biomimicry or copying structures present in the natural environment. The iconic feature on our Discovery Trail is the Sapot, a local term for Spiderweb.

Instead of building a viewing deck made of concrete and foreign materials that would distract from the aesthetic of the place, we chose to build a web-style suspending viewing platform inspired by the webs of spiders found inside the conservation area.

In building this, we used light cable materials which can be removed, replaced or modified at any time, making the design resilient and adaptable to the area's changing environment.

In essence, mindful engineering means going beyond traditional ways of designing for touristic appeal. You do not need to copy what is already present in the market. You can get design inspiration from within, use local and sustainable materials, enhance the natural character of an area, and build a unique "sense of place" in the process.

One important enabling factor is the design and construction skill from the team. Our craftsmen had years of construction experience and familiarity with the location before coming up with creative executions such as the Sapot.

Another enabling factor is research and exploration. To know where exactly to put these temporary structures, or which areas to highlight for tourism and educational purposes, the needs to be a baseline mapping and study of points of interest and how they connect together in one trail experience.

Give attention to details. At the end of the day, it is details that separate a good destination from a great destination.
Use local materials and designs. This decreases carbon footprint of construction, as well as the cost and time needed to procure items.
Find local talent. There is no need to hire expensive or already-known artists to create mindful structures. Even simple construction workers would have ideas on how we can be resourceful.
Use nature are blueprint. Mirror designs already present in the area to create a unique sense of place.

Implementation

Local

Fund leveraging

In participatory or bottom-up approach to planning and budgeting, sectors that are organized have better understanding of their agenda and have the ability to commit financial counterpart. Since VSLAs have these two advantages, they are in a better position to use EF to attract additional financial resources to support local and municipal level conservation initiatives. Fund leveraging is a strategy that uses EF as local financial counterpart to support implementation of environmental projects that require bigger funding

- Knowledge of planning and budgetting process of the local government

- Capacity of local leaders to engage government officials

If the EF is to be used effectively to leverage more local funding, it is important that VSLA EF decision making process intersects with the local government unit's (LGU) local planning and budgeting process. Moreover, it is equally important that local VSLA leaders know how to engage their LGUs in these processes.

Implementation

Local