A rapid assessment enabled us to intricately outline the methodological workflow for our collaboration with the company Aquapesca. This workflow began with the formation of the Change Makers Group, working in close tandem with the MUVA team to grasp the methodologies necessary for ensuring the sustainability of our approach within the organization. The Change Makers Group was entrusted with the responsibility of spearheading processes within the organization, ultimately becoming champions of inclusion and gender equality, working in conjunction with colleagues and leadership. Following the group's inception, leadership training was conducted to create awareness and generate initial ideas regarding the areas of focus for action plans with new practices and policies for the company. Subsequently, the Change Makers Group was trained, building capacity for them to facilitate the approval of these plans and mobilize working groups dedicated to each area of work. 

As well as providing useful information about the surrounding natural area (e.g. trails, routes) and relevant information about this (e.g. routes’ terrain, length, degree of difficulty, changes in altitude), the trail centres also educate users on how to behave in nature. Codes of conduct educate users about how to respect nature while enjoying their sport/activity in a natural environment. For example, centres may provide information about how to respect nature when walking, running, or cycling on the local tracks, trails, and routes.

Some centres also provide information about the natural and cultural history on the routes, increasing users’ awareness of their natural environment.

The Trail Centres act as physical spaces that increase and improve access to physical activities in nature, contributing to physical and mental well-being.

Their carefully chosen locations in proximity to nature (forests, water, and trails) help establish freely accessible, round-the-clock meeting places and start-points for outdoor sporting activities. As some are located close to urban areas, they also provide a gateway from urban to natural environments. 

Their combination as an all-in-one clubhouse, provider of service facilities, and meeting and training space, makes them ideal sites for local sports associations to use, as well as un-affiliated groups or individuals. This provides a space for socialising within, and between, sports and promotes relationship-building amongst users and with local sports associations.

Providing access to service facilities participation in outdoor sports activities (e.g. bicycle pumps and cleaning stations; covered training space; functional training equipment (stairs, monkey bars, TRX, etc.); storage space for equipment; and changing rooms/showers/toilets). As sites for borrowing equipment (e.g. map and compass, roller skis, SUP boards, etc.), the centres also encourage people to try new activities in nature in an affordable manner. 

The trail centre project was built on cross-sectorial cooperation. The five trail centres that are being built have all been developed and built in close collaboration with stakeholders across different sectors. These included the local municipalities where the centres would be built, the local sports associations who would be using the sites, local citizens and would-be users, as well as other interested parties. 

The participatory approach included holding 4 to 5 workshops with stakeholders to understand user needs, ideas, etc. This both enabled and ensured dialogue between the architects involved in the planning and design processes of the trail centres and the users/interested parties. Dialogue with architects also ensured that the buildings’ aesthetics, as well as functions, met stakeholders’ wishes.

The activities provided, or facilitated, by the trail centres were developed in collaboration with the local actors and associations. A participatory approach to planning also gives the users and local community a greater sense of ownership and helps ensure a sense of community between actors and across their respective sports.

Additionally, the development of the minimum criteria for determining the location and functions of the trail centres arose through cross-sectorial collaboration between project members.

To ensure the success of trail centres, the project members developed a number of minimum criteria for the location and design of the trail centres. Criteria was also established regarding the minimum service functions that the trail centres need to accommodate as well as the information that centres need to present. 

Minimum criteria:

• located at the centre of a varied range of trails, routes, and tracks that are preferably marked
• situated in an interesting park area, terrain, landscape or natural area
• information about e.g. the routes’ terrain, length, degree of difficulty, changes in altitude
• parking spaces
• a common room that all sports associations can use
• a covered area for e.g. gatherings, warm-up stretches, abdominal exercises
• a good range of relevant service functions

Each of the centres that have been, or are being, developed adhere to these minimum criteria. They are all located in or near natural environments that provide access to different outdoor sporting activities. Core service functions are integral to the architectural designs of each centre. 

There is an increased emphasis put on linking natural and cultural heritage into the activities of visitors coming to spas, developing experiences that are both leisure and part of the cure programme, alongside existing medical practices. This is also a reminder of how spas were conceived in the 19th century as beautiful hospitals, where the built and natural environment contributed significantly to the cure, health, and well-being of people. Govora offers an ideal place to develop a unique tourist offer for Romania, where heritage makes a measurable contribution to the health and well-being of residents and visitors.

Within the Govora Heritage Lab, Studiogovora is currently working on an interpretation plan about the complexity of Govora’s heritage, aiming to raise awareness within the local community, decision-makers and visitors.The aim is to preserve the heritage values, while influencing development, and foster community’s stewardship. Alongside the interpretation plan, the team organises guided tours, exhibits, and promotes the spa town on social media and in the press.

Satellite data forms the bedrock of the 3LD-Monitoring system, harnessing the capabilities of open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 and LANDSAT satellites. An algorithm, meticulously developed by Remote Sensing Solutions (RSS) GmbH, revolutionizes this process. Users can seamlessly submit the shapefile of their area of interest, prompting the algorithm to automatically fetch and analyze relevant data. A spectrum of robust analyses are conducted including the 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI for assessing vegetation gains or losses, 5-year vegetation moisture analysis through NDWI, and a nuanced 5-year rainfall trend evaluation. Additionally, the algorithm facilitates the visualization of vegetation changes since the inception of the project, bolstering the monitoring framework with dynamic insights. Satellite data, a vital component of the 3LDM-Monitoring system, leverages open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and LANDSAT satellites. For predefined areas, this data is automatically fetched and analyzed for specific parameters. Key analyses include a 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI as a proxy for vegetation gains or losses, a 5-year vegetation moisture trend through NDWI, and a 5-year rainfall trend. In addition vegetation changes from project start can be visualized.

To strengthen Pakistan’s policies and legal frameworks in support of FLR and sustainable land management, TRI Pakistan has facilitated the development of forest management and landscape restoration frameworks for Chilgoza Forest Ecosystems in the four districts of Sherani, Chitral, South West, and Gilgit Baltisan with technical input and hosting and engaging in the consultation of stakeholders. While the Chilgoza Forest Multi-Function Management Plan for the Sherani District has been finalized and a draft for the South West Multi-Function Management Plan has been drafted, the plans for Chitral and Gilgit Baltisan are still under development. The plans are drafted by the respective district’s forest departments and work to address economic concerns, biodiversity conservation, and the key drivers of degradation. The plans are also built on the findings of the participatory ROAM assessments TRI Pakistan conducted, which included key stakeholders from all four project districts and identified restoration opportunities and priority interventions such as more efficient cooking stoves. Ultimately, these plans facilitate the implementation of FLR and sustainable land management at the local level as they are made with input from local stakeholders and outline management measures designed with their communities’ priorities in mind.

To increase CAR’s commitment to forest and landscape restoration at the national and subnational levels, TRI CAR is working to fill existing knowledge gaps in the valuation of ecosystem services and restoration opportunities. To do this, TRI CAR has contracted two graduate students with the Central African Agricultural Research Institute (ICRA) and the Higher Institute for Rural Development (ISDR) to carry out a valuation of ecosystem services. As the projects develop, the on-the-ground research will inform TRI CAR’s technical recommendations for the various policies being elaborated. Similarly, to help identify restoration opportunities, TRI has initiated the creation of a geospatial working group that will focus on finding restoration priority areas. This will also lay a base for TRI CAR’s policy input, as the team will pursue measures focused on the restoration opportunities identified in geospatial data analysis.

This project, led by C Minds, the Secretariat of Sustainable Development of Yucatan (SDS), the community of the municipalities of Dzilam de Bravo and Dzilam Gonzalez in Yucatan, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Huawei, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Yucatan (UPY) and Rainforest Connection (RFCx), and with the advice and feedback of biologists with expertise in feline conservation, combined the knowledge of different institutions and individuals to create an alliance with environmental and socioeconomic impact, both locally and regionally.