Establishment of nursery seedlings

The establishment of a nursery supports high yield local cacao varietals, fruit and timber species to encourage growth of climate smart agroforestry farms. This ensures sustainability and productivity of agroforestry plots and supports promotion of these methods to new farmers.

With the support of Ya’axché technical staff, Trio Farmers Cacao Growers Association constructed a one-acre nursery on the concession. In addition, the maintenance and watering of seedlings/saplings in the nursery is done by wives and children of Trio farmers.

The nursery serves to help new farmers start their own climate smart agriculture farms as well as ensure future research into high yield varieties of plants.

Maintaining organic crops

The Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve makes up a vital part of the Monkey River Watershed, which supports livelihood of many communities. The prohibition of pesticides and herbicides through organic farming ensures maintenance of water quality to support aquatic species and provide healthy water to communities.

By employing climate smart agricultural methods such as Inga-alley cropping, and agro-forestry, the need for herbicide and pesticides is naturally reduced. In addition, Ya’axché support staff offered technical training on organic pest control methods.

The advice of a consultant is vital to ensure proper methods of organic farming are used. Ya’axché has provided training to farmers in agro-forestry and organic pest reduction techniques through a hired consultant, Dr Reuben Sanchez from the Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical Alejandro de Hunboldt in  Cuba. There were a total of 7 workshops in an introduction to agro-ecological principles with a focus on cacao and coffee pest management, seed selection, collection and storage, biogas, mulching.

Training and support of indigenous farmers

Ya’axché supports indigenous farmers of the Trio Farmers Cacao Growers Association (TFCGA) with training on climate smart agricultural methods such as agro-forestry, Inga-alley cropping, organic farming and beekeeping.  Training in proper climate smart agricultural techniques ensures that the agroforestry concession is providing benefits to both humans and nature.

 

 

Through the Community Outreach and Leadership program at Ya’axché, workshops on basic climate smart agriculture techniques were held following Ya’axché's Integrated Farming Manual. In addition Ya’axché regularly engages farmers in visits to climate smart demonstration farms within the concession that exhibit the benefits of these methods.The demonstration plots were developed by TFCGA farmers with the aid of Ya’axché support staff.

 

Ya’axché has found that hands-on learning/workshops and demonstration plots are most effective in training of farmers as they are able to see concrete outcomes of the climate smart methods we promote. In addition, most of our technical support staff are farmers themselves who implement these practices on their personal farms and are able to offer personal insight.

Building an Endowment for Sustainable Community Protected Area Management

Financial sustainability is an overarching aim for YUS landscape management. Woodland Park Zoo, with the help of Conservation International’s Global Conservation Fund and other donors, established a two million dollar endowment for the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program and the YUS Conservation Area in 2011. The non-sinking endowment is managed by Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) and follows procedures outlined in WPZ’s Operations Manual. Four percent of the interest earned by the endowment is to be disbursed annually by WPZ in accordance with TKCP-PNG annual plans and budget formulated in December of each year, and is designed to provide partial funding for core landscape programs in perpetuity. 

  • Partnership with organization that has expertise in establishing protected area endowments.
  • Long-term institutional support for endowment fund management (Woodland Park Zoo).
  • It is important to link the allocation of endowment funds to clear outcomes in TKCP-PNG annual plans, and to the long-term targets of the YUS Landscape Plan.
  • It is necessary to continue to attract additional funding streams for the rest of the core programs, non-core programs, and operational costs not covered by the endowment fund disbursements (WPZ and TKCP continue to submit funding proposals to donors for this purpose).

 

Improving Community Livelihoods through Sustainable, Wildlife-Friendly Products

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the YUS CA, local communities must participate in and benefit from its protection. To encourage community engagement and sustainable development, TKCP builds partnerships to address local needs for livelihoods, health, education and skills training. 

 

The YUS Conservation Coffee program is an integrated approach to optimizing supply for a sustainable crop, while building connections to international markets. By selling farm-direct to Caffé Vita and other buyers, YUS coffee farmers earn revenues more than 35% higher than local market rates. Adequately covering production and transport costs, premium coffee export has become an economically viable industry for YUS communities. TKCP is now working to replicate this success among cocoa farmers by working with the PNG Cocoa Board and chocolatiers to improve local cocoa quality and to identify new markets. In addition, TKCP is facilitating the establishment of a YUS Conservation Coffee and Cocoa Cooperative to strengthen the management and marketing of the two crops.

 

TKCP's community livelihoods programs have fostered community buy-in for conservation, which is further bolstered by environmental education and community health efforts, ensuring the social and cultural sustainability of TKCP. 

 

  • Holistic approach to responding to the needs of people and the ecosystems on which they depend.
  • A wide range of national and international partnerships (government, private sector, academia and the NGO sector) to address economic and social needs of local communities.
  • Long-term time commitment to working with local communities (TKCP has been in existence since 1996).

 

  • Recognition that YUS is a living landscape where human well-being is the result of environmental protection. 
  • Understanding that the tree kangaroo is a special species for YUS. The Matchie’s tree kangaroo is endangered, mainly due to pressures from hunting, a complex and important cultural practice in YUS. The guarantee of its long-term survival is what prompted YUS landowners to create a protected landscape. 
  • Recognition of the need to make a long-term commitment to achieve success with sustainable livelihood initiatives.  
  • Commitment to having the YUS people take a leadership role in creating a vision of what is needed to create a place where wildlife can thrive and where people benefit from looking after the land and sea that supports them.
Creative Collaboration with Private Enterprises on Urban Park Management

For the creation of a new open space where people can get together, the local government coordinated open-air dining spots through a unique two-step management system allowed by the  revised Local Autonomy Act. In the first step, the government built two one-story houses (Photo 1 and 2) to be used for cafes inside the park by special permission from the governor. Meanwhile, the government designated a public interest incorporated association as the permitted operator of the new buildings. In the second step, the association contracted out the café operation to two private companies selected from 15 applicants through a competitive bidding process. Selection criteria of the operating companies included consistency to the park’s basic revitalizing plan as well as profitability and quality of services to be provided to park visitors. Notably, with this two-step management a part of the profit from these two cafes can be efficiently reinvested to maintain and upgrade the park environment.

  • Designated Administrator System provided by the revised Local Autonomy Act of 2003
  • Specifying an idea of dining spots in basic plans and obtaining a special permission for new profit-making activities in public park.

Urban park management under public-private partnership schemes is obviously effective and more governments may adopt the scheme to meet the local needs to improve urban parks. However, merely contracting out park operation and maintenance services to private companies does not ensure desirable results for users. Local governments should develop plans and principles for urban park management with the participation of local stakeholders and experts, and the contracted private sector should follow the plans and principles. It is also important to manage urban parks with local specific and creative ideas along with the promotion of new private enterprises and business clusters in surrounding districts to maximize the local benefits.

Flexible Legal Setting for Park Management

Ueno Park is flexibly managed to meet its historical background and current needs. To cover part of the expenses to manage urban parks, TMG allowed some private entities to run their businesses such as a restaurant and make a profit inside the park. While the Urban Park Act of 1956 prohibits any kind of private business activities in urban parks to avoid uncontrolled development, the government identified restaurants and small shops as part of the park facility that can be built, operated, and managed by private operators to meet public interest under government controls and allowed them to continue their commercial activities. This actions by TMG follows the Urban Park Act that allowed local governments to grant third party use or occupation of property, and construction and management of facilities. Consequently, several restaurants and small shops exist as park facilities in Ueno Park.

  • Proper balance of Government supervision and flexibility to enable private sector involvement

In principle, public park management is not for profit-seeking activities, and uncontrolled private business practices may distort the original purpose of the public parks and exacerbate social inequity in urban contexts. The case of Ueno Park shows us that urban parks as public goods/services should be managed under government supervision in a proper manner but there also needs to be flexible and adaptive management in consideration of economic, social and cultural aspects of individual parks. Overly-strict operational regulations would diminish the diversity, attractiveness, and competitiveness of urban parks and limit the positive influence of park services on local communities and economies.

Long-term Commitments and Partnerships

The long-term plan of OMY is embodied not merely by one private developer but jointly initiated by a group of public-private stakeholders across the local business districts. Indeed, the Council for Area Development and Management of OMY, being comprised of 68 landowners, 12 observers, and 8 special members in 2016, established the Advisory Committee on OMY Area Development in 1996 together with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Chiyoda Ward, and East Japan Railway Company. As the first area management initiative in the country, the Committee regularly updates the guidelines for redevelopment activities since 1998. These guidelines set out 8 development goals, key functions of zones, axes, and hubs, district design standards, and local operation rules for coordinating cityscape, networking public open spaces, and transferring FARs. Furthermore, the committee has introduced a variety of area management and place-making initiatives such as free loop bus service, car-free public spaces, establishment of a district-level association, and various city events.

  • Council for Area Development and Management of OMY (comprised of 68 landowners, 12 observers, and 8 special members)
  • Coordination across the local govenrment, the ward government, and the railway company
  • Legalization of the Area Management Initiative

Large-scale redevelopment projects generally require the complex and painstaking coordination of property rights among various stakeholders. The long-term commitment of major developers and the establishment of horizontal partnerships are essential for intergenerational redevelopments and sustainable area management. Many details of urban design, operation, and place-making efforts must be initiated and guided in local specific ways.

Market Incentives for Social Capital Improvements

Accompanied by private redevelopment projects, the national government decided to restore the old redbrick building of Tokyo Station, initially built in 1912 and damaged by firebombing during World War II. While the symbolic building restoration was expected to have broader social and cultural benefits for the neighboring business districts, its project cost was estimated around JPY50 billion. In order to meet both social and commercial objectives, the site of Tokyo Station was extensively designated as a zone for the special FAR exemption and allowed to transfer the unused FARs from the historic redbrick building to the neighboring lots for new commercial tower developments. The station building restoration, partially financed by the FAR transfer revenues, was successfully completed in 2013 by a railway company, which also developed two 205-meter tall skyscrapers among the towers with extra FARs, and reinvested the increase in land value of the densified grade-A office buildings to cover the railway finance. To improve the district further, the current provision of a multimodal transportation square for regular bus and taxi services plans is to be completed by East Japan Railway Company in partnership with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2017.

  • Legislative and institutional requirements met to apply bonus FAR schemes
  • Finance mechanism to cover a vast amount of capital improvement cost through land value capture

  • Sound approach for land and property value assessment

Private redevelopment projects could meet both commercial and social objectives if market incentives are properly given for public capital improvements. In particular, the exemption and transfers of extra FARs should be designed not merely to increase short-term business profitability but rather to raise public funds for life cycle asset management.  

Awareness raising campaigns at local level

Awareness raising campaigns were conducted in each of the 9 cantons. They covered the following elements:

 

  1. field to discuss about FLR and the planning of potential activities
  2. local meetings with 77 villages, to share findings from field visits
  3. radio programs in local languages
  4. exchange sessions with the prefectural director for environment,
  5. design & development of signboards for each village

 

After the participative mapping and inventory findings were shared with the communities by the installation of synoptic tables in the villages themselves, visible and accessible for everyone. This triggered community internal discussions and allowed to identify one or two low-cost restoration options per village to be implemented by the communities themselves under the technical supervision by forest service staff. The continuous information provision via various awareness raising formats and participatory meetings to identify FLR priority options in each of the cantons, led to a high momentum and legitimacy in the communities to engage in restoration.

  • Openness by land users to participate since most are facing severe challenges (e.g. lack of fuel wood, soil degradation) and see a direct benefit in restoration
  • Preparatory visits to restoration hotspots and workshops including agreements with prefectural authorities & traditional chiefs
  • Local NGOs as very trustful partners
  • Successful activities of GIZ in the Mono Delta Transboundary Biosphere Reserve provided convincing arguments to support restoration
  • It is essential but also challenging to define the appropriate group size to reach the maximum of the members of the communities (village or cantonal level)
  • The content of communication products and messages needs to be adapted to the circumstances of each canton
  • The right language for communication is crucial: Early on the decision was made to use the local dialect for a common understanding of all
  • The integration of women in all phases of the process was crucial for its success.