In order to obtain organic certification, farmers require training on installing and using toilets with septic tanks, and household waste management. Co-financing the provision of toilet kits and the replanting of mangroves in shrimp ponds are also required during a pilot demonstration.

Not only do farmers need to be trained, but forest protectors also need to be trained on applicable new technology for mangrove management and protection in order to monitor and audit the contracted mangrove cover. From 2013-2017, the project organised regular training to help transform the forest management system of the Forest Management Boards from one that relied on manually drawn cadastral maps and field measurement to one that is based on digital maps, using remote sensing, GIS, and GPS measurement and monitoring systems.

The project also needs to provide shrimp processing companies with training to establish and maintain Internal Control System teams. This training helps the companies to establish organic farming auditors and monitoring teams of their own. These teams are required to support and supervise the organic farmers over large areas to meet the standard for organic certification.  

Under an ecosystem-based adaptation approach and a micro-basin vision, efforts in Esquichá focused on improving livelihoods and ecosystem resilience in order to reduce climate change vulnerability. Tropical storms and hurricans such as the Stand affected communities in the past (water infraestructure, erosion or loss of water springs). Applying an ecosystem approach was part of strengthening governance for climate change adaptation in the Esquichá micro-watershed.

Measures implemented are: 

• protection and recovery of forests in water recharge zones. E.g. protection of pine forests (Abies guatemalensis) that harbour water sources that supply populations in the lower part of the micro-basin.
• Restoration of degraded lands and stabilization of slopes
• Implementation and optimization of agroforestry systems.

Additionally, there was broad acceptance of the need for a more integrated approach to water resource management, partly due to the water scarcity that communities suffer during the dry season and in the upper parts of the micro-basin. The concept of environmental social responsibility was also promoted among communities, whereby upstream communities take measures that benefit downstream communities. 

Governance options and responses for adaptation to climate change are new and must be constantly evolving; desicions and governance pklan need to be flexible; hence adaptation must move forward under a flexible approach. This is possible with the application of EbA measures with a "learning by doing" while using best available sicientific information on climate scenarios and informing policy local and national instruments.

Climate vulnerability in Esquichá was assessed using the CRiSTAL tool ( “Community-based Risk Screening Tool – Adaptation and Livelihoods.")

After a first planing of EbA activities, actions for integrating flexibility were:

• The periodic evaluation of field EbA actions and the adoption of short-term decisions
• Monitoring and evaluation results will be key to include important adjustments
• Inclusion of EbA measures in the Microbasin Management Plan
• Assessment of measures to inform the municipality Development Plan.
• Informing of results to competent authorities as the municipality of the Forest Institute (INAB). This has lead INAB to seek tools to improve the way incentives are assigned and to identify communities located in key water catchment areas.

To strengthen governance, improvements needed to be made in the participation of government and local stakeholders in the management of the micro-basin.

At the local level, the organizational base of the communities was reinforced, through community leaders and their understanding of the importance of water recharge areas. It was further supported by the Communal Forestry Nursery Commissions, generally administered by women; and the Community Development Councils, which were more strongly integrated into the Esquichá River Micro-basin Council. Thus, participation was catalyzed from the bottom up, notably with youth also participating, especially in reforestation events that entailed >1000 people.

The role of the state also increased through dialogues and agreements with municipalities, and access by communities to forest incentives. The greatest added value was a local empowerment achieved by social mobilization (including women), "action learning" (process that involves the implementation of EbA activities, coupled with a practical capacity building program), organizational capacity, community and micro-basin governance processes. What has been achieved is a reflection of a strong community commitment thanks to participatory governance.

The Esquichá River Micro-basin Council acts as a platform for dialogue, advocacy, capacity building and appropriation of lessons learned and tools; therefore, it is a key means for up-scaling EbA to different levels. With a view of vertical scaling, lessons of its work have influenced different levels: 

• the Municipality of Tacaná that will include EbA measures into municipal planning. 
• the Coatán River Council (only with national Guatemalan authorities) which facilitates inter-sectoral cooperation and management with a basin-wide vision, beyond the mere political-administrative sphere.
• the Coordinator of Natural Resources and Environment of San Marcos Department (CORNASAM). CORNASAM coordinates the efforts of governmental actors and NGOs, as well as the municipalities of the Department of San Marcos. 
• the National Secretary of Planning (SEGEPLAN) in order to improve guidelines given to municipalites planning.
• the Ministry of Environment (MARN), that is using lessons learnt to scale up a Green Climate Fund project that implements EbA measures.
• the Forest Institute (INAB)

Further work is needed to have a binational coordiantion of the Coatán river basin, shared among Guatemala and Mexico to have a higher impact on the benefits of EbA.

The objective is to establish and capitalize a trust fund, which is anchored to the Sustainable Environmental Investment Fund (FIAS), in order to protect, preserve and conserve the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR), ensuring its financial sustainability.

The main long-term milestone to be achieved with this fund is to increase the 40 miles of the GMR. In addition, the fund will be used to develop and implement a plan for the prevention, conservation and preservation of the GMR. To achieve these milestones, three main programs were defined. However, two cross-cutting themes were identified as crucial to achieving good preservation and conservation of the GMR, namely Climate Change and Environmental Communication and Education.

The three programs are:

• Maintain and strengthen the Monitoring and Surveillance program of the GMR to protect the marine heritage;
• Guarantee the conservation of the GMR and its ecological integrity, through monitoring and research for the rational use of its environmental goods and services;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of the Emergency Plan for the GMR.

The reasons that prompted the process of updating the fee were:

• 20 years without updating the value of the tourist operation patent fee:
• It was derisory compared to the income that tourism operators receive;
• The cost of administration and management of the reserve where users benefit from its environmental services;

Relevant aspects of the agreement reached to update the fee:

• Sociabilization with the tourism sector for payment agreements;
• 4-year negotiation process
• Different types of negotiations (larger and smaller depending on the type of tourism);
• The value is updated each year based on the unified basic salary SBU in force in Ecuador, the formula multiplies the Net Registration Tonnage of the vessel by 80% of the SBU;
• Payment facilities to the operator, i.e. the value can be paid in three installments.
• The Reserve has optimized its systems to make the collection order online and payment through bank transfers.
• Smaller vessels pay less
• The state charged 492,000 USD for 162 tourist vessels, with the increase the charge will be progressive, in 2018 will be collected 1'902,847 USD; in 2019 2'885,540 USD; and from 2020 onwards 3'915,312 USD.

The agroforestry systems of coffee cultivation that are developed in the buffer zone of the PNN Tamá are part of a joint work that has been done from the protected area with the surrounding communities in order to promote processes of conservation of ecosystem services and sustainable local development. The consolidation of the Rural Women's Team of the San Alberto Village in the municipality of Norte de Santander has strengthened empowerment and the gender approach to sustainable rural development through the cultivation of organic coffee as a productive activity that has also strengthened the shared management of the protected area and its relationship with the communities based on the ecosystem services it provides.

These productive alternatives have been developed with strategic allies such as KFW, which has allowed the consolidation of a development approach that considers the importance of PNN Tamá and its ecosystem services. From this perspective, the rural women's association has become a successful management strategy represented in communities surrounding the park that are part of the conservation, planning, and management of the protected area.

The stability of protected areas often depends on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures to stabilize their buffer zone. Furthermore, these strategies become more effective to the extent that the inhabitants neighboring the protected areas are involved. In this sense, PNN Tamá has focused its efforts on supporting the creation of Civil Society Nature Reserves (RNSC) on the lands of neighboring communities to form a conservation corridor. This type of strategy has proven to be quite effective because the vocation of the property of the peasant families harmonizes with the conservation objectives of the strategic ecosystems. Among others, with the allies, land has been purchased to constitute RNSC.

Knowledge of the hydrological cycle in watersheds supplying water resources is considered strategic to favor the provision of hydrological ecosystem services in quality and quantity that favor the different beneficiary sectors. In this sense, knowing through participatory monitoring the behavior and variability of water quality and quantity indicators of water sources is vital to understand how actions in the territory influence the state of the watersheds. Likewise, the inclusion of the communities represents an opportunity for the recognition and appropriation of the importance of conservation and the development of strategies that favor financial sustainability reflected in the attainment of monetary and in-kind resources that allow the development of ways of life of the communities in accordance with the conservation objectives of the protected area.

With our allies at KFW, we have been able to strengthen rural families and associations such as the Rural Women's Team of San Alberto in the municipality of Toledo, thus strengthening the gender perspective as an example of shared management in the planning and management of protected areas.