In order to commit Research-Practice Teams in the Heritage Place Lab on a voluntary basis, it was necessary to establish the production of tangible outputs that would be useful for individuals, institutions and heritage places. The Heritage Place Lab proposed to develop and publish the research agendas resulting from the process, the publication of a special issue on the Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development (Emerald) which is an important step for academics, and the production of Nature-Culture solutions to be published on PANORAMA. 

The World Heritage Leadership Programme (WHLP) released an open call for applications for Research-Practice Teams interested in working on World Heritage management issues collaboratively in the experimental Heritage Place Lab. The Research-Practice Teams had to be composed of a group of researchers (2-4), and a  group of site managers (2-4). The research group could include faculty members, post-doctoral and graduate students, based in one or more research institutions, covering cultural heritage and/or natural heritage fields. The group of site managers could include 2-4 members involved in the management of one World Heritage property, which could belong to one or more institutions (managing authorities, municipality, community among others), and who were part of the World Heritage site management system. The WHLP encouraged Research-Practice Teams to work cross-regionally and in multi and interdisciplinary groups, including considering gender and intergenerational balance as priorities. Research-Practice Teams had to commit to working together for the duration of the Heritage Place Lab pilot phase and its follow-up activities, (including in between the 6 incubator online workshops).

The initial attempt at creating a PVC-lined pond failed because of the lack of aeration and/or filtration and concomittent volume of cottonwood leaves that fell into the stagnant pond in the fall.  Once power was brought to the site, concrete ponds with redundant aeration and filtration systems were added.

When it was announced that the Galo tract would be developed into a residential area it concerned parties from multiple sectors. Conservationists and bat scientists saw this plan as creating a human-wildlife conflict where there was not one previously, presenting threats to the health and wellbeing of both nature and the human populations. Local government, in particular City Council member Ron Nirenberg, had expressed concerns about the plan mainly focused on the nearby aquifer and the region’s drinking water. To fully assess the major trade-offs of the residential development plan, local government took the step of unifying diverse partners and their cross-cutting interests. By finding common ground in the end goal of preserving the area surrounding the Bracken Bat Cave, stakeholders from diverse sectors were able to transform their individual concerns into a large-scale mutual interest.

Co-created transdisciplinary approaches using methods such as interviews, storytelling, participatory mapping, theatre, playful activities and music can contribute to air pollution awareness and solutions to improved air quality. This approach accounts for local knowledge, cultural practices and priorities of the intended recipients of interventions, thereby making these interventions and respective air pollution abatement policies more effective and inclusive.  

Establish a professional platform for meteorological research and phenological phenomena forecasting, combined with a real-time image capturing and recognizing system.

EGI conducted a rapid assessment on diversified livelihoods to find out what were local communities already doing.

Bee keeping came out as a common income generating activity, driven by a high demand in honey products. The households’ income has increased through the sale of honey and derived products, such as medicine, bee venom, propolis, wine, cosmetics. This is now cushioning them against climate change impact such as prolonged droughts and floods that have negative impacts on agriculture, hence able to sustain income and their livelihoods which is thus addressing the key drivers of poaching.

Another sector of intervention was agriculture. Local communities were trained to improve the resistance of their crops to climate change.

Captive reared birds tend to use the same type of nest in which they were raised. Based on this theory, nest boxes were installed along cliffs and a working quarry adjacent to the release site. Ronez, the quarry owners, paid for a UK expert to visit Jersey to help plan, design, and install the boxes.

The first nests, in 2015, were inside quarry buildings, not the boxes. Boxes began to be used as competition for nest sites increased. When two nests failed due to being built on dangerous machinery, staff installed boxes and successfully encouraged the pairs to nest in them, allowing quarry staff to continue operations.

Nesting activity is closely monitored allowing staff to estimate incubation, hatch, and fledge dates based on pair behavior at the supplemental feed and/or from direct nest observations. Chicks are ringed and DNA sexed in the nest where feasible. Alternatively, fledged chicks that visit the supplemental feed site can be trapped in the aviary when called for food, ringed, and immediately released. This option was used in 2020 and 2021 when COVID-19 prevented access to the quarry.

The recently revised Jersey wildlife law gives full protection to chough nests. Staff are now working to increase public awareness and offer nest boxes as mitigation when choughs nest on private property.

Jersey farmland bird transects have been conducted by Durrell staff, partners and volunteers since 2005. This data combined with other datasets highlighted declining population trends leading to the publication of The Conservation Status of Jersey’s Birds.

In 2010, a partnership between Durrell, the National Trust for Jersey, and the Government of Jersey established Birds On The Edge, a conservation initiative to restore depleted coastal farmland bird populations. The reintroduction of chough acting as a driving force to implement change.

Feasibility studies supported the need to reintroduce chough; natural colonization was not a feasible option. They also identified a release site at Le Don Paton on the north coast. The National Trust for Jersey introduced a free-ranging flock of Manx loaghtan sheep to graze the site ensuring the birds had natural foraging habitat once released. The National Trust also purchased adjacent agricultural fields to avoid any land management conflicts and to sow conservation crops (another component of the initiative).

A reintroduction plan was created following IUCN Guidelines for reintroductions and other conservation translocations. This document assisted in securing licensing for the release, initial funding, and provided a way of clearly communicating intentions to stakeholders.

The national fleet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) highly depends on imported fuels and is therefore a significant source of GHG-emissions. The bilateral program “Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport (LCST)” implemented by RMI and the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aims at supporting the RMI Government´s planning and decision-making processes with respect to its low carbon future and the reduction of GHG-emissions from domestic sea transport, through consultancy, research, training, coordination of policy support to RMI and supporting in delivering RMI’s commitments under UNFCCC to achieve reduced GHG emissions from domestic shipping 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

The Marshallese Government founded and is an active member of the High Ambition Coaltion for Shipping (SHAC) at IMO and UNFCCC and due to their ambition, the group of supporters of an ambitious contribution of sea transport to the climate goals is growing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international meetings and high-level conferences are taking place remotely to a high extend.