We resolved the challenge of financial limitations by encouraging the fishers to join saving groups. The fishermen have formed Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) with the aim of saving part of their income and access loans with ease. We trained the groups on how to run the VSLA, also known as table banking, as well as on financial management and group dynamics and provided them with the required inputs such as record keeping books. The VSLA members hold weekly meetings, where they contribute savings and those who need loans requesting for them, clearly stating mode of repayment, use of the loan and repayment period. The fishermen are now able to cater for their daily needs during the Southeast Monsoon (SEM) season when there is no fishing due to the rough weather conditions. They spend time constructing and repairing the basket traps in preparation for the high Northeast Monsoon (NEM) season where they can go out fishing.
The existence of a similar table banking within the Beach Management Unit (BMU) being done by women through UNEP funded project, was used as a good example as they had made significant and admirable progress. This motivated them to also form their table banking groups where they will be saving their income from fishing.
Most of the community members engaged in small medium enterprises require ease at accessing finances to not only meet their daily needs, but also grow bigger financially, as well as save more for the future. The members had not engaged in income savings scheme hence spent all their money without retaining some for the days with low or no earning.
We conducted a series of awareness and sensitization meetings with the basket traps fishers and the community on impacts of destructive fishing gears on ecosystems and livelihoods. The recommendation was to modify the traditional basket traps from 2-3 inches mesh sizes. We co-designed the traps with the volunteer fishers prior to the trials. Sixteen fishers volunteered to trial the modified traps. Trained fishers and other community members collected fish data throughout the trial. We used the data to evaluate the catch composition, size structure of fish captured, juvenile retention, catch per unit effort (CPUE) and fishers’ income. From the data, modified traps were considered beneficial economically and ecologically, and all the basket traps fishers expressed interest in starting using them. This led to the upscale phase where the fishers were facilitated to construct the modified basket traps.
Sensitization and awareness programs
Building on participatory research
Capacity building in construction of basket traps
Use of local traditional knowledge in gear construction
Community-based conservation initiatives must involve the community actively in planning, designing, execution, and discussions on progress.
It's important to educate the local population about the effects of unsustainable fishing methods.
Making the fishers construct the traps was an assurance of traps of good quality.
When beneficiaries understand the issues, are involved in creating solutions, and gathering data to show if the suggested remedy is effective, recommended interventions are more readily accepted.
Advocacy activities help promote awareness and understanding of FMNR as a cost-effective and scalable approach to landscape restoration and climate resilience among practitioners, community leaders, and national government. This can promote acceptance among peers and encourage community leaders and government officials to create an enabling environment at the municipal and/or subnational level to facilitate the adoption of FMNR in communities (e.g., through relevant policies and regulations).
Mobilize national stakeholders to create a policy environment in support of adoption of FMNR in relevant strategic frameworks
Identify and engage with other partner organizations to enhance the implementation of the FMNR approach
Advocacy works for government recognition and formalization of the rights and responsibilities of those who practice FMNR. It creates an enabling policy environment that encourages individuals and communities to manage their natural resources sustainably.
Farmer applying organic pesticide to control pests and diseases
World Vision
Farmers trained on use of energy-efficient cookstoves
World Vision
Integrating FMNR with livelihood activities is strongly recommended. For example, alternative livelihood development activities can support FMNR uptake by reducing household dependence on unsustainable timber harvesting for subsistence and/or sale. Complementary livelihood activities to support FMNR outcomes include:
Agricultural development activities that promote sustainable intensification and/or diversification of smallholder agricultural production. Combining trees on cropland and pasture with conservation agriculture practices has proved to increase crop yields and improve livestock productivity.
Market development activities that support more profitable marketing of products produced by smallholder farmers. They enhance the adoption and sustainability of FMNR by increasing smallholder incomes, thereby reducing the need for households to adopt coping strategies that can further damage the natural environment and reduce biodiversity.
Energy-saving solutions (e.g. clean cookstoves) that support FMNR by reducing household demand for wood, thus increasing the likelihood that trees that can regenerate will not cut down or felled for their wood in unsustainable ways.
Complementary livelihood activities, preferably those based on trees (e.g., agroforestry and woodlands), can offset short-term fluctuations in household and community resource availability and income that might otherwise undermine FMNR success by increasing pressure to use and cut trees.
Implementing complementary tree-based value chain development activities, such as beekeeping, can improve FMNR uptake and sustainability by increasing its benefits and economic value to households and communities. In addition, FMNR can increase crop and livestock production by enhancing soil fertility, reducing soil erosion, improving water availability and increasing fodder.
FMNR represents a community development practice. In this sense, FMNR directly aims at participatory, inclusive and community-based and -owned analyses, plans, knowledge sharing and adoption. The following three components are critical in understanding and implementing FMNR as a community development process:
Connect: Community member come together to participatory analyse, discuss and connect the root causes and consequences of deforestation and landscape degradation in their community. Once the connection has been made, FMNR is introduced as a potential solution.
Plan: Community members engage in a participatory visioning process to identify common goals and agree on tangible actions to drive and enable the scale-up of FMNR on communal and privately owned/managed land. These plans can vary in formality and may be developed and refined over the years.
Enable: Community member are trained in the technical knowledge and skills to adopt and promote the practice of FMNR on landscapes. This component also includes the identification, training and follow up of FMNR Champions who actively work to enhance the spread and adoption of FMNR in their communities.
To build awareness and understanding around FMNR among peers, community leaders, and national governments as a low-cost scalable approach. This creates an enabling environment at the community and/or sub-national levels to facilitate its adoption in communities – for example through enabling policies and bylaws.
Engaging the community in the right way from the beginning will be foundational to the success of any FMNR activities going forward. FMNR involves change: not just in the landscape, but often in the ways that people interact with each other. Understanding traditions, traditional roles and the dynamics of people in the community is an important part of engagement. Key principles of FMNR, such as inclusion and ensuring that women and minorities have equal rights and access, may require the community to carefully think through their values and norms. FMNR involves decision-making, therefore community ownership of the process is essential. The technical practices part of FMNR activities are important, but they will not succeed unless the people who use the land more broadly are in agreement on how to manage it, as well as the regeneration of the trees.
