The purpose of this building block is to conduct thorough landscape assessments on the land owned by colleges and universities. By evaluating the environmental conditions, we can determine which species are best suited to thrive in these areas. This careful selection process ensures higher success rates for planting and contributes to more sustainable conservation efforts. The landscape assessment serves as the foundation for effective planting strategies, aligning species selection with the specific ecological characteristics of the land, ultimately leading to more resilient ecosystems.

This building block focuses on engaging directly with local communities through face-to-face interactions and site visits to every forest block. We worked closely with the community to discuss the impact of forest degradation on agriculture, livelihoods, and the natural environment. On-the-ground visits ensured a deep understanding of the issues and secured community buy-in for the program. These efforts were carried out in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), which played a key role in validating and supporting the initiative.

The community was directly engaged during this research to gain a clear understanding of the impacts affecting them.

NACOFA and WWF-Kenya recognized the concerns raised by the community, county government, and horticulture industry regarding reduced river flow and water supply to the lake, which threatened their investments and livelihoods. A study was conducted in collaboration with Water Resource User Associations (WRUAs) in the region, revealing that the root cause of the problem was forest and landscape degradation, along with poor farm management practices in riparian areas.

To effectively address the degradation of Lake Naivasha, it's essential to understand the activities of other local actors in the area. This building block focuses on stakeholder mapping and engagement, aiming to harmonize efforts, avoid duplication, and identify the key priorities and concerns of different stakeholders. By coordinating actions and aligning objectives, the initiative can more effectively tackle the environmental challenges facing Lake Naivasha.

TREEO SaaS product enhances the skills, knowledge, and abilities of our users, enabling them to effectively utilize the app’s features for tree monitoring and carbon sequestration. We aim to ensure that users can maximize the app’s potential, leading to more accurate data collection, better project management, and ultimately, more successful reforestation projects. 

It also enables user empowerment, increases project transparency, and supports the scalability and sustainability of reforestation efforts. We do this through training, tutorials, and guides that provide hands-on experience and detailed documentation. Ongoing support via a dedicated customer service team,  and FAQs.

The TREEO SaaS product provides project implementers with tools to carry out their due diligence process for their tree planting projects and provides data insights into the viability of the project or if the project meets with target standards and goals. This will be enabled through the following instruments:

• Land survey: designates the geographical boundaries of tree planting project areas (or plots)
• App is configured for remote locations without signal
• Built-in questionnaires should help to find out whether the projects are suitable for using the app 
• Personalized onboarding helps project implementers to use the entire TREEO technology correctly
• Go & No-go zone: shows the plantable and non-plantable areas
• Data validation: validation of monitoring data to ensure project compliance
• Satellite verification: an additional layer of data validation as well as historical checks on land cover and land use

This provides a replicable solution to collect land survey data and proper site selection. The TREEO App is designed as an offline-first app that works in remote regions even without internet connection (the data would be uploaded at the next possible connection). 

Establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSP)

Addressing IUU practices in artisanal fishing requires a coordinated approach between different stakeholders involved in the fishing sector and includes a variety of strategies and actions. The foundation of this approach is the establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSP) that bring together government institutions, the private sector and civil society to collaborate and develop a legal framework for sustainable fisheries management. This also includes fisherfolk and community members, particularly women. Regarding marine fisheries, the importance of trans-regional dialogue and agreements must be taken into account, due to the interconnected nature of the marine environment. MSPs encourage an integrated approach to governance, as they ensure all kinds of perspectives are considered and that the management strategies are effective and beneficial to all involved. Regular meetings of the MSPs reinforce the exchange among the various actors.

Baseline data

The next step is the collection and management of accurate baseline data, which is crucial for understanding the extent of the issue and for monitoring progress. As local research institutes may already assess data on catch and stock estimations, their role is vital for sustainable management of fish resources. However, they are often underequipped, understaffed and need initial capacity building and investments. Supporting these institutions with technical equipment and methodological training will also provide better and more transparent catch assessments during and after the project implementations. During this first phase, recognizing traditional knowledge is crucial for understanding the history of local fisheries. 

In addition to its economic viability, small-scale aquaculture is usually more environmentally friendly compared to industrial production systems based on industrialized feeds. Fish feed usually includes a certain ratio of fishmeal and fish oil and these ingredients are produced mainly from small pelagic fish from capture fisheries, which put an additional burden on the marine environment. It also affects the food insecure population because small pelagic fish are highly nutritious and help to combat food and nutrition insecurity directly. Fish feed also includes agricultural products like corn and soya, thus competing with food production for human consumption. Despite the negative externalities on ocean biodiversity, research has also shown that intensive aquaculture systems contribute more to global warming through automated processes and high demand for production inputs. Additionally, these systems cause habitat destruction and introduce alien species, which further affect the indigenous biodiversity. In contrast, extensive and semi-intensive small-scale aquacultures requires little external inputs and have less environmental impact. For this reason, GP Fish supports small-scale aquaculture farming of omnivorous fish species such as Carp and Tilapia. The aim is to empower producers technically and economically by optimizing pond productivity and integrating fish production into agriculture activities. This approach uses the natural environment sustainably to promote fish production.

What strategies need to be pursued to make more fish available to consumers in local markets? Because wild fish stocks are generally overfished, and the oceans’ ecosystems experience severe degradation the logical strategy is to increase fish supply through aquaculture. When increasing fish availability, especially for the food insecure population, the approach chosen must be environmentally sustainable, provide fish at an affordable price for this group (e.g., by avoiding additional costs such as for transportation) and should still offer the opportunity for producers to earn a living income.

The approach should therefore be centered around sustainable, decentralized aquaculture adapted to the limited financial and technical capacities of smallholders. Small-scale aquaculture in low-income countries plays already a crucial role in food and nutrition security as well as poverty reduction but still has significant potential to grow. On the one hand, vertically integrated aquaculture farms (companies that expand production to up- or downstream supply-chain activities) make important contributions to a country’s economic growth by increasing export earnings, but they usually have only little impact on the local fish supply and food security. On the other hand, small-scale aquaculture directly contributes to a higher fish consumption by the producers, depending on cultural preference for fish as a source of animal protein and to higher incomes that allow producers to purchase other foods.

When evaluating aquaculture as a source of income, it is important to consider that most small-scale farmers have little technical knowledge and financial capacities. These constraints prevent them from making larger investments for infrastructure and inputs, which are required when operating an intensive aquaculture production system. Formulated feeds, veterinarian products and machinery can significantly increase aquaculture production but are in most cases financially prohibitive for smallholders in remote rural areas. The required investments exceed their financial capacities by far and credits would put the household economies at risk. For this reason, technical and financial capacity development is so important. Optimizing the productivity of earthen ponds with low investments for fertilizer and supplementary feeds generating high profits per kg fish produced seems a workable way forward.

As an example, for a technique increasing production and being adapted to smallholders’ capacities, the GP Fish has introduced intermittent harvesting of Tilapia in Malawi. This practice is applied in mixed sex cultures of Tilapia, based on natural feed supplemented with agricultural by-products. Excess Tilapias, that hatched during the production cycle, are harvested by size-selective traps before reaching reproductive age. These frequently harvested fish are an easy-accessible protein source and nutrient-rich food component for a diversified diet and surplus production is generating additional income. Intermittent harvesting also reduces the economic risk of losing the entire production due to predators, theft, diseases, or natural disasters.

Thorough assessments were conducted to identify human-wildlife conflict (HWC) hotspots and ensure the project addressed the most critical areas. This involved gathering quantitative and qualitative data to make informed decisions about fence placement and other interventions. GIS mapping, surveys, and interviews were utilized to understand current land use patterns, wildlife corridors, and areas experiencing frequent HWC. Surveys were also conducted with households to establish threats, crop and property destruction, and the amount of harvest farmers were getting. The results of the needs assessment were submitted to the Kamungi Board, who used this information to select three final beneficiaries of the 10% Fence Plan. Their decision was then passed through a public participation community meeting, where members present endorsed the identified beneficiaries.