Planning phase | PANORAMA

Stewardship Planning Process

Stewardship Planning at Bahia de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve

Save The Waves

Stewardship Planning at Santa Cruz World Surfing Reserve

Save The Waves

A Local Stewardship Council (LSC) is the main representative of a World Surfing Reserve and is in charge of implementing the Local Stewardship Plan. The LSC works together with Save The Waves Coalition to Protect, Steward, and Defend their surf ecosystem.

LSC members work on the ground and with the local community to carry out activities that result in the long-term conservation of the reserve as well as celebrate and honor the tradition of surfing and ocean recreation. The Stewardship Planning Process brings together the LSC and important community members to map out the the critical threats to the region and come up with long term goals and objectives for permanent protection.

The Stewardship Planning Process generally follows the outline in "Measures of Success" that includes building a Conceptual Model, developing a management plan that identifies goals, objectives, actions and timelines based on the threats to address.

Enabling Factors include:

A well developed Local Stewardship Council
Support from the local government or municipality
Maps of the region and coastline
A well developed inventory of threats to the environment
A comfortable physical meeting space

Our lessons learned from this project include:

Relationship building between the stakeholders is key

Stewardship Planning Process

An adapted technology co-designed with women seaweed producers

Close-up of seaweed in a tubular net.

Flower Msuya

Women preparing their tubular nets from the boat.

Flower Msuya

The tubular nets technology was co-designed with women producers themselves to ensure it was adapted to their needs and became theirs.

Several tests were necessary to determine the optimal length of the nets (15m instead of 30m), and how to harvest them (opening them to remove the seaweed instead of cutting the seaweed outgrowth). This ensured the nets were adapted to the women's needs.

Participatory hands-on trials with the producers themselves enabled building handling capacity.

Responsibilisation of the women producers for monitoring the results of the different net configurations enabled appropriation of the innovation.

Close relations of the Sea PoWer team with the producers enabled to build trust and hope in the new technology.

The vast knowledge of the Sea PoWer team about seaweed production and the Zanzibar marine environment enabled to quickly propose suitable alternative modifications.

Giving responsibilities and a stake in the trials to the end users was crucial to build ownership and confidence in the use of the tubular net innovation.

Accounting for factors indirectly related to the handling of the technology itself, for example, need to know the marine environment (tides, depths), and need to master additional equipment and practices (working from a boat) was also important.

Transboundary governing structure for the World Heritage Property

Besides containing cultural heritage designated under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Property enforced by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the property contains areas that conform the Yoshino-Kumano National Park which administration is in charge of the Ministry of the Environment and the three prefectures that are related to it: Wakayama, Nara and Mie, and their local authorities. The Three Prefectures’ Council for the World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, was first established to pursue the nomination to the World Heritage List, and after the inscription, it is in charge of coordinating conservation actions and developing the management plan. The governors of the three prefectures serve as chairpersons and vice chairpersons, while the mayors and heads of education of the municipalities serve as members of the council. The Agency for Cultural Affairs participates as an observer. The protection of cultural properties is carried out in cooperation with the department of cultural property protection and regional development of each prefecture and the person in charge of the municipality. In addition, the Council is advised by a scientific committee consisting of experts from several fields.

The strong interest of the three prefectures and the government in inscribing the Kii Mountains cultural landscape in the World Heritage List enabled the establishment of a partnership between the prefectures and the governmental institutions in charge of conservation in order to develop and pursue the nomination.

In accordance to the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee at the time of the inscription, the three prefectures formulated a comprehensive conservation management plan and established a system in which the three prefectural councils take the lead in conservation and management. This system had a major impact on the way in which several prefectures in Japan nominated other sites for inscription on the World Heritage List and managed its conservation such as Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration (Mount Fuji).

Planning phase

Local

Subnational

Establishment of an inclusive dialogue process: the Laponia Process

The Laponia Process was an approach to dialogue created and developed by a diversity of stakeholders in the Laponian Area World Heritage property. Since Laponia is a large area which consists of several protected areas, to establish a coordinated management system as a whole has been very challenging since its inscription in the World Heritage List. The County Administrative Board of Norbotten and the Sámi communities and municipalities of Jokkmokk and Gällivare started originally to prepare their conservation programs independently. The Laponia Process started by the initiative of the Governor of Norrbotten in 2005 including all stakeholders in a process of dialogue based on a set of common values, which would lead the parties to agree in crucial issues and the terms in which the Laponian Area should be managed. All decisions were determined to be taken by consensus, and new regulations for the national parks and nature reserves were requested. In 2006, the parties signed a common agreement which they sent to the Government, which contained:

A set of common basic values
Common intentions for a number of efforts
The establishment of a temporary Laponia delegation
Preparations for the start of a World Heritage management group with a Sámi majority on the committee.

The political will of the Governor of Norbotten, the Sámi village organizations through the association Midjá Ednam, the interest of the municipalities of Jokkmokk and Gällivare, and the endorsement of the SEPA were essential conditions for starting the process. The initiative originates in the acceptance of the different realities of the parties involved and the strong will to co-create a new management for the Laponian Area. Moreover, there was enough financing for the project and each group participated with the same economical prerequisites.

To be able to establish an organization based on consensus and develop a new way of management, one needs to listen to people and try to learn why they are thinking and doing like they are (it is norms and values that forms their ideas and practise) but also openly explain why one is thinking and doing in the way one is, because that also depends on the norms and values one has in life. This process takes time, and it is about learning new knowledge from each other and accept it. This is also a process one cannot do in the office, one needs to go out and meet people in their ordinary life regularly. It cannot be rushed or think it can be a quick fix. The Laponia Process took six years until all stakeholders involved could agree upon a common organization and management plan.

To do a process like the Laponia Process – you need to have time, financing, and the “right” people involved. Listen to each other. Time to take home tricky questions and discuss them with other representatives for the stakeholders, before decisions are made.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

Planning for the Future

In 2020, CORAL and the Polo’s Water Board commissioned a third-party consultant to assess the WWTP's performance and necessary improvements. Identifying improvement areas to achieve continued compliance with high water quality standards and a wastewater treatment capacity for the projected population growth of the greater West End area and its tourism industry until the year 2040.

The result is an investment gap of approximately USD 300,000.00. However, phased investment is considered in the fundraising strategy.

Projected Investments (currently in fundraising stage)

By 2022: Replacements in the aeration system, going from aerator pumps to a fine bubble diffuser system.

By 2030: Addition of a new anoxic tank for denitrification.

By 2040: Addition of a new decanter and mechanical sludge dehydrator.

The projection for 2040 is based on population growth/requirements as a tourist destination/compliance with national & international water quality regulations). The estimated average daily flow will be 612 m3/day.

Polo's Water Board has established strong partnerships with organizations such as CORAL and MARFund, which have collaborated by funding previous repairs and improvements.
These multistakeholder alliances for sanitation and wastewater treatment can open the door for new partners and provide access to diverse funding opportunities.
Non-profits and local organizations are gaining more experience in diversifying funding sources.

It is critical to conduct third-party assessments to identify the status of the infrastructure, improvement areas, and the need for future investments.
Communities and plant operators should not be discouraged by the scale of their wastewater treatment investment needs. These mark the way forward towards successful management and the continued improvement of the project.
Creating and maintaining strong alliances are pivotal to find solutions for technical and financial needs.

Planning phase

Local

Establishing strong partnership

Partnership in the recycling industry enhances success in the business. Arena's recycling industry duty is to collect plastic wastes as raw materials which is why they have been able to enter into a partnership with Coca-Cola because they have common goals and interests. Coca-Cola is producing a lot of plastic packaging items which are raw materials for Arena. Likewise, Arena is in the process of establishing collaboration with all the companies that produce plastic products. The aim is to enter into an agreement that all the garbage produced at any of their events must come to Arena.

Arena and Coca-cola both have the responsibility to care for the environment. Arena recycling industry has the capacity to consume plastics in large quantities because one brick consumes tons of plastics because it is made of 60% plastic. Hence Coca-cola is assured that all the plastic materials they produce will be recycled.

The things we learned in partnership with Coca-cola is that we get the raw materials easily, and then when you make a partnership there is something called branding so we promote each other in the sense that we all are responsible for the environment and we get the branding of our company.

Space for reflexivity

A diagnostic and reflexive approach on values, knowledge and expectations at individual level is a useful baseline to prepare the group interactions and to balance representativeness and synergies in pluralistic settings

Meeting individuals “where they are” and encouraging them to reflect what they would bring (in terms of defended values and knowledge) to a group deliberative setting may enhance their long-term engagement and contribute to building collective capacity for mosaic landscape management;
Similarly, upfront asking participants who will be engaged in knowledge co-creation about their expectations from the process, i.e. expectation management, may increase participation.

In situations of values plurality and participatory decision-making it is more appropriate to adopt an adaptive and reflexive approach that recognises knowledge is intertwined with values and that they are mutually co-creating each other;
To navigate consensus, dissensus and inclusivity in multifunctional landscapes it is useful to plan for a collaborative process that alternates between consensus building and plurality recognition; in other words, reaching consensus should not be done at the expense of excluding certain viewpoints. This needs to be mentioned transparently, as agreement may not be favoured over the expression of value plurality;
An individual-based reflective inquiry of values and knowledge can be a relevant part of planning a multistage collaborative process towards sustainability outcomes.
More reflexive approaches to protected area management may enhance inclusive processes by allowing for different value and knowledge systems to co-exist.

Horcea-Milcu et al 2019 Values in transformational sustainability science: four…

Preferences, priorities, problem identification and tentative solutions – mapping system knowledge, target knowledge and transformative knowledge

Eliciting perspectives and systems understandings from a larger group of people in a systematic way to better understand the key issues that the process is framed around. Key issues are useful entry points to start entangling system dynamics - What are useful entry points in your case and to whom? This phase also asks the question of what is already known about the system by the stakeholders and what are uncertainties according to the stakeholders?

The iterative online survey offers a way to synthesize existing knowledge without actually meeting, online or in person.
The Delphi survey design helps bypass challenges in different actor preferences for how to collaborate, the perceived importance given to different issues and the practical circumstances of their involvement (e.g. professionally or privately). These differences may make it difficult (or impossible) to find a format, time, topic and language that suits everyone.

Complementary activities, like open ended interviews or discussions with a reference group not involved in the survey, can help clarify what information you have and what is missing.
Finding a unifying and specific vision for a complex landscape is hard. Identifying multiple points of common interest and a broad target like ‘liveable countryside’ can serve as a more realistic starting point for moving forward.

Guías para decisores políticos y partes interesadas

Principios compartidos en los procesos de OEM de los 3 archipiélagos

MarSP, 2019

Presentación de la solución durante el desarrollo del proyecto

MarSP

La PEM aporta un enfoque de gobernanza oceánica integrado, novedoso a nivel de la Macaronesia. La decisión política y la participación pública son elementos fundamentales en esta política, que necesita del entendimiento de la PEM tanto a nivel de cada archipiélago como a escala transfronteriza.

Las guías de PEM de la Macaronesia europea pretenden informar y apoyar respectivamente a decisores políticos y partes interesadas en su importante papel en la PEM, incluyendo su participación activa en la preparación y desarrollo de los planes. Ambas guías hacen un repaso sintético de varios elementos importantes en esta materia:

La Macaronesia como región biogeográfica y sus componentes clave;
La PEM como política emergente;
El marco legal de la PEM en España y Portugal;
Los contenidos fundamentales de los planes de cada región;
Desafíos y oportunidades que presenta la Macaronesia.

Las guías también aportan información sobre los beneficios que conlleva participar en el proceso para los actores, así como los principios que orientan la toma de decisiones. Por último, se proporcionan recomendaciones de futuro para la participación y la toma de decisiones en Azores, Madeira y Canarias a partir de lo aprendido durante el proyecto.

Cooperación con el resto de los equipos del consorcio en la elaboración de las guías.
Revisión de contenidos por parte de las autoridades competentes de PEM de cada archipiélago, asegurando la veracidad de las informaciones.
Participación en talleres de PEM con las partes interesadas para presentar las guías y obtener aportaciones de los participantes. Esto creó la base para una buena parte de las recomendaciones incluidas en las guías.

Los proyectos sobre temáticas novedosas necesitan de documentos de carácter divulgativo. En éstos se requiere un esfuerzo sintético para poder alcanzar y ayudar a su público objetivo. Generalmente los decisores políticos y agentes socioeconómicos no disponen de tiempo o interés para leer informes extensos.
La ilustración y diseño de este tipo de guías son clave para hacerlas atractivas e invitar a su lectura.
Las guías deben ser traducidas a la lengua maternan de cada país, en este caso español y portugués, para alcanzar el mayor público posible.
Los proyectos piloto deben mostrar cierta flexibilidad a la hora de abordar sus entregables para poder adaptarlos a las necesidades reales y cambiantes a lo largo del tiempo.

Guía de Planificación Espacial Marina en la Macaronesia europea para las partes…

Guía de Planificación Espacial Marina en la Macaronesia europea para los deciso…

Building local partnerships

Building local partnerships by spending time in the region

Van Riper Lab

People who live in the Denali region are connected by their shared appreciation for the landscape, resulting in tight-knit communities. For the project to succeed, it was important that the research team establish a mutual understanding and trust based on local partnerships. These relationships have helped to ground the project in a relevant and regional context, provide insight into what matters most to local residents, and guide various phases of the project:

A local Executive Committee consisting of ten stakeholders who represent a diversity of perspectives from the region was formed to build local partnerships.
The project hired a local resident to be a research technician and community advocate for the project to assist with data collection, entry, project design, information dissemination, and communicating research findings.
A series of informal interviews and listening sessions were conducted to start the process of creating a shared understanding of change within the Denali region.

Demonstrated time and commitment from project representatives were critical for establishing partnership building as an active process. Additionally, team leaders already had conducted previous research in the area and formed several relationships that demonstrated their ties to the area, as well as long-term investments in facilitating discussions about landscape change.

The importance of ongoing time, attention, and support that goes into building and maintaining partnerships cannot be overstated. The relationships that were initially built at the onset of the project require continual nurturing and cannot be viewed as a "checkmark" to move on from. Building partnerships also means being sensitive and responsive to locals’ ‘seasons’ in the year, for example, not asking to meet too often when it is a busy hunting or harvesting time of the year, even if this does not correspond to the busy times in the academic or management year. Additionally, efforts to build trust with different communities should likewise be approached with varying strategies. For example, something as simple as buying a cup of coffee at a locally owned business demonstrates reciprocity and investment into the well-being of the community.

Planning phase

Local