Invasive plants occurred on both sides of the Thaya River, which serves as the international boundary and the border between the two national parks. Plants were removed from both sides of the river by staff from the respective parks, and removal of plants took place following their detection by the monitoring effort. When the joint eradication project was originally proposed by Podyjí National Park, staff of Thayatal National Park were sceptical of the efficiency of the efforts to remove the invasive plant based on their knowledge of many unsuccessful eradication attempts in other areas. Thayatal National Park was therefore only willing to invest a small amount of resources initially to test whether the eradication efforts would work. After initial successes, Thayatal National Park contributed resources to conduct more substantial removal measures jointly with Podyjí National Park. As both parks are opposed to the use of pesticides, individual plants needed to be removed by hand and preferably during the adolescent life stages before seeds emerged. Otherwise, seeds could be spread during removal of the adult plants. Nevertheless, mowing measures proved very effective in places of larger stocks.  

Given the many uncertainties associated with climate change, political and community support for so-called ‘no-regret’ adaptation measures can often be higher than for alternative approaches whose (cost-)effectiveness depends on the degree of future climate change. The no-regret approach focuses on maximizing positive and minimizing negative aspects delivered by EbA, and selecting actions that yield a range of benefits even in the absence of such change. In the case of the Kamen green-blue-corridor, the ecological improvement of the stream in combination with disconnecting the storm water from surrounding properties was determined to have positive impacts regardless of whether rainfall will increase in the long-term or not. Should rainfall intensify and become more frequent, flood risks will be reduced; if temperatures increase in the summer, the stored water will benefit the mircroclimate. Regardless of climate, however, the EbA measures can be considered as ‘no-regret’ as they create amenity and recreational benefits for the community and visitors, increase awareness levels, contribute to the EU Water Framework Directive and biodiversity conservation, and reduce water discharge fees for local inhabitants.

Successful implementation of EbA sometimes necessitates the involvement and support of private actors in cases where the measures are to take place on their land. This can create a challenge as the process of convincing individual stakeholders to participate in implementation activities often requires significant time investments, financial resources, and public outreach efforts. In the case of Kamen, it was necessary to determine the value of decoupling private citizens’ rainwater from the sewage system and then to convey this information in a convincing manner to those involved. Two public information meetings were followed by one-on-one planning sessions in which a technician visited individual homes and drafted catered solutions for disconnection that met the needs of each citizen. Furthermore, financial incentives were provided to the residents in the form of expenses per decoupled square meter to motivate participation.

From 2007 to 2010, severe flash floods occurred in different cities in the Emscher- and Lipperegion due to extreme rainfall events. In the public discussion that followed, the question of responsibility came up. Citizens formulated the demand that the public bodies, particularly the municipalities and water boards, had to guarantee a full protection against future flood events. In further developing this demand, it quickly became clear that this would not be possible without paying a high price. Questions arose like: How high should the dikes be, and how big should the waste water sewers be dimensioned to protect people against any extreme event? How much energy and money would that cost? This would speak against all efforts regarding climate protection and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A communication strategy was thus necessary to change citizen perspectives and develop support for a reasonable solution. The goals was to convince the population that there is no solution by public authorities which can offer 100% protection against the impacts of climate change, and that there will always remain a degree of personal responsibility. This was the starting point when people began to ask the question: What can I do?

As this solution serves various goals and meets several objectives, it was possible to secure sufficient funding from diverse parties, domains and funding bodies to cover the entire implementation of the project. Innovative financing approaches can also act as ‘self-sustaining’ and generate funds during the course of the project to fund some of the foreseen activities.

This building block is very useful to understand the population trend and how environmental factors take a part and influence this tendency. Modification and adaptation of existing population models which describe trends as well as the relationship between the parental stock size and newborns make it possible to understand how the environment influences sea lion population growth rates and abundance. These model approach helps to understand whether a given sea lion population is influenced or not by environmental variables. The approach ultimately allows deciding if one or several sea lion populations could be good indicators of environmental change.

During the planning phase extensive formative research informs the Social Marketing, as well as the Technical Assistance components of a campaign. Research sets the baselines that allow the assessment of social and conservation impacts following a campaign. Qualitative research (e.g. focus groups, observation, in-depth interviews) is geared towards understanding target audience opinions, feelings, concerns and perceived benefits of current as well as desired management practices. Qualitative research is about creating a casual conversation with and between participants to establish a comfortable relationship, and to reveal underlying information unobtainable through quantitative research. Quantitative research surveys capture specific answers to specific questions to describe demography, identify media preferences, and assess the current state of knowledge, attitude, communication and readiness of target audiences regarding a certain behavior change. Both components ultimately inform campaign decisions like objectives, respective activities, materials, and messages for both Social Marketing and Technical Assistance.

Climate impact hypotheses were translated into quantitative relationships and data layers for use in the InVEST ecosystem service models. Adaptation strategies were selected based on outcomes for ecosystem service provisioning with a set of four climate adaptation scenarios tested. In selecting the most appropriate adaptation strategies, we drew on existing research with stakeholders in Belize that identified the ‘best options’ for sustainable development, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change in Belize, and looked at these under three management scenarios.

Building trust between MarViva and the Community Councils of each community has taken more than four years before the development of the Communication Collective. Creating an association between the Collective and the Foundation has been based on the respect for the interests, decisions and role of the Community Councils. This partnership has allowed the insertion of the Foundation in the communities where it is positively seen as a strategic partner. This integration has been strengthened by successful previous processes where communities have perceived the benefits of partnership and the "fair play" by the Foundation.

The importance of nature conservation is brought out to the local community - including the tourist sector. Awareness raising campaigns are conducted to transform knowledge, values, skills and attitudes towards sustainable tourism development. Information is disseminated via videos, brochures, press releases and organised flash mobs.