DECR is one of the main protected area managers in TCI. As a government department, DECR depends on funding allocated through a regular budget cycle. Although the government collects a number of fees and taxes that are linked to nature-dependent sectors such as tourism, none of these payments is earmarked to protected area management. Instead, these funds flow to the consolidated fund, from which they are redistributed across public entities.

Building a strong case for protected area management was fundamental for DECR to promote: 1. increasing funding through the regular budget cycle, and 2. earmarking of a portion of nature-related revenues.

To support DECR in this task, GCFI funded technical assistance for the estimation of budget needs and gaps for basic and optimal protected area management. In addition, an assessment of the tourism value of nature was conducted based on existing studies. By comparing these figures, DECR could show authorities that increasing funding was financially reasonable, given that its operating budget in the year under analysis (2015/2016) was 25 times smaller than the added value of nature for tourism and 30 times smaller than the nature-related tourism revenue for the government.

Creating dynamic plastic waste value chains through collaboration between local community groups (youth, women) and the hotel industry. Where community groups collect and sort the waste. The value of partnership is very critical in ensuring streamlining circularity as well as ensuring synergies are pulled concertedly.

Partnerships have been very key in getting stakeholder buy-in as well as ownership on the project. The proposition in the partnerships aimed to decentralize the ownership of the eco-points, spur collections rates and develop a seamless sustainable plastic waste value chain. 

During the last 12 months, 3R established various partnerships with different stakeholders. One of the partnerships was with an NGO, ParCo, whereby they established two eco-points, to receive and buy plastic waste from the local community waste pickers. 

The Maritime Spatial Plan of the Azores was designed in a transparent and inclusive process, with the active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders. A strategy for stakeholder engagement and guidelines for public participation were drafted for this purpose. The engagement was designed in a series of three stakeholder workshops held simultaneously in the three most populated islands of the archipelago (São Miguel, Terceira and Faial). The workshops had the same structure, which combined communication about the MSP progress as well as activities to discuss, complement and validate the project outcomes. Prior to the workshops, stakeholders were mapped using the snowball technique. All identified stakeholders were assembled in the regional stakeholder directory and invited to participate in the events over the two years of the project. Complementary activities such as interviews were undertaken to fill important knowledge gaps related to specific maritime sectors.

Without an understanding of the biological processes under threat, it would have been impossible to design solutions. For instance, knowledge of the need for dune structures and the importance of native flora as stabilising agents, or salinity impacts on eggs, seasonality of nesting, etc. were crucial in designing the stepwise approach.

Collect and harmonize a bunch of spatial data to describe and map ecological connectivity from 6 independent states and numerous regions is probably the most challenging thing you can do in a GIS-project.

The Mamirauá Institute provides scientific knowledge inputs to local communities and this is relayed to communities and indigenous peoples, applying Conservation Area governance processes. 

This knowledge arises from 4 lines of action:

1. Environmental education
2. Environmental protection
3. Strengthening the community
4. Communication within the community 

The production of knowledge seeks to create medium and long-term solutions.

Working closely with the community respects the diversity of traditions, acknowledging elements of a backward nature.

The community work must begin with the interests and needs of the community itself; the work should act as the protagonist in the solution to problems.

The purpose of the governance processes that the Institute applies is to facilitate communication processes between the organization and the communities, using methodology based on inclusive management workshops.

In the Dominican Republic, coral reef restoration became a popular alternative to try to safeguard this ecosystems. At the beginning, it started to grow rapidly lacking control and causing many nurseries to become abandoned. This concern triggered the creation of the Dominican Coastal Restoration Consortium (CDRC), a Multi-Stakeholder Partnership that works with along with the Ministry of Environment monitoring coral nurseries all over the country and leading the  nursery evaluations, as well as steering the restoration initiatives in the DR. 

The foundation of any SeaSketch project is geospatial information (maps) displayed as map services. There are no minimum data requirements. You can begin working with whatever you've got. Maps may be published as Esri REST Services (e.g., with ArcGIS Server or ArcGIS online) and open source mapping services (e.g., WMS, WMTS) and then imported into SeaSketch. Example maps include administrative boundaries (e.g., EEZ, territorial sea, existing MPAs), seafloor habitats, bathymetry, human uses, etc.

The maps you choose to include as Data Layers in SeaSketch depend on the goals of your process. If you are planning for marine protected areas, shipping lanes and aquaculture sites, you may want navigational charts, habitat maps, the distribution of fishing activities and other layers that may be used to guide users in the design of their plans. Protected areas are only meaningful if they effectively protect certain habitats, shipping lanes minimize collision and maximize efficiency, aquaculture sites are located in certain depth zones, etc. On a case-by-case basis, you will need to evaluate what data need to be viewed as maps, and what subset of these data need to be analysed.