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This building block fosters collaboration among diverse stakeholders to address the structural and systemic issues intersecting gender equality and environmental sustainability. Through activities such as training sessions, conflict management meetings, and leadership support, stakeholders from the gender sector (led by the Division of Gender) and the environmental sector (led by the Ministry of Fisheries) engage in cross-sectoral discussions to align objectives and integrate solutions. For example, fisheries stakeholders provide insights into resource management and illegal practices, while gender sector members contribute expertise on GBV prevention and response mechanisms. The initiative also influences policy by advocating for and supporting the revision of legal instruments like the Fisheries Act and the Anti-GBV Act of 2011, ensuring they address the unique challenges at this intersection. Additionally, technical support is provided for mainstreaming gender considerations in other sectors and integrating cross-cutting issues into broader policy frameworks. By aligning community-level efforts with institutional policies, this approach ensures scalable, sustainable, and contextually relevant interventions.

T his building block focuses on raising awareness and providing tailored gender training to highlight the interconnectedness of GBV, particularly exploitative practices like "sex for fish," and environmental degradation in the fisheries sector. With men dominating fish harvesting and women constituting 90% of post-harvest activities, the sector reveals stark gender dynamics. The initiative educates communities and stakeholders on how these transactional relationships exacerbate resource depletion, harm biodiversity, and perpetuate power imbalances between men and women. Using diverse forms of communication, such as roadshows, community dramas, and GBV Watch Committee activities, the project aims to transform perceptions, foster collaboration, and inspire action to address these interwoven challenges.

Capacity building, knowledge and information sharing to address the marine invasive alien species threats are of major importance in terms of protecting marine ecosystems. 

The project initiated national scale capacity building activities via a scientific conference, which was organized between 21-23 November 2022 in Antalya, to discuss how to overcome the adverse impact of marine invasive alien species on ecology, livelihoods, economy and public health in Türkiye. Bringing together all the stakeholders working in this field, the conference served as a platform to share information on the ecological and economic effects of marine invasive species and the activities to eradicate, mitigate, and control them in the country and at a global level. Presentations by renowned experts focused on the destruction caused by lionfish, water hyacinth, rapa whelk and other species. This conference also acted as one of the significant steps towards developing the national policy in combating these species, as the solutions discussed at the conference stood out to guide enhancing the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems. MarIAS project also organized a follow-up International Symposium on Ballast Water and Biofouling Management in Invasive Alien Species Prevention and Control on 28-30 November 2023 in Antalya.

The Turkish National Invasive Alien Species Data and Information System (TurIST) has been designed in line with the findings of the conferences and stakeholder consultations and launched in 2024 as a database covering 181 different species, to help scientists and policymakers by showing where invasive alien species are congregating and measuring the ecological, economic and social damage they cause. TurIST is expected to facilitate international cooperation to enable joint action aimed at solving the common problem. The real-time database will continuously receive data from fishers and local NGOs to provide experts and policymakers with up-to-date information. 

In the meantime, Biosecurity and Quarantine Mechanisms Guidelines were produced for critical sectors, and serial trainings were held for fishers, divers, and marine transport sector representatives with the participation of governmental institutions, Turkish Coast Guard, NGOs, and local communities at the pilot sites, including fishermen, Central Union of Fisheries Cooperatives, divers, aquaculture, commercial boating, and maritime transport sector representatives, and the Women Fishing Association. The trainings aimed to increase knowledge and awareness on IAS threats, impacts, mitigation measures, and best practices.

The project also invested in raising awareness of invasive alien species in schools and the preparation of primary and secondary school lesson plans. In the 2022-2023 academic year, around 9,000 students working with 300 teachers were reached, highlighting the adverse effects caused by marine invasive alien species on ecology, economy and public health. 

This building block focuses on the establishment of strong partnerships between academic institutions (Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán), local governments (Secretaría de Desarrollo de Sustentable del Estado de Yucatán), and conservation organizations (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), private sector (Huawei), and local communities (Dzilam de Bravo) to enhance the collection and analysis of biodiversity data, access to technological infrastructure, government program instrumentation and application, and local ownership and execution.

Dynamic risk maps, built using GIS and geospatial analysis, identify high-risk areas and guide resource allocation. This tool can be used for urban planning, disaster risk reduction, or managing natural resources like water or land.

The system combines data from drones, satellites, camera traps, and geospatial tools to create a comprehensive monitoring framework. This approach can be adapted for other environmental challenges, such as flood monitoring, by integrating relevant data sources specific to those contexts.

Once plants have been collected, they are transferred to our nursery for propagation. We are seeing increased effectiveness of these methods with freshly collected seeds and cuttings.

The Mamba tool allows us to collect from species we have identified in the previous step.

Drone tools have been instrumental as a first step in the assessment of cliff floras. We can now map the distribution and abundance of critically endangered endemic cliff species and expedite their conservation. Field surveys have been conducted in Hawaii, the Republic of Palau, and Madeira (Portugal) with extremely positive results.