Treated wastewater is utilized for various purposes in the city. Three wastewater treatment plants ozonize treated water while all the plants have facilities to filter wastewater by sand. Ozonized water is utilized for toilets, small artificial streams, and air conditioning systems (AC). Sand filtered water is reclaimed for cleaning the wastewater treatment plants and toilets. The treated wastewater generates revenue by being sold to clean drainage pipes and construction plants. Water quality of the reclaimed water complies with standards designated for different usage by the national government.

The sewage system has been contributing to the improvement of public water quality. The sewage coverage rate increased from 85% in 1989 to 99.8% in 2013. No untreated wastewater flows into rivers, and river water quality has significantly improved. BOD values in major rivers in the city decreased 40 – 87% in 2013 from those in 1984. On the other hand, eutrophication in enclosed water bodies such as lakes and coastal waters still remains.  To cope with this issue, Yokohama City introduced advanced treatment technology to remove nitrate and phosphorus contributing to eutrophication. The number of treatment plants applies advanced treatment process increased from two in 1996 to eight in 2013.  As the result, the removal rate of nitrogen and phosphorus increased.

The Ecological Planning Working Group of the Initiative will conduct research, analysis, and surveys, and facilitate indigenous peoples' own bio-cultural mapping. Mapping provides geospatial analysis for planning at the larger landscape scales.  Compiling and integrating layers of information such as pending indigenous lands claims, industrial threats, wildlife corridors, hunting grounds, protection status, ecosystem types and biodiversity data, population data, access routes, and fluvial links helps the alliance establish priorities and make sound governance decisions.  In addition, such biocultural mapping is a key aspect of storytelling.

- Work will be carried out and guided by indigenous leaders and technical teams to weave together a tapestry of indigenous life plans, further flesh out implementation and find emergent threads.  Examples of potential emergent threads include developing capacity for implementing self-reliant renewable energy and/or transportation systems; training and coordination for watershed restoration and water quality management; and establishing a regional hub for incubating and innovating solutions.

LUFASI having an isolated 20ha forest lodged in the middle of a highly commercialised and densely populated Lekki peninsula of Lagos burdens its health. The forest has a partially completed boundary fence, which has reduced the authorized entry by 40% . This along with the scheduled patrols stopped loggers and poachers from game hunting in the forest for business and traditional purposes. Although there are stringent rules regarding unauthorized entry, there is still encroachment by the nearby community members which heavily disturbs the forest and the biodiversity present. The public would either enter to get firewood, manage small farms within the forest or use it as a corridor to the other side of the park. The completion of the perimeter fence will minimize the intrusion to 96% and allow the density of the flora and fauna population to increase thereby creating an ecological balance in the forest. LUFASI invokes the importance of green spaces to their tourists and visitors through the construction of sustainable bamboo and Ekki walking bridges and pathways to give the park a more natural and aesthetic appeal. We want to further improve by clearing and developing more nature trails showcasing the beauty and importance of the forests to biodiversity and us humans.

For many, the concept of protected area has not yet been fully understood  in Nigeria and Lagos in particular. In this wise, LUFASI has taken a full responsibility in educating the public, especially the locals on the importance of protected areas and their ecological benefits for the  overall environmental sustainability of humanity. To this end, LUFASI develops creative tools for teaching about Climate Change (CC), Forest Conservation (FC), Plastic Pollution and engage in Community Outreach using the PA as a living laboratory where students and group visitors can learn. The CC workshop is an interactive learning, which informs students and group visitors of the critical challenges facing our Earth’s climate (caused by unsustainable practices such as the destruction of forests) and empowers them to take local action for global change. Forest conservation programme focuses on bridging the knowledge gap in our forest biodiversity and importance for ecosystem balance, and expanding green cover and natural habitats across Lagos state. Plastic Pollution practical workshops focus on reducing plastic use that has put the world under threat including commemorating global environment days to further enlighten and advocate for a healthy natural environment with focus on protected areas.

Camera traps are a new piece of technology for the field team. Training is a mixture of remote conversation and trial and error. I have used camera traps before but I am not able to get to the field to conduct training with the cameras. 

Crowdfunding is a relatively new way of funding projects, the goal being to inspire individuals to want to help you achieve the project goals by donating to the project budget. There are several online crowdfunding platforms that work in different ways, some of which require a fee whilst others are free. We used a site that requires us to meet a set amount of our budget before funds were extracted from donors, if we didn’t reach that amount then the project would not go ahead. The crowdfunding site was easy to set up but requires you to write project details into sections. This should be easy because of already writing the project proposals and pitch packs. We were also able to embed the campaign video into this site. Once the site was set-up we shared it on all our social media sites and through our personal networks.

It is necessary to develop a strong, concise and attractive pitch pack, which is professional and clearly shows the project’s importance and budget. It is extremely important to make a clear pitch on how, by funding the project, the organisation or company will benefit. For example, for X amount of money the funder logo will be used on project t-shirts and the funder will be mentioned in all media coverage.  The pitch pack should include the project logo, and use visual aids to bring the point across. In this case we used images of Aldabra, it’s wildlife and the impact of the plastic pollution. Since we were distributing these packs in the UK and Seychelles it was vital to create each pack with the local context in mind, whether it was currency conversions or the use of particular quotes from recognisable figures. Alongside the pitch pack we created a campaign video which introduces the problem and the solution using strong imagery and a voiceover. With these steps completed, we could then plan the project launch. The aim of the launch was to garner a maximum amount of media coverage and engage as many individuals and companies as possible via a face-to-face event. We therefore organised events both in UK and in Seychelles, in which potential donors and supporters were invited.

Before beginning to approach potential funders it was necessarily to carefully plan and design the project and anticipate all the information that funders would wish to know. This includes the project aims and outputs, the team involved, the logistical plan and the budget. It is also important to clearly think about how the project will have a lasting legacy beyond the clean-up expedition. This should be developed into a full written project proposal.

Following completion of the project design it is necessary to set-up project media sites, this also required developing a project logo, title and tag line. We also set-up specific project email addresses. The media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & project website) all required initial content and therefore a photo library was compiled and content text established. Before launching the project we also completed team recruitment (12 team volunteers in total) and allocated specific team roles for the duration of the project, for example, social media officer, outreach officer, science officer. With this now in place it was possible to plan a fundraising strategy.

The Kumamoto Ground Water Foundation was established by the City to financially support multiple projects and research activities aiming at groundwater conservation. The large part of the financial resource relies on contributions provided by the local governments and supporting members of private sector. The amount of contributions is determined in accordance with the amount of groundwater withdrawn by each government/company. The budget of the foundation used to promote activities for recharge, quality, and conservation of ground water. The Foundation also calls for cooperation from citizens and private companies in its own ways. Citizens and companies, for instance, can offset groundwater consumption by purchasing or consuming crops or meat grown in the groundwater recharge areas. The Foundation provides service to covert the amount of consumed product into the amount of water recharged by the consumption, and then issues a certificate that proves contribution to groundwater conservation. Companies can use this certificate to prove their efforts of conserving groundwater by attaching it to a report to be submitted to the prefectural government. Citizens and companies can also join their conservation activities by owing paddy fields in the recharging areas.