Between 2013 and 2018, captive-bred choughs were soft-released in small cohorts replicating normal family group size.

The plan was to release chicks shortly after fledging although sub-adults (< 4 years old) were used for the first release. Captive breeding at Jersey Zoo was not successful until 2014.

Cohorts acclimatized and socialized in the release aviary for a minimum of 2 weeks and trained to associate a whistle with food, enabling staff to call birds back to the aviary if needing re-capturing. Each cohort was initially given a set amount of time outside then called back in for food and confined until the next release. Duration outside increased day by day until reaching full liberty. Staff followed any bird that failed to return attempting to lure it back if feasible. If it had gone to roost, staff would return at sunrise to retry.

All birds were fitted with leg rings. Tail-mounted VHF transmitters were fitted to all birds released between 2013 and 2016. Initially, they received three supplemental feeds a day, as in captivity, reducing to once a day. This continues to the present day permitting close monitoring.

Jersey Zoo’s Veterinary Department conducted pre-and post-release faecal screening to monitor parasite levels, administer wormer if necessary, and have also treated physical injuries.

The 7 weeks certified seminar program including experimentation workshop in the form of online courses to municipal employees and to the stakeholders are efficient to prepare the staff to take action for the climate crisis and build sustainable and resilient cities.

Three foresight techniques were employed: (1) horizon scanning, (2) the Delphi Method, and (3) Backcasting. 

Horizon scanning is a technique used for researching signals of change in the present and their potential future impacts. This ensured a comprehensive overview of the existing development issues, and narrow them down to a set of potentially challenging ones. Data collected in this process include secondary data related to SDG targets, headlines of newspapers in the past 3 years, social media trends in the past year, and insights into the local situations by local NGOs and CSOs.  

The Delphi method was employed to narrow down and prioritize the potential challenges and issues. This method was used for the design of the consultation process in which each expert has the least non-academic influence on each other. This project had two rounds of questionnaires. The first round was to cross-check the data from horizon scanning by the experts. The second round was for prioritizing identified challenging development issues. 

The prioritized ones were selected as topics for the regional foresight workshop in which Backcasting was employed. It was used to design a participatory process in which stakeholders formulated their aspirations and proposed strategic directions to achieve the future. 

The national fleet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) highly depends on imported fuels and is therefore a significant source of GHG-emissions. The bilateral program “Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport (LCST)” implemented by RMI and the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aims at supporting the RMI Government´s planning and decision-making processes with respect to its low carbon future and the reduction of GHG-emissions from domestic sea transport, through consultancy, research, training, coordination of policy support to RMI and supporting in delivering RMI’s commitments under UNFCCC to achieve reduced GHG emissions from domestic shipping 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

The Marshallese Government founded and is an active member of the High Ambition Coaltion for Shipping (SHAC) at IMO and UNFCCC and due to their ambition, the group of supporters of an ambitious contribution of sea transport to the climate goals is growing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international meetings and high-level conferences are taking place remotely to a high extend.

Ri Majol, the people of the Marshall Islands were known for their superior boat building and sailing skills for centuries. They traveled frequently between their atolls (for trade and war) on big offshore canoes called Walap (some of them 100ft long). The lagoons of their low-lying coral atolls where crested by sails of smaller outrigger canoe designs for rapid inside lagoon transportation, food gathering and fishing. Together with Waan Aelõñ in Majel, we are reviving the traditional knowlege combined with modern technology. The ambitious goals of the Marshall Islands in the sea transport sector have become the main driver and motivation for us to pursue and to transition towards a low carbon fleet for the Marshall Islands for transport inside the lagoons and between atolls. Currently, a 150 ft. Training Vessel is about to be constructed and delivered to RMI by the 2nd half of 2022. After the agreement of the design, the market survey process started with the objection to identify shipyards that are interested and capable of building the new built as drafted in the tender design. The Maritime Training Approach in the Marshall Islands sets a clear focus on Low Emission Sea Transport Education and will train future sailors as part of the national fleet operators.

The multi-stakeholder’s approach is at the core of the regional dialogue on Blue Economy and at the heart of the UfM mandate. In this regard, the Mediterranean Blue Economy Stakeholder Platform (MedBESP) was created to ensure the involvement of different stakeholders in a dynamic and interactive way, being a regional networking platform for sharing knowledge and supporting the development of the blue economy. It allows the facilitation of coordination and links among initiatives, programs and projects of relevance to blue economy, triggering the final impact of the existing initiatives.

The Mediterranean Blue Economy Stakeholder Platform has been proven to expand the Blue Economy community, to ensure flow of information and communicate all content types in an appealing, engaging, shareable way, to engage the community, to get platform users to share content and connect with each other. 

In order to ensure sustainability and long-term effectiveness, those areas are managed by the community, alongside with: 

• Development of a sustainable fish consumer guide for restaurants and tourists through research on sustainable fish, fishing practices, fish supply chains and demand
• Establishment of 5 livelihood associations such as VSLAs
• Feasibility study for the development of sustainable fishing cooperatives
• Training and equipment of fishermen as Ocean Rangers to monitor fishing practices.

These activities have resulted in the reduction of destructive, indiscriminate artisanal fishing methods and over-fishing in four fishing communities in order to reduce unsustainable pressure on fish stocks and the catch of vulnerable species (Tofo, Barra, Rocha, Morrungulo and potentially Bazaruto).

With the creation of an effective network of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) along Inhambane´s coast and sustainable fishing activity throughout the most bio-diverse waters, MMF aims to mitigate threats to vulnerable species.

Community activities were succesfully achieved through monitoring the conservation outcomes and threats and preventing destructive fishing activities (Tofo, Barra, Rocha, Morrungulo).

The charapa (Podocnemis expansa) in the indigenous cosmovision is related to the origin of the people, especially the Miraña, they say that an ancestral god gave them to the grandchildren to feed them. In addition, it has healing powers that are associated with the ecosystems that the species uses to carry out its reproduction, that is why the charapa is present in their dances and rites. Its consumption is allowed under regulations contemplated in a cyclical calendar that mixes ecology and conservation with the indigenous cosmovision and that establishes management, because if they abuse its consumption, diseases are attracted to the territory. The conservation of the charapa is a successful result and has been achieved thanks to community monitoring coordinated by PNN and PANI. The community has been sensitized and use agreements have been made to ensure that the turtle population is maintained or increased. This work has allowed the participation of one of its indigenous people in an exchange of experiences with ongoing projects in Colombia and other countries, as well as their participation in a scientific article published by several South American authors.

The strategic planning of a CBI is the basis for defining how the objectives will be met, with which organizations and institutions of the territory alliances should be formed, how financing will be obtained for the projects to be executed, what legislation supports the management of the corridor, who will be in charge of the coordination and leadership of the actions to increase and improve the green spaces of the cities.

Monitoring of CBI tasks and progress should be recorded to evaluate the implementation of CBI plans and take corrective action if there are opportunities for improvement. These steps maintain efficient functioning of the CBI and orderly conduct of the CL dialogue. Progress towards the achievement of goals and objectives in the medium and long term maintains the interest of the participating actors and their permanence in the spaces for dialogue and articulation.

Planning and monitoring should be systematized through the registration of participants, sessions, training, activities, projects and results, in order to transmit information transparently to all members of the CBI. In the medium and long term, knowledge bases are obtained to carry out research, make better decisions for land management and greater functional ecological connectivity.