Community forestry in Nepal has brought a number of benefits including an increase in income. It has helped to fight against illegal logging by putting clear rules in place on timber access and a strong system of forest monitoring. Community livelihoods have also improved with easier access to firewood and fodder and better health care and energy access, for example through money from ecotourism and subsidies for renewable energy.

Conservation oriented community forestry is essentially a participatory process that requires strong technical assistance on both policy and implementation. Expanding the property rights of local communities over resources and empowering them with knowledge, information, resources, technologies, and required skills for forest management and institution building are basic building blocks for the community forestry. Gender and equity concerns are addressed from the program design so that the poor, women, and marginalized receive fair benefits from the program.

Some of our programs involve coral transplantation. In Thailand it is illegal to touch or damage coral, so we had to seek approval for some of our programs.

To receive approval from the government involves first submitted a proposal for a coral reef restoration zone. Including with this proposal are the techniques for transplantation, the people involved and their experience and qualifications, and a long term plan for monitoring and maintenance.

The DMCR has fully approved our restoration related activities and we conduct transplant research and provide them with that data.

Both block 1 and 2 are focused on disseminating to the world and providing Virtual Reality / Recorded Reality video material evidence of the relevance of reinforcing bottom-up protection schemes that increase local governance for protection from fishing communities. Being in phase 2 of inclusion in Colombia's National Natural Parks, the nomination as a Marine Natural Heritage would ensure that the international protection framework with Mission Blue is quadrupled and conservation of these two resilient reefs Varadero and Capurgana-Cabo Tiburon located in the North and South ends that connect the biodiversity of healthy coral reefs to the natural parks in between (sanctuary of Fauna and Flora Playona with National Natural Park Corales del Rosario and San Bernardo) is achieved.

The strategy based on alliances allows connecting visions that lead to the development of actions oriented to a common objective, in this case, the restoration and conservation of the Central Park Natural Area and its zones of influence.

The activities that have made it possible to build this community network with actors from institutions and other CSOs have included on-site events related to their own projects, as well as training with expert advisors on restoration issues and practices outside the impact zone, but which make it possible to concretize and strengthen the technical learning necessary to continue with the project.

One of the most significant actions has been to collaborate with different social actors in the preparation of the Management Plan for the Natural Protected Area, which is a necessary and useful resource for conservation objectives and a multi-stakeholder action, as well as collaborations with transboundary associations such as the Arizona Desert Museum and Borderlands Restoration Network in an effort to improve the consequences of the impacts of exotic plants and implement restoration actions.

The purpose of this strategy was to involve the public in joint responsibility for the care and protection of the protected natural area. In the first stage, these actions consisted of removing all the solid waste that was in the area; citizen science workshops were also carried out to promote the care of the area's fauna and flora and knowledge of local species, as well as to raise awareness of the area. The neighbors of the adjacent neighborhood and the general public were also involved in the construction of a linear trail in the area of influence of the PNA, as well as in all the activities related to the maintenance of the area: removal of the invasive buffel grass in priority areas, continued cleaning, maintenance of the trails, and reforestation with native plants.

The objective of this strategy was to strengthen participatory management activities through environmental education. Tours of the natural area were conducted in which the general public was invited, as well as children's walks, theater presentations, family walks, night walks, and citizen science workshops.

These educational activities were led by actors from different areas: biologists, theater actors, members of the association, and naturalist tutors. All this to strengthen the links between specialists in the area of conservation but also to diversify the way in which specialized knowledge is presented to the general public.

The information and themes were aimed at informing about habitat conditions in the area, informing about the ANP, informing about invasive species as well as native species and strategies of minimum impact in natural areas.

There is a five-tiered process to becoming a WHS.

1. An initial online application that ensures there are no fundamental prohibitive issues. 

2. A candidacy review of the initial application is carried out by impartial representatives.

3. Technical advice to discuss and advise on areas for improvement and on how to submit an application with the greatest chance of success.

4. Final application including supporting evidence, a justification for the geographical delineation of the site and a detailed explanation of how the site achieves each of the criteria. 

5. If successful, Whale Heritage Site (WHS) designation. It must then prepare and submit annual reports explaining how criteria are met.

By going through the accreditation process, The Bluff had to show that they could ensure responsible, sustainable practices and livelihoods would be continually improved thus ensuring the health and welfare of whales, dolphins and porpoises and their ocean habitats. 

The building block is built on the principle that a community based initiative to protect cetaceans and their habitats is best done when owned by the local communities itself. It incentivizes, empowers and engages a community and its businesses so that they benefit directly from a healthy and thriving ocean. 

To coordinate and facilitate the development of a WHS initiative, a steering committee is formed by local stakeholders. These are enthusiastic, creative and passionate individuals who steer the process and help launch, maintain, and sustain the application process.

An effective WHS steering committee should be fully diverse and inclusive and representative of the community and include staff, volunteers, and community members. Its purpose is to serve as a mobilizing force, not a bureaucracy. Making the process meaningful and purposeful for everyone involved. Within the process there is guidance on establishing sub-committees or workgroups to focus on specific goals and activities. 

As well as leading and manageing the process of application, the steering committee must show continual improvement across the community with its various initiatives, through annual reporting as a measure of WHS's excellence.

These corridor forests are disappearing quickly and if these findings are not acted upon soon there will be little corridor forest left to conserve and most of these species will become extinct in this region. There is a need for the Ministry of Water, Energy and the Environment, the District Environmental offices and the National Forest Authority to move ahead quickly with providing economic and financial incentives to enable these corridor forests to receive funding as soon as they can to offset the current incentives to destroy the forest for agriculture.