Within Chiapas rural governance structures, the ejido Assembly is the main social platform where participatory decisions are made regarding natural resources. Ejido land tenure in Mexico is an example of individual and communal tenure co-existing within communities. Communal lands are titled in the name of the community leaders. Ejido Azteca and Alpujaras are partly witin the Tacana Volcano Reserve.

With a view to increasing the ejidos adaptive and management capacity main actions undertaken under this solution were:

• Training on climate change legal and policy frameworks was delivered to ejido leaders and municipalities officers.
• Development of the Local Strategy for Sustainable Development under Climate Change of La Azteca ejido.
• Conformation of ejido's Water Committees. 
• Public presentations on events such as the VII National Congress on Climate Change Research. Leaders shared the benefit of soil conservation practices and forest protection to water security.

After analysing vulnerabilities and adaptation establishing priorities, the ejido La Azteca and ejido Alpujarras sought to protect the ecosystem services provided by their forests (water capture, biodiversity, soil and fertility structure) aiming to benefit their livelohoods and resilience to climate change.

The following EbA measures and actions were implemented to face heavy rains, storms, erosion and to improve ecosystem resilience, soil water retention and water downstream. 

1. Protection and restoration of the cloud forest in the Tacaná Volcano Reserve. Specific actions were: 

• natural regeneration of forest degraded areas

• reforestation with native species

• wildfire preventative measures such as firebreaks

• soil conservation practices
• surveillance to prevent illegal logging, illegal hunting and extraction of flora and fauna, forest fires, and to detect outbreaks of pests

2. Optimization of agroforestry systems,: 

• Soil conservation practices (e.g. live fences, terraces and breakwater small natural constructions). Live fences use plant species to divide plots, provide shade and protect againts erosion.
• introducing forest and fruit species into coffee plantations (shade-grown).

Measures helped to improve and maintain the resilience and integrity of the natural forest.

An "action learning" approach consisted of training and supporting communities to implement EbA measures. 

• A socio-environmental vulnerability assessment of 2 ejidos (211 families) was carried out in a participatory manner to identify and prioritize EbA measures.
• Technical support is provided complementing families' traditional knowledge, to ensure that EbA measures contribute to food and water security.
• Exchanges and trainings are organized for producers, ejido authorities and municipalities on climate change, food security, sustainable forest management and soil conservation.

Furthermore, the solution focused on generating evidence on the benefits of EbA measures on water and food security:

• In collaboration with IUCN and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) household surveys were carried out to study the benefits of the EbA measures or food security.  The joint methodology was also applied in five other countries.
• A methodology to understand the effectiveness of EbA on water security was developed and was applied in La Azteca and Alpujarras. The methods include: interviews, focus groups and environmental  data collection in the field (e.g. water quality).

IUCN entered into the Dhamra port project because of concern about the port harming Olive Ridley turtles. As IUCN dug into the problems, however, it learned that the mortality rate of the turtles had already increased dramatically. A report prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India indicated that turtle mortality had increased from a few thousand a year in the early 1980s to more than 10,000 by the mid 1990s. Mechanized trawl fishing and gill net fishing were seen to be responsible for the mortalities.

Local community awareness regarding the value of the turtles was low. To address this, the IUCN team engaged in community sensitizing activities, including creative educational programs, as well as traditional outreach. DPCL also established a community training centre so that local villagers could develop new skills.

IUCN also identified that the use of Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) could be helpful in reducing turtle mortality due to trawl fishing, one of the biggest problems in the areas. The devices weren’t new to fishers in the Dhamra area – Indian NGOs and scientists had tested them with the fishers in the past – but they weren’t being used. The IUCN DPCL team consulted extensively with local fishing cooperative officers and communities to better understand the issues.

Dredging, recognized as a serious threat to the marine turtles, was identified by IUCN as a priority.  IUCN, with experts from the Species Survival Commission’s Marine Turtle Specialist Group designed and developed a dredging protocol to be followed during port operations. These included installing turtle deflectors on all dredger drag-heads to help ensure turtles were not pulled into the dredger. Trained observers were assigned to all dredgers to monitor this process. These observers would check screens on inflow and overflow pipes on a 24/7 basis. These measures (deflectors, screens, and human observers) were put in place to ensure that the dredging was “turtle friendly”. Such measures were the first to have been put in place in the history of dredging activities in India.

Lighting was the second major threat identified because excess glare is known to distract turtle hatchlings as they instinctively move towards brightly lit areas and away from the sea. For this, the IUCN Commission experts provided specific guidelines for the port’s lighting plan, which was adopted by the port authorities. IUCN further supported Tata Steel in identifying the right design for these lights. Today, Dhamra Port is the first and only port in India to have installed “turtle friendly” lighting.

The private sector is commonly described as being blind to environmental issues. The reality, however, is that the private sector is heavily invested in biodiversity. The project was an opportunity for companies to deepen their understanding of environmental issues and to develop the corporate habit of thinking beyond the bottom line. Less obviously, it is an opportunity for environmental specialists to deepen their understanding of business and development dynamics and to learn to include bottom line analysis in their own evaluations.

Within ejido community structures, the ejido assembly acts as a governance platform and is the highest decision-making body. Achieving the approval of the assembly was a key step to initiating and then increasing mangrove restoration efforts in the Conquista Campesina ejido. A community program was developed for the conservation of wetlands and aquatic systems through the voluntary conservation of lands nominated as "ecological easements". Thanks to its work around the mangroves, the ejido’s organization has improved and generated more institutional linkages, both with state and federal entitites. This also opens up opportunities to up-scale adaptation needs to higher levels of government. With this aim of political advocacy, ejido members participated in the VII National Congress on Climate Change Research, sponsored by the recently re-activated Chiapas Climate Change Advisory Council, to present the benefits of EbA as well as proposals for their priorities to be taken into account in the State’s climate change policy. Assisting the ejido’s social organization therefore helped to enhance governance for climate change adaptation from the local to the state level.

The ejido Conquista Campesina wanted to restore mangrove forests and the ecosystem services that these provide (biological diversity, water quality, protection against storms) with a view to strengthening its food security and resilience in the face of climate change.

The opening of hydrological channels was first carried out to replenish with water areas damaged by sedimentation; then the collection, translocation and sowing of propagules in the degraded areas was coordinated. Through the ‘payment of laboured days’ as restoration incentives (Payment for Environmental Services), these efforts also achieved economic benefits for the community. While the water open surface was improved in fishing areas, the community was also protecting itself against winds and storm surges in areas used for collecting, fishing and housing. In addition, family gardens (orchards), agroforestry and apiculture were implemented in some plots to diversify the products used by families for self-consumption. These processes provided important means of learning for ejido members, both men and women, who acquired technical knowledge (on mangrove restoration and managing plants in association) and a better understanding of the relationship between climate change, conservation and food security.

Supporting ejido community members to implement EbA measures generates a process of "action learning" that, in addition to teaching, aims to generate evidence on the benefits of EbA and create conditions for their sustainability and up-scaling.

• CRiSTAL Community Risk Assessment
• Mangrove restoration (4.1 ha) and surveillance are considered priority EbA measures.
• Technical support is provided to 33 community members (men and women), complemented with their traditional knowledge, to learn about mangrove restoration techniques and carry out the restoration of degraded areas.
• 5 community technicians are trained to monitor and evaluate the restored areas (measurements of tree diameter, physical-chemical parameters and sediments).
• Monitoring and evaluation is carried out to learn about the food security with 10 families (sample) and study the benefits of restoration on livelihoods on dry and rainy season. Household social surveys used as methodology (guidelines to be published).
• Joint learning on the advantages of income diversification, such as gardens (orchards), agroforestry and beekeeping.

The increase in capacities and knowledge strengthens human capital and contributes to community empowerment and with that, to more possibilities for political advocacy and accessing financial resources.

The Naturland standard requires each farm to have at least 50% mangrove cover while other organic standards require strict compliance with forest policy. Farmers who can demonstrate compliance then have the option of selling their certified shrimp to the Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, Viet Nam’s largest shrimp exporter.

The project also successfully supported Cà Mau in piloting a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) system. This system provides an incentive for mangrove conservation and restoration by paying farmers an additional 500,000 VND (£17.77) per hectare of mangrove for providing ecosystem services.

Besides payments for farmers, Minh Phu also invested in its own ICS team, a supply chain from farm to factory, and financial incentives for collectors, collecting stations, and payments to support the FMB with monitoring.

In this PES system, the processor pays the farmers for the ecosystem goods and services they provide, and mangrove cover is monitored by a third-party. This direct payment approach has been accepted by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project has also encouraged other processing companies to establish their organic farming area with different payment schemes, these companies include Seanamico, Seaprimexco in Ca Mau.