The management of protected areas through conservation activities is normally separated from tourist use activities. Creating a connection between the two activities can be a tool to solve many problems, showing everybody that the Park's activities are part of a single and complex strategy.

The red deer census in Foreste Casentinesi National Park is at the same time an important action of wildlife monitoring and a big touristic event, based on high quality tourism. It directly involves, during four days in low touristic season, local accomodations like mountain huts and "agriturismi" (farms),  environmental guides and interpreters, restaurants and other economic enterprises.

‘When you eat around a fire after a day of working together building fire-breaks, you realise we all have the same problems’.

In a context of limited resources, accommodating different livelihood practices (pastoralism, agriculture) that often come into conflict requires dialogue starting at the base. This is why the project acts as facilitator to help bring together the diverse clans and ethnicities of the elephant range to achieve unity towards a common goal – in this case the preservation of their natural resources and the regeneration of their ecosystem.

By coming together to address an environmental challenge communities benefit on multiple levels, which incentives them to collaborate further. The result is an altogether more resilient solution that is bigger than the sum of its parts. Benefits include healthier habitats; more abundant natural resources; increased food security and resilience in the face of adverse events; additional income; social empowerment incl. for women and youths; better social cohesion between and within communities; increased physical security as youths are provided with a locally respected occupations as ‘eco-guards’, which reduces the likelihood of them emigrating or joining armed groups; pride in their ability to contribute to their household and community, and exert some agency over their lives.

The project’s approach to community engagement is always to listen first, understand local problems and preoccupations, and discuss the issue of elephants within this context. Recognising all perspectives and developing a common perspective of the problem is a key first step. Identifying the parameters of the problem and the common vision is the next step. By then, asking communities to devise a solution, with the MEP as a stakeholder, builds their trust and imparts ownership, thereby fostering sustainability.

It implies a lot of unknowns, requires flexibility and a readiness to learn, but means that initiatives are a lot more likely to succeed because they rely on existing local knowledge and knowhow, and are automatically validated and adopted by participants from the start, essential elements to building locally adapted and therefore robust/resilient solutions.

The process involves the active participation of the communes’ mayors and the government’s technical services, whose role is to support communities in the implementation of local initiatives and their integration with commune development plans. All have to demonstrate their commitment if project activities are to go ahead. This strengthens local governance by empowering all stakeholders to take responsibility for the management of their natural resources together.

From the social point of view, the project model achieves reasonably and cost-effectively, in a relatively short time (1-2 years), to generate production conditions that improve the quality of life of the beneficiaries' families in two ways: the incorporation of a more varied diet that includes more vegetables, fruits, and proteins (chickens and eggs) and the diversification of productive activities that in turn increase the economic income received by the families.

This project has helped to rebuild the social fabric, allowing neighbors and members of the villages to get to know each other and work together through training (Agroforestry Field Schools) and the implementation of productive group activities such as beekeeping, community conservation areas and demonstrations plots in the villages, allowing the recovery of values such as trust, credibility, friendship and the definition of rules of the game and co-responsibilities. One of the most important elements of the project is to achieve the union between the people of the villages and the institutions and organizations dedicated to promoting sustainable development.

The financial resources for developing policies and actions aimed at environmental recovery, protection, and conservation come from both national and international aid from public and private institutions.

The initiative is part of the 2019-2023 Action Plan of the Local System of Protected Areas Committee (SILAP, Sistema Local de Áreas Protegidas) of the Municipality of San Juan Nepomuceno and the strategies of the Los Colorados Flora and Fauna Sanctuary Management Plan to guarantee its biological viability, which is why long-term continuity of the activities is expected.

Sheep farming is the main activity in the area. The number of livestock far exceeds the forage capacity of the forest rangelands. As a result, it is difficult to respect the parcels set aside for regeneration. However, the organization of livestock farmers into associations enables them to benefit from indemnities compensating them for the use of the cleared areas. This helps to regenerate the Atlas cedar, which is in danger of extinction.

The Department of Water and Forests manages forest resources through its decentralized structures, which are responsible for monitoring and applying reforestation and silviculture techniques. The regeneration of native species, in particular Cedrus Atlantica, is one of the most difficult tasks to achieve. The prohibition of grazing on plots of land designated as "closed" is a technique applied to ensure the success of cedar regeneration, but it is difficult to get herders to respect it without mobilizing funds to compensate them for the closed areas.

However, it was essential to organize the farmers into associations, and to provide them with guidance and raise their awareness, so that they could adopt the concept of compensation and develop it in the long term. This is what the Ifrane National Park has done, and continues to do as one of its main missions.

The various objectives of the Touho commune's environmental management plan are to inventory and map the floristic diversity of mangrove species throughout the commune, and to identify degraded mangroves. To this end, members of the Hô-üt association were trained in the identification of mangrove and back mangrove plant species, as well as in inventory techniques and the characterization of mangrove health. Field surveys consisted of recording a GPS point approximately every 50 meters within the Touho mangrove. At each point, participants made a 360° turn, noted all the plant species present, and characterized the state of health of the mangrove. The completed field sheets were then entered into the computer before being transferred to the consulting firm in charge of mapping. The latter then produced and delivered maps showing the distribution of mangrove species and their state of health, after GIS processing. The Hô-üt association then organized the presentation of this work to the customary authorities, the local population and the departments of the North Province.

One of the objectives of the Touho commune's environmental management plan is to establish the Hô-üt association as a competent player in mangrove restoration. To this end, members of the association have been trained in restoration techniques. The restoration project began with the creation of a mangrove nursery in the Koé tribe. Members then collected propagules during the mangrove fruiting period, before placing them in horticultural bags. Two members of the Hô-üt association, residents of the Koé tribe, were in charge of maintaining the nursery (watering, replacing dead plants, etc.) until the plants were large enough to be transplanted. Based on maps of the mangrove's state of health, the association planned several plantations with the local population and a school in Touho. The association took care of transferring the seedlings to the planting sites, before preparing holes with crowbars and transplanting the mangroves. One of the restored areas had been degraded by logging for the construction of lime houses. As the old trees were eliminated, the mangrove gradually disappeared.