The Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) supported technical assistance for stakeholder meetings to discuss sustainable finance strategies for marine protected areas in TCI in 2015. 

Possible strategies were formulated in consultation with stakeholders by using the Wolfs Company's Eco2Fin framework, an approach to assess current and potential financing streams based on context-specific conditions. This assessment revealed the diversity of fees and taxes charged to tourists, as well as the lack of earmarked government revenue for protected area management. It also concluded that tourism-related revenue offered untapped opportunities to finance marine protected areas, given that these contain key tourism assets such as coral reefs.

A subsequent analysis of TCI's legal framework provided recommendations on feasible mechanisms to increase budgetary allocations and earmark conservation funds for marine protected areas managers such as DECR. Strategic steps formulated to achieve the succesful implementation of these mechanisms included the development of a business case for increased funding of protected areas and key ecosystems such as coral reefs.

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. 

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.

PescaData is a mobile application that promotes and improves the collection of fisheries data, and encourages fisheries with a systematic record of their catches to move towards sustainable fisheries certification. PescaData provides the fishing sector with a tool to strengthen its administrative capacities, provide digital spaces for the exchange of products and services (marketplace) and connect with others in different regions. The objective is to share knowledge and create solutions aimed at adapting to changes in the short term and address global issues.

PescaData was created in collaboration with the fishing sector and by mid-2021, it has 681 users from 63 fishing organizations in Mexico and Latin America. It is available on the App Store and Google Play, and is free to download. PescaData has a section for registering fishing logs, the list of species and El Mercado, as well as a web page where information about the application, download links and informative blogs on relevant topics of PescaData and its implementation in the fishing sector are displayed.

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 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.

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.