Developing working, alternative conservation-linked livelihoods is the lifeline of conservation initiatives that incur financial burdens. 

The idea of initiating ecotourism as an alternate livelihood emerged while conducting biodiversity surveys. We observed that the communities especially the hunters and the youth had a keen eye to spot wildlife as well as good understanding of the forest in general. That's when the youth were trained in documentation of flora and fauna by experts. Sightings were recorded in field registers and this created a community of conservationists among the youth. By documenting unique, rare or special fauna, these surveys acted as a catalyst to attract ecotourists from far and wide.

Thus, the youth, along with the hunters dependent on hunting for subsistence from the three pilot villages, were targeted and trained as nature guides with other trainings in association with Air BnB and Titli Trust on hygiene and environment care in homestays, safety and security, housekeeping service, and food and beverage service, maximizing sales and managing money, and low cost marketing.

Through website and advertisements on bird and butterfly enthusiast groups in India, biodiversity meet's were organised to bring in ecotourists and promote ecotoursim.

Having local champions is key to give thrust to the initiative & for the communities to own it. This also leads to rapid spread of such conservation successes & sustained motivation. Several deliberations were held initially with the communities of the three pilot villages in order to increase awareness about the impending ecological threat & the advantages of integrated approaches at the community & stakeholder level to manage the resources collectively and efficiently. During these deliberations, local champions were identified from each village. Though many interested individuals came forward, it was Mr Ivan Jimo in Sukhai village, Mr K. Vikuto Zhimomi in Ghukhuyi village and Mr Kakishe Muru and Mr Bokato Muru who were in constant touch with us & took keen interest in what the project had to offer and most importantly understood the reasons behind it.  We put them in touch with like minded leaders of the communities carrying out similar conservation activities in NorthEast India. There was transfer of knowledge when we invited other community leaders to the CCA as well as organised the travel of our local champions to witness other successfull case studies. We have also involved them on several online as well as offline platforms where they could speak about their conservation initiatives.

For sustainability of DCCG and long term community benefit, the group has focalised in the following actions:

• Construct eco-friendly accommodation facilities on their land adjacent to the creek.
• Introduce environmental friendly means of transport for ease of access to the restaurant and board-walk.
• Introduce computer learning centre in order to build capacity of the youth.
• Explore new ideas to increase jobs opportunities to the community;
• Extend beach clean-up to cleaning the street of Watamu.
• Contribute to the education bursary kitty to educate students in the local schools.

Training DGGC members and the local community on environmental conservation is for the purpose of empowering the people to protect and conserve the environment for prosperity and sustainable use. Training is offered by Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and various NGOs. The training has resulted in:

• Restoration of various mangroves species through reforestation programmes
• Stopping illegal methods of fishing, including use of poison and nets of small mesh size
• Reduction of fishing pressure from Mida Creek
• Sustaining Malindi-Watamu World Biosphere Reserve as part of the Marine Protected Areas of the Kenya coast.

Strategically link the actors involved in the planning and development of the tool, through contracting, work sessions and agreements that enable them legally and technically for financing, web hosting, implementation and maintenance, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the Atlas over time, establishing clear leadership in its execution and the support services required.

Conservation agreements allow establishing commitments in surveillance and control activities through community surveillance, helping to conserve the SNM and at the same time reducing financial gaps for this purpose.

The involvement of agricultural associations and native communities in the buffer zone has made it possible to generate economic benefits for the associations and to protect the SNM through community vigilance.