Building Block 3 discusses the use of bamboo raw material and products for gully rehabilitation, integrating the eco-hydrological concept implemented by Forests4Future. This low-cost erosion protection measure has been successfully piloted and upscaled. Next to selling bamboo raw material to local processing units (PU) as described in Building Block 2, it can also be utilized to construct gully restoration measures. These infrastructure units consist of a series of semipermeable wooden barriers placed in erosion gullies in consideration of the water flow direction and intensity, forming a surface run-off regulating system that sequentially controls the flow of surface water. This unit plays a crucial role in regulating key hydrological parameters such as flow concentration and velocity, which in turn regulate hydro-logical and biological processes like runoff and infiltration. By mitigating erosion in gullies, these measures contribute to long-term gully restoration efforts. This technique and the skills required can be easily replicated by other farmers due to its relatively straightforward construction method, making it accessible for widespread adoption.

Forests4Future's Building Block 2 focuses on supporting communities to establish bamboo plantations in degraded communal land and erosion gullies. The seedlings for the plantations are sourced from local nurseries, as detailed in Building Block 1. As the bamboo reaches a certain growth stage, it can be harvested and sold to local bamboo processing units (PU), which then transform the raw material into valuable products, as discussed in Building Block 4. This approach not only promotes sustainable income generation for the community but also contributes to the restoration of degraded land. Bamboo's soil-protecting capacity plays a crucial role in long-term restoration efforts, particularly in areas vulnerable to erosion or already highly degraded like the Lake Abaya and Chamo catchment areas. Erosion and sedimentation pose significant threats to local farmers and fishers, making the restoration efforts with bamboo essential for protecting soils and ensuring future income opportunities for the communities.

The Ocean Race Teams Sustainability Charter and Code of Conduct was co-created with the teams to express a fleet-wide commitment to sustainable operations and supporting a healthy ocean. The charter includes themes of Advocacy, Science, Learning and Operations. It seeks to get all teams, staff, and sailors to stand up for the ocean through sustainable sailing, team, and personal actions. 

On the science front, teams must pledge to agree to:

• Supporting science-based decision making.
• Participating in increasing knowledge and understanding of our ocean.
• Hosting scientific equipment onboard.
• Participating in sailor and citizen science programmes.
• Contributing to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science in collaboration with The Ocean Race.

Including science within a charter and requiring stakeholders to undertake various science-related activities whilst competing in a sailing race embeds science, as a core value, into race practices. This is unique in the sporting world as it requires teams and athletes to take on environmental responsibilities as well as their existing sporting responsibilities.

The underlying premise for The Ocean Race – racing to circumnavigate the world – means that the race naturally takes competitors to some of the most remote areas in the world. This makes it a unique platform for undertaking scientific research as it gives scientists access to remote areas, such as the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, that would otherwise rarely be accessible. Ships sailing outside of regular shipping routes play an essential role in the ability to deploy scientific instrumentation, such as the drifter buoys and Argo floats that are deployed during the race, across under-sampled locations. This affords rare opportunities for gathering data from parts of the planet where little information has been recorded, making the Race a crucial platform for collecting data that is otherwise unattainable and filling data gaps, contributing to furthering our understanding of our oceans. 

Much support was given to improve fisher capacity to manage their access to and use of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). The programme recognised that the establishment of marine managed and protected areas as a method of marine management has resulted in increased reliance on Fish Aggregating Devices installed outside the marine managed and protected areas, for sustenance of the fishery sector.  Fishers within the Carriacou Fisher Folks Inc also recognised this and the need for attention to be paid to the monitoring and management of this resource.  This beckoned the implementation of FAD Data Management training for fishers of Carriacou and Petit Martinique.  The training was facilitated through the Fisheries Department of the Government of Grenada, and included information sharing on, but not limited to data on marine conservation, history of FADs in the region, the importance of data collection, legislation, its challenges, development of informal protocols and rules, identifying fish species as well as data collection methodology and post data collection analysis.  The workshop also realised the commitment of fishers to establish GrenFAD, which will take the leading role in the management of the FADs.  The fishers agreed and signed off on the soft rules for FAD Fishing, membership and FAD fees, data collection, data collection templates and protocols for data collection and management.  Actors in the fishery sector and marine management/protection were also trained in the use of underwater drones for remote sensing. The Programme provided support for construction of at least 6 FADS for the St. Marks fishers in Dominica. In the case of Saint Lucia, the provision of navigational tools to assist in accessing the FAD locations, which are often many miles offshore, and generally speaking to assist with safety at sea.

Building resilience of the agricultural sector against the effects of meteorological variations includes building the resilience of small businesses along the value chains which use the produce from agricultural production.  Through the Business Capacity Development measure, two women-only local agro-processing groups which process local produce for the local and national market, benefitted from theoretical lectures and hands-on exercises on crucial business aspects (costs, revenues, new product ideas, design, marketing and the management of their business) so they could apply the knowledge gained to improve the quality of their decision making.  The core topics addressed during the training were:  Entrepreneurship Essentials, Introduction to Marketing; Basic Book-Keeping Principles; Essential Costing Practices; Office Administration, financial education, business management and investment-driven market expansion and borrowing.

Educational and knowledge exchange programs were used to promote awareness of the importance of effectively managing ecosystems.  By focussing on the younger generation, the Programme sought to incorporate sustainability into its impacts as these youth would be the decisionmakers of the future. Further, there is the observation that children tend to share whatever they have learned with their parents. Thus, it is seen as an opportunity to reach the wider community with information.  Several approaches were executed.  In 2017, the Programme supported the Soufriere Scotts Head Marine Reserve (SSMR) Day in Dominica, a major collaborative effort between local authorities and the CATS programme.  500 primary school students and 81 teachers from 33 primary schools participated in activities that promote the understanding of the ridge to reef concept.  There was also adoption of the Soufriere Primary School as a Reef Guardian School.  This initiative served the dual purpose of educating and raising awareness of students and by extension, their parents, of the ridge to reef concept, and also making teachers more aware of these, so they could better instruct their students.  Also, in Soufriere Saint Lucia, three schools benefitted from support for the establishment of low chemical garden plots to produce food for the School Feeding Programmes embarked on these schools. The garden establishment also involved active participation of the children in the gardening process and revenue generation by the school through sale of excess produce.  This also realised development of management guidelines to be used by the schools for managing their existing plots as well as implementing similar. 

The CATS Programme was based on the acknowledgement that good practices within the terrestrial zone augur well for the health of the coasts and marine spaces.  Thus, it worked with practitioners (farmers, foresters, agroprocessors) within this space by teaching and reinforcing good practices that could be incorporated within their operations.  A small group was also taught the specialised skills for mushroom cultivation as an alternative to traditional crop production.  This niche area was anticipated to increase food production diversity as it aligned with the practices of good resource management, recycling of byproducts and resilience.  For practitioners at the management level, the Programme supported the training of various persons in the practical application of Unmanned Aerial Systems for natural resource management and monitoring.  Since CATS Programme’s introduction of this, several other organisations both private and public sector have embarked on similar trainings for their officers. 

Three binational (Canada-United States) commissions play a role in the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes, including the Great Lakes Commission (GLC), Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), and International Joint Commission (IJC). More specific to the Great Lakes, the work of the IJC is supported through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). While none of these commissions explicitly represents and advances an agenda related to protected and conserved area (PCA) networks, they share goals and have capacities that can support such networks. 

To this end, the Great Lakes Protected Areas Network (GLPAN) continues to find opportunities to profile PCAs, meet its network ambitions, and address conservation issues by standing on these platforms. In particular, the GLWQA has specific Annexes addressing the priority issues which are also of importance to PCAs, such as Habitat and Species, Climate Change, Aquatic Invasive Species, Science, and Lakewide Management. Engaging with the GLWQA is an effective means to address conservation at scale and represents a significant return on investment given the capacity and collaborative support partners bring. More specifically, "Lakewide Action and Management Plans" (5 year rotation on each of the 5 Great Lakes) and "Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiatives" are two GLWQA initiatives that PCAs and PCA networks can lever and contribute to help advance conservation efforts.    

BioInvest developed sustainable methodologies to create green financial instruments and measure their impact on the environment in collaboration with microfinance institutions.