Fieldwork has been the pivotal activity in all Connecting Practice phases, pursuing the aim of recognising commonalities, establishing linkages, and bridging the nature/culture divide. Fieldwork in all three phases centred on engaging at site level with communities, site managers, heritage practitioners and policy makers.

The project has tested various methods of carrying out field visits. Phase I visits were explorative in nature and used a variety of approaches and working methods at the sites. Phase II focused on creating a consistent, common structure to the fieldwork to identify strategies of generating immediate benefits to the sites. Phase III focuses included: the promotion of biocultural approaches for management and conservation of continually evolving cultural landscapes; the translatability of ‘resilience’ in management responses; and the use of broader partnerships to increase the multi-disciplinary character of the project.

Field visits are critical for understanding sites, generating connections and modifying practices, with each phase providing lessons and themes for subsequent phases. Outcomes from fieldwork create lessons for the development of improved frameworks and strategies applicable to a wider range of World Heritage properties and organisations.

The use of these interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams creates richer dialogues and widens the scope of discussion in a project such as Connecting Practice, while also emphasising different contexts and approaches to conservation and management practices.

Throughout all phases of Connecting Practice, efforts have been made to expand the fieldwork teams to include participants with diverse professional and educational backgrounds, including archaeologists, agronomists, landscape architects, geographers, ecologists, anthropologists, geologists, natural and social scientists. In most cases, these professionals have previously worked for or collaborated with IUCN and ICOMOS, often with a World Heritage focus. Each phase collaborated with and included site managers, local heritage organisations and national/regional representatives.

Phase III in particular involved larger groups of practitioners and international partners in contemporary fields to investigate new facets of the interconnection between nature and culture and to build alliances across international heritage programmes. This included the integration of professionals engaged with the GIAHS programme, namely an agricultural engineer and an ecologist, into the fieldwork teams.

Connecting Practice is the first jointly-managed project of ICOMOS and IUCN under the World Heritage Convention, promoting collaboration for the nature/culture interconnection at an institutional level to encourage more holistic, integrated approaches to site management and understanding. The use of joint field visits was a distinct change from previous ICOMOS and IUCN missions, allowing a more experimental approach to understanding the interconnection. This involved field teams with ICOMOS and IUCN representatives, the creation of common Terms of Reference, coordinated planning and organisation of site visits, and preparing a final, combined report, resulting in improved collaboration between ICOMOS and IUCN at an institutional and local level.

Phase III involved the FAO and their Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems project. This created further networks and integration among international players, and allowed the exploration of potential synergies with other international designations by considering two properties which were both GIAHS and World Heritage sites. This resulted in a richer discussion and professional exchange of common conservation and management priorities and systems, challenges and potentially mutually reinforcing responses.

As the public-private partnership improved approaches to conservation, it became clear that the challenges being faced on site were affected by its wider context. It was vital to recognise the Vesuvian area and wider socio-economic dynamics, as a source of opportunities, not threats, that could reinforce site management. Heritage was increasingly viewed as a shared responsibility.

A key initiative was the Herculaneum Centre, a non-profit association founded by the heritage authority, the municipality and a research institute to consolidate a network of local, national and international partners. For 5 years, it implemented an activity programme focused on stimulating new types of involvement in Ercolano’s heritage. The capacity to work with others was enhanced within institutions and civil society through research networks, community projects and a variety of learning environments.

The trust of local partners created conditions, unimaginable ten years earlier, for the regeneration of a difficult urban district adjacent to the archaeological site known as Via Mare.

With the Centre’s programme completed, this tradition of cooperation has been taken forward by Herculaneum’s new heritage authority, supported by the Packard foundation and other partners.

Each year, Save The Waves accepts one new World Surfing Reserve from surf communities all around the world. The application process requires significant work from local communities and their inquiry is based on the following core criteria: 

1) Quality and consistency of the wave(s);

2) Important environmental characteristics;

3) Culture and surf history;

4) Governance capacity and local support;

5) Priority Conservation Area

Each application is reviewed by an indepedent Vision Council made up of professionals in the conservation, business, nonprofit, and surf fields. Once the World Surfing Reserve is selected based on the rigorous criteria, they undergo the Stewardship Planning Process and the other building blocks to formally dedicate the World Surfing Reserve.

A Local Stewardship Council (LSC) is the main representative of a World Surfing Reserve and is in charge of implementing the Local Stewardship Plan. The LSC works together with Save The Waves Coalition to Protect, Steward, and Defend their surf ecosystem.

LSC members work on the ground and with the local community to carry out activities that result in the long-term conservation of the reserve as well as celebrate and honor the tradition of surfing and ocean recreation.  The Stewardship Planning Process brings together the LSC and important community members to map out the the critical threats to the region and come up with long term goals and objectives for permanent protection.  

The Stewardship Planning Process generally follows the outline in "Measures of Success" that includes building a Conceptual Model, developing a management plan that identifies goals, objectives, actions and timelines based on the threats to address.

STW has demonstrated success as a leader of surf conservation and coalition building.  We create strategic coalitions to carry out conservation projects at World Surfing reserves that have real impacts.  In selecting partners on the ground, we find common interests, fill capacity gaps based on strengths, and set common goals to have an outsized impact in the places we work. Through this work, STW has built a reputation of trust working with local partners around the world. 

For World Surfing Reserves and at Bahia de Todos Santos, we built a coalition between local surfers, environmental NGO's, local government agencies, businesses, artists and neighborhood groups to create holistic vision for the protection and enhancement of the region and coastline.