Lessons learned: 

• Authenticity is key to influence
  One of the most important lessons is that athlete ambassadors must be genuinely passionate about and involved with environmental issues. Authenticity drives credibility. When athletes speak and act from personal conviction, as have Christine Cavallo and Martin Helseth their impact is significantly greater.  
• Support and structure to succeed 
  Active athletes have busy schedules, often centered around training and competition, without proper logistical support and good communication even highly motivated ambassadors may struggle to sustain momentum. Providing clear guidance, toolkits, media support will help them translate their ideas into action. 
• Visibility and storytelling amplify impact
  Sharing the journeys and projects led by athlete ambassadors through videos, interviews, and social media is critical. These stories humanise environmental action and make initiatives relatable. For example, showcasing Martin Helseth’s leadership in cleaning up the Oslo Fjord not only inspired local rowing communities but also generated national media interest and highlighted practical, replicable environmental actions that the global rowing community can take. 

• Structured programming ensures strategic growth & equal opportunities

  Transitioning from ad hoc ambassador appointments to a structured global Athlete Ambassador Programme with representation from each continent is a necessary step. It ensures balanced representation and allows for better integration into the broader Healthy Waters Alliance strategy. 

• Athlete-led initiatives benefit from local partnerships. 
  Successful campaigns, like the Oslo Fjord Clean-up & Restoration initiative, have demonstrated that athlete leadership is most effective when paired with local NGOs, clubs, and institutions. These partnerships provide operational capacity, local knowledge, and continuity. 

Challenges:

• Time constraints and competing priorities for active athletes, especially around major competitions. 
• Geographic imbalance, with early initiatives being concentrated in a few countries, highlighting the need for broader athlete ambassador recruitment and representation. 

Recommendations:

• Provide a clear ambassador onboarding process, including expectations, support available, and example ideas and activities. 
• Offer flexible engagement formats (e.g., single-event involvement, or year-long ambassador roles) to accommodate diverse schedules. 

• Clear communication channels accelerate coordination
  Establishing an accessible online form and Alliance framework streamlined the project initiation process and helped all partners to quickly align on impactful actions.
• Local context drives engagement
  Projects that resonate with local communities and ecosystems gain stronger support and lead to more sustainable outcomes.
• Cross-sector collaboration requires mutual understanding
  Time invested in learning each other’s priorities: WWF’s conservation goals and rowing’s operational realities.
• Visible impact builds momentum
  Highlighting early success stories and media coverage from major events helped raise interest from other  National Rowing Federations and WWF offices, expanding the initiative’s reach.
• Education is a powerful enabler
  Workshops and knowledge exchange sessions empowered rowing stakeholders (event organisers) to take more informed and effective action on water health and conservation.
• Flexibility supports innovation
  Allowing diverse stakeholders (clubs, athletes, event organisers, etc.) to propose projects encouraged creative, locally tailored solutions.

Lessons learned:

• The value of a clear, shared vision between partners from different sectors. World Rowing and WWF International, both share a clear vision around the common goal of protecting and restoring freshwater and coastal ecosystems. This shared purpose serves as a powerful anchor during planning, communication, and decision-making processes. 
• The importance of moving beyond symbolic partnerships. While the awareness campaign was useful it was not sufficient enough to address environmental challenges. By committing to co-create and deliver tangible, on-the-ground projects through the Healthy Waters Alliance, the partnership was able to evolve into a results-oriented platform. This required a shift in mindset, internal structures, and resource allocation on both sides. 
• The need to create space for diverse actors to contribute, including National Rowing Federations, local clubs, event organisers, and environmental experts. Many of these stakeholders had never previously collaborated, so developing mechanisms for joint planning was essential considering the operational complexity and diversity of sport and conservation organisations. 

Challenges: 

• Resource constraints  
• Partnerships between organisations with different core missions—such as sport and conservation—require stronger coordination in communication and outreach to ensure projects receive the visibility and impact they deserve. Equal commitment from both sides in promoting results and raising awareness has proven essential for success. 

Recommendations: 

• Investing early in relationship-building, including shared workshops, regular meetings and occasional event & project visits, to align expectations. 
• Providing flexible funding mechanisms that can support both established and grassroots project partners, enabling wider participation (e.g. making use of consultants to fundraise) 
• Establishing joint communication strategies to ensure balanced promotion of the partnership and its outcomes. 
• Allowing enough lead time for planning and creating dedicated project coordination roles to help navigate organisational complexity and maintain momentum for projects

The direct application of advanced technology for nature conservation, specifically wildfire prevention, yields tangible and significant environmental benefits. Proactive detection and rapid response capabilities demonstrably reduce the scale and severity of wildfires, thereby preserving biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural resources. The data collected by such systems also provides invaluable insights for long-term conservation planning and ecological restoration efforts.

Now quantifying the exact ecological impact of prevented fires can be challenging, making it difficult to fully articulate the return on investment for conservation efforts. Gaining widespread acceptance and funding from traditional conservation organizations, who may be more accustomed to conventional methods, required demonstrating clear, measurable environmental outcomes. 

• Establish clear, measurable environmental indicators (e.g. emissions reduced) to demonstrate the impact.
• Partner with experts like ecologists, and biologists, from the outset. Their expertise is vital for understanding ecosystem needs.
• Document and publicize successful fire prevention event

The robustness and scalability of the underlying technical infrastructure are non-negotiable. Investing in high-quality, resilient hardware and a flexible, cloud-based software architecture is essential for handling large data volumes, supporting real-time operations, and ensuring system uptime.  

AT the same time initial deployments faced issues with hardware durability in harsh environmental conditions (extreme temperatures, dust, moisture). Ensuring seamless integration and interoperability between components from different vendors proved more complex than anticipated. Managing power supply for remote sensors and drones was also a continuous challenge, despite long battery life claims. 

• Select hardware designed to withstand the specific environmental conditions of the deployment area. 
• Design the system with a modular architecture and open APIs to facilitate integration of diverse components and future upgrades.
• Implement robust power solutions for remote devices, including solar charging and long-life batteries.
• A dedicated team with expertise is crucial for successful deployment, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Effective communication is not just about sending alerts; it's about delivering the right information, to the right people, at the right time, in an understandable format. Tailoring messages to different stakeholder groups (e.g., detailed operational data for firefighters, simplified alerts for the public) is crucial for effective response and preventing panic. Building trust through consistent and reliable communication is also paramount.

Initially, there was a tendency to send too much technical data to all stakeholders, leading to information overload and confusion. Ensuring reliable communication channels in remote areas or during power outages was also a challenge. Gaining community trust and encouraging proactive engagement (e.g., reporting suspicious activities) required sustained effort beyond just providing a web app.

• Develop distinct communication strategies and message formats for different stakeholder groups. 
• Information should be clear, concise, and directly actionable.
• Build Redundant Communication Channels (web app, SMS, email, public address systems) to ensure messages get through, especially during emergencies.

We learned that successful capacity building requires flexible training models that accommodate participants’ varied expertise. Hands-on practice combined with theoretical knowledge improves retention. Establishing a regional network fosters peer learning and collaboration. Follow-up support and refresher sessions are important for sustained impact. Training must be paired with accessible resources and tools to enable real-world application. Engaging trainees as future trainers multiplies benefits and contributes to national and regional self-sufficiency in biodiversity monitoring.

Effective stakeholder engagement requires ongoing dialogue and tailored communication strategies to diverse audiences. We found that combining scientific rigor with accessible language bridges the science-policy-practice gap. Early inclusion of ministries and NGOs increases uptake of results. Awareness campaigns are essential to foster behavioral change and highlight the often-overlooked role of animals in ecosystem restoration. Sustained collaboration ensures findings influence policy and land management decisions. We also learned that participatory approaches empower communities, ensuring solutions are socially accepted and sustainable

Strong partnerships require continuous communication, respect for local contexts, and clear roles. International collaboration accelerates technology transfer but must be coupled with local capacity building to ensure sustainability. We learned the importance of balancing global scientific standards with regional ecological realities. Formal agreements and joint planning helped align expectations. Integrating diverse expertise—from molecular biology to ecology and policy—enhanced project impact. Finally, these partnerships opened avenues for future research and expanded conservation networks.

Building a reliable reference library requires significant coordination between molecular scientists and taxonomists. Accurate species identification depends heavily on quality-verified voucher specimens and metadata. The process is time-consuming but indispensable for meaningful metabarcoding results. Sharing the library openly generated interest and collaboration but also highlighted the need for continuous updates and expansion to cover more taxa. Engaging local experts fostered ownership and increased the scientific credibility of the data, ensuring the library’s sustainability as a national resource.