Prior planning: It is necessary to consider the entire process beforehand. This includes identifying the expertise/personnel needed, the duration for the exercise, and any costs associated with it. Additionally, it is important to allocate specific tasks to the individual assessment team members to ensure the objectives of the exercise are fully met in good time.

Public participation: Engaging the MPA staff alone in the assessments leads to positively skewed results. Consequently, it is necessary to acquire views from other stakeholders as well to get a more holistic picture of the management gaps that the MPA is facing. It will therefore be necessary to map out stakeholders, including their influence and interests in the MPA, before the assessments.

Advanced technology is useful in itself but is much more effective when partnered with conservative techniques. In this case, whilst the drone patrol was effective in covering a large area, quickly, it was unable to fly over the full time period (all night). Therefore, when combined with foot patrols, it enhanced coverage within the MPA and allowed for greater protection withing the MPA and it’s surrounding isolated beaches. It is also important to consider that whilst the drone could quickly and easily reach isolated areas, when infractions were discovered, the response of the suitable people (either foot patrols or authorities) was much slower, allowing for poachers to escape being detained. Whilst effective for deterrent of poaching, which was an advantage in this case, for other contexts this may be a strong factor in planning the strategy.

The enforcement strategy is a plan, implementation is determined by other factors such as resources. The plan can be a fundraising tool as it clearly outlines desired state and needs.

Governance challenges are similar across sites in Zambia and require enacting national policies and legislation to support efficient community-led conservation. Community based natural resources management approaches are crucial to successful management of protected areas.

It requires proper planning and identification of key governance issues to be analyzed and acted upon. Usually, you would want to focus on relevant governance issues such as gender equity, participation, and information sharing.

Nurturing collaborations across multiple sectors (government, NGO, academia) requires clear communication. We have found that regular, though not too frequent, outreach and communication with these partners keeps the collaborations active, and that these communications are most effective when they are designed for the audience, so we often send separate communications to partners in different sectors.

Communities and charcoal producers need to be well integrated in the development of a forest monitoring and management system. Beside that it needs to be supported by the local authorities to determine, for example the sustainable volume of wood which can be annually harvested and to select zones and tree species which should be protected from logging. For a functionable bush fire management it is key that especially farmers and herdsman are aware about the risks and damages uncontrolled fires can cause and how they can control them.

Community processes can only emerge from individual commitment to shared interests.

An individual will only invest the required knowledge, time and energy if they perceive the process as resonating with their inner self.

The most difficult part is to provide room for this inner self to express itself in a meaningful way to build trust and agency in the transformation process and contribute to the collective objective.

Pathways to sustainable and healthy systems probably depend more on the respect of that inner self than on the level of information and capacity production.

Such a transdisciplinary project challenges all stakeholders, including academic principles and dogmas, because it demands embracing more complexity and accepting complex courses of action that are not ‘simple solutions’.

The project team needs to be transparent and willing to learn any existing lessons from previous and ongoing development interventions and to source additional expertise along the way.

• Consideration to possible follow-up activities should be given already during the planning process;
• It is advisable to launch a survey to ask for participants interest and preference;
• The creation of a What’s App Group is a quick, easy and cost-effective way to stay in touch with participants and continuously share relevant documents and news with them.