For many, the concept of protected area has not yet been fully understood  in Nigeria and Lagos in particular. In this wise, LUFASI has taken a full responsibility in educating the public, especially the locals on the importance of protected areas and their ecological benefits for the  overall environmental sustainability of humanity. To this end, LUFASI develops creative tools for teaching about Climate Change (CC), Forest Conservation (FC), Plastic Pollution and engage in Community Outreach using the PA as a living laboratory where students and group visitors can learn. The CC workshop is an interactive learning, which informs students and group visitors of the critical challenges facing our Earth’s climate (caused by unsustainable practices such as the destruction of forests) and empowers them to take local action for global change. Forest conservation programme focuses on bridging the knowledge gap in our forest biodiversity and importance for ecosystem balance, and expanding green cover and natural habitats across Lagos state. Plastic Pollution practical workshops focus on reducing plastic use that has put the world under threat including commemorating global environment days to further enlighten and advocate for a healthy natural environment with focus on protected areas.

A system of decentral supervision and control through local forest authorities and enforcement patrols in the villages has been set up. Awareness raising against illegal practices was strengthened. Public controls of transport routes to consumption hotspots and markets ensure that charcoalers, transporters and retailers are motivated to use sustainably sourced wood.

The strategic orientation on green charcoal value chains has been laid down in a Regional Modernisation Strategy (Vision 2020) for the DIANA region. The strategy was the outcome of a negotiation process with main actors of civil society. Key elements include improved forest management, reforestation & introduction of efficient technologies and the development of local wood energy markets.

Proposals for regulatory measures were made to curb unregulated and widespread production of wood energy in remaining natural forests. An environmental coordination platform (OSC-E/DIANA) reuniting all relevant actors of the civil society of the DIANA region has been created. The members of the platform gather regularly to discuss the progress of the modernisation process and to negotiate how to overcome upcoming barriers.

A village based participatory approval process allocates individual reforestation sites to households, along with defined use-rights & obligations using the following steps:

1. Application to local forest authorities by smallholders through voluntary user groups
2. Consultation on village level to exclude disputed land upfront & for taking unanimous decision on the future reforestation sites allocation. Results: minutes & sketch plan
3. Verification by communal decision makers & endorsement by a communal decree
4. Assigning land to the village afforestation body based on a specification document
5. Mapping of individual wood lots; plot owners receive individual map with GPS coordinates signed by the mayor of the community
6. Registration of sites by the land office; official verification of the reforestation site based on sketch plan, the communal decree and the enrolment into the local tenure plan.

Forest authorities register the transfer of use rights for an indefinite period, including equal access and benefit sharing for the participants. Smallholder households involved in the afforestation scheme own ~3 ha. This enables them to produce about 2.6 t charcoal per year for 27 years without further investment.

The approach focused on 3 essential ecosystem functions: water, biodiversity and soil. The following steps were used to define criteria for each group:

1. Identification of ecosystem service relevant parameters and criteria (> 100 criteria)
2. Pre-screening: spatialization of parameters at national, regional and local scale (41 spatially available criteria)
3. Consultation: selection of final criteria based on 3 groups (water, biodiversity, soil) during group work, direct consultations; prioritization, indicator weighting and determination of criteria values (28 prioritzed criteria). Criteria examples: rainfall, hydrological resources, population density, land use, soil carbon and productivity 
4. Multicriteria analysis based on quantitative and qualitative values; preparation of 14 scenario maps, combining different groups (water, biodiversity and soil) with four priority levels; identification of priority area of 11,122,540 ha
5. Verification of results based on data from the national restoration opportunities assessment method (ROAM) study and other sources
6. Validation of results by the national FLR committee & platform and selection of 8 priority watersheds

The national strategy for forest landscape restoration and green infrastructure was developed in a participatory manner during 8 months at various stages:

1) scope definition at committee level & drafting of terms of references, selection of advisors

2) validation of methodology,

3) consultation of government, civil society and private sector at regional level (10 of 22 regions),

4) 2 validation workshops at national level for committee & platform,

5) communication of the strategy at the level of the Council of Ministers (meeting of all Ministers and Prime Ministers)

6) dissemination on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The strategy takes stock of the current situation and framework conditions in Madagascar, analyses the main challenges to reach the 4 M ha goal by 2030 and gives strategic advice on how to overcome them and mobilize key actors.

The strategy recommends priorities covering good governance, coherent spatial planning, technical restoration measures and resource mobilization. Priorities are broken down into 12 objectives and concrete activities.

Crowdfunding is a relatively new way of funding projects, the goal being to inspire individuals to want to help you achieve the project goals by donating to the project budget. There are several online crowdfunding platforms that work in different ways, some of which require a fee whilst others are free. We used a site that requires us to meet a set amount of our budget before funds were extracted from donors, if we didn’t reach that amount then the project would not go ahead. The crowdfunding site was easy to set up but requires you to write project details into sections. This should be easy because of already writing the project proposals and pitch packs. We were also able to embed the campaign video into this site. Once the site was set-up we shared it on all our social media sites and through our personal networks.

It is necessary to develop a strong, concise and attractive pitch pack, which is professional and clearly shows the project’s importance and budget. It is extremely important to make a clear pitch on how, by funding the project, the organisation or company will benefit. For example, for X amount of money the funder logo will be used on project t-shirts and the funder will be mentioned in all media coverage.  The pitch pack should include the project logo, and use visual aids to bring the point across. In this case we used images of Aldabra, it’s wildlife and the impact of the plastic pollution. Since we were distributing these packs in the UK and Seychelles it was vital to create each pack with the local context in mind, whether it was currency conversions or the use of particular quotes from recognisable figures. Alongside the pitch pack we created a campaign video which introduces the problem and the solution using strong imagery and a voiceover. With these steps completed, we could then plan the project launch. The aim of the launch was to garner a maximum amount of media coverage and engage as many individuals and companies as possible via a face-to-face event. We therefore organised events both in UK and in Seychelles, in which potential donors and supporters were invited.

Before beginning to approach potential funders it was necessarily to carefully plan and design the project and anticipate all the information that funders would wish to know. This includes the project aims and outputs, the team involved, the logistical plan and the budget. It is also important to clearly think about how the project will have a lasting legacy beyond the clean-up expedition. This should be developed into a full written project proposal.

Following completion of the project design it is necessary to set-up project media sites, this also required developing a project logo, title and tag line. We also set-up specific project email addresses. The media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & project website) all required initial content and therefore a photo library was compiled and content text established. Before launching the project we also completed team recruitment (12 team volunteers in total) and allocated specific team roles for the duration of the project, for example, social media officer, outreach officer, science officer. With this now in place it was possible to plan a fundraising strategy.

The ordinances and the master plan stipulate collaboration among relevant local stakeholders to establish a common system for conservation management. In line with the city ordinance, private companies that withdraw more than 30,000 m3 of groundwater annually are requested to form, implement and monitor a conservation plan. They also submit a report on the recharge of groundwater to follow the prefectural ordinance. Through this collaboration system, the governments have achieved multiple projects to recharge groundwater with involvement of different stakeholders. The prefectural government, for instance, took the lead in recharging groundwater by filling fallow paddy fields full of water in collaboration with farmland owners in upper basin region, agricultural cooperatives, and neighboring towns and villages. Furthermore, there are some companies participating in the projects as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Farmers are requested to use fertilizers and treat animal excrement properly in order to decrease the concentration of nitrate.

Even though the national law does not cover the groundwater system, the groundwater management has been governed through a series of ordinances, comprehensive plans, and action plans for more than 40 years. Groundwater Preservation Ordinances was established in 1977 for Kumamoto City and in 2001 for Kumamoto Prefecture. The city and prefecture governments jointly developed a comprehensive plan to control groundwater in 1996, incorporating collective input from 17 municipalities in the catchment area into the plan. Later, a second version of the plan in 2008 was developed by the group of 15 municipalities in the catchment, identifying four prioritized areas: 1) improvement of the balance of inflow and outflow of groundwater, 2) protection and improvement the quality of groundwater, 3) raising awareness of citizens for the conservation of groundwater, and 4) establishment of a common goal among stakeholders. A detailed five-year action plan was also developed the following year in order to implement mitigation measures in a timely manner.