Review phase | PANORAMA

Building relations and trust with local actors

Issues of poisoning are sometimes sensitive and people might be reluctant to share much-needed information. To gain their trust, the implementer approached the local government authority and signed a Memorandum of Understanding which enables us to work in the area. Another engagement meeting was done with the local leadership (chiefs, headman) to discuss our intention in the area as a conservation organization. These steps increased our transparency as an honest organization. Building on these strong relations and trust with local communities is essential to ensure that they share such information.

Time and the human capacity for repeated visits to spend time in the communities to build long-standing relationships of trust over time were enabling factors.

Long-term investments with communities are needed, taking into recognition that they have different cultural and social issues happening in the communities. Effective communication is essential to build the trust of the local communities.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Prior Assessments to Identify Capacity Gaps

SAPA Assessment - Public Participation with Local Community

WWF-Kenya

SAPA Assessment - Public Participation with Local Institutions

WWF-Kenya

While the WIO-COMPAS programme aims at improving the individual capacity of MPA professionals, it also has a compounding effect on the management effectiveness of an MPA. Therefore, a prior assessment on the different aspects of MPA management effectiveness is necessary for monitoring, evaluation, learning and adaptive management purposes.

It is thus recommended that the MPA implementing this process commences with at least one of the following assessments

Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) or Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT)
Social Assessment for Protected Areas (SAPA)

Combined, these highlight gaps in the different aspects of an MPA, including management, governance, ecological health, and social wellbeing. These gaps can be used to tailor the WIO-COMPAS training programme towards addressing the gaps identified.

Institutional Recognition and Support: The institution managing the MPA must see the necessity of assessing the management status of MPAs. This will ensure appropriate funding allocation in the long term to facilitate the continual capacity growth of the MPA.

Capacity to Conduct the Assessments: Internal capacity is desired to reduce costs. However, external expertise may be sourced where necessary where capacity is lacking. This may include working with partner institutions on a pro bono basis or using a consultant to conduct the entire assessment.

Prior planning: It is necessary to consider the entire process beforehand. This includes identifying the expertise/personnel needed, the duration for the exercise, and any costs associated with it. Additionally, it is important to allocate specific tasks to the individual assessment team members to ensure the objectives of the exercise are fully met in good time.

Public participation: Engaging the MPA staff alone in the assessments leads to positively skewed results. Consequently, it is necessary to acquire views from other stakeholders as well to get a more holistic picture of the management gaps that the MPA is facing. It will therefore be necessary to map out stakeholders, including their influence and interests in the MPA, before the assessments.

Collaboration

Blue Parks relies heavily on collaborations with other conservation NGOs, communications and marketing professionals, government leaders, MPA managers, scientists, and local ocean champions. Growing the network of Blue Parks and amplifying the Blue Park standard for conservation effectiveness requires many partners.

Blue Parks has benefitted from the contributions of many partners. These collaborations have been made possible by a growing awareness that MPA coverage alone is not sufficient to safeguard biodiversity -- that we need to fully implement high quality MPAs in order to see conservation outcomes, and most MPAs are not yet well implemented.

These collaborations have also grown out of Marine Conservation Institute's long-standing history as a trusted partner among marine scientists, conservation organizations, and governments.

Nurturing collaborations across multiple sectors (government, NGO, academia) requires clear communication. We have found that regular, though not too frequent, outreach and communication with these partners keeps the collaborations active, and that these communications are most effective when they are designed for the audience, so we often send separate communications to partners in different sectors.

Documentation and dissemination of results

International Scientific Expertise - The Blue Parks Science Council

The Science Council is made up of over 30 renowned marine science experts from around the world who make award decisions and help refine the criteria. Their expertise is essential to the Blue Parks initiative as they ground the initiative in good science.

Science Council members are leading experts in science related to marine protected areas -- particularly marine protected area quality -- including management, governance, design, monitoring, and compliance -- and outcomes. These experts ensure that the Blue Park criteria are up-to-date, reflecting the best available science related to MPA outcomes, and provide a meaningful global standard for effective marine protection. With their deep understanding of Blue Parks' standard, the Science Council members also judge the Blue Park nominees against it, ensuring that the Blue Park Award decisions are credible.

The Blue Parks initiative depends on the credibility afforded by the roll that the Science Council plays in setting Blue Parks' standard and evaluating nominees. Science Council members volunteer their time and expertise to the initiative, generously dedicating themselves to improving global marine protection.

The Blue Parks team at Marine Conservation Institute endeavors to facilitate positive and productive experiences for those who serve on the Science Council. We are careful with member's time and good will, and we look for opportunities to collaborate in related research or other projects.

Facilitating consensus-based decision-making among members in diverse time zones is a challenge -- one that we are always working to overcome. We rely heavily on email, Zoom calls, and sometimes recorded videos to communicate about Blue Park Award decisions. We have found that careful documentation is important. It is also helpful to be able to connect in person periodically.

Blue Parks Science Council

Elaborate follow-up activities early in the process

Participants during group exercise

GIZ

The effectiveness of training is increased if follow-up with participants is ensured. This allows the organisers to check on the feasibility of follow-on activities discussed during the training and can account for the follow-up needs[NM1] of the participants. Follow-up activities can range from webinars to on-site activities in the respective countries

[NM1]Needs: unclear. = if something has not been understood or if there are follow up questions, or resources needed or something of the sort?

If so: see suggestion for possible re-formulation.

To design appropriate follow-up activities, the content of the training needs to be defined (see Building Block 2). The diversity of activities also depends on the support structure in the countries. If partner (health or climate) projects are in place in the respective participating countries, this allows for greater diversity in follow-up activities that can be conducted.

Consideration to possible follow-up activities should be given already during the planning process;
It is advisable to launch a survey to ask for participants interest and preference;
The creation of a What’s App Group is a quick, easy and cost-effective way to stay in touch with participants and continuously share relevant documents and news with them.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

PPT on the Regional Training presented to GIZ colleagues from Health and Social Protection Network

First out of three follow-up webinaire with participants on specific topic of interest from the training

3D-printing

Archireef leverages the latest technologies in 3D printing to create artificial habitats that are truly ocean-friendly. With the algorithm-based adaptiveness and 3D printer’s versatility, our reef tiles have been proven 4 times more effective in keeping the corals alive than conventional methods, securing 95% of coral survivorship.

Most, if not all, players in the coral restoration industry involve the use of harmful materials such as concrete blocks and metal rebars. We use clay, which is a truly ocean-friendly material that is non-toxic to the ocean. We are also able to tweak the design of our biomimicry pattern based on the growth form of local species, allowing a 4X higher effectiveness in restoration success.

With full control over our R&D (via a hub in Hong Kong) and our production (via a facility in Abu Dhabi), we have established a strong basis for both new product development and full scale commercialisation. With this in mind, our 2025 goal is to expand our footprint to 10 large restoration sites across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Feedback workshops and maintenance of the park