Local | PANORAMA

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Natural systems are not restricted to national boundaries and should be the foundation for regional development across borders, providing opportunities for political, technical and cultural collaboration leading to mutual economic gains. The partnership in the lower Mekong region united four member states, and expanded to embrace upper Mekong countries, and it provided the framework for focused conservation agreements between the countries.

Member states began by conducting national reviews of resources and policies, involving cross-sectoral working groups of PA agencies, economic planning and finance bodies, development sectors, and conservation organizations. National reviews directed a regional action plan to determine how much and which parts of the region should be kept in its natural state for the best development outcomes. Member states collaborated in reviewing issues requiring shared management, and adopted the same goals and objectives to facilitate comparative analysis and regional collaboration. The national reviews laid the foundation of information and directions the governments of the region wish to take, and the results will be integrated into the policies, programs and practice of each country and of their international partners.

Collaborators should have common goals and objectives, and all members should benefit equally from agreements reached. Additionally, agreements should be formed in a way that allows them to be updated to account for the rapidly changing state of the environment and human development.

Lessons learned to overcome different development priorities:

The four countries do not have similar development progress, objectives and priorities. Thailand, for example, is more developed and conservation focused in comparison to Cambodia, where economic development is a priority. These differences have to be recognised to ensure that national development goals and priorities align with shared goals and objectives to collaboratively plan and manage PAs. This required intensive consultation, discussion and negotiation.

Lessons learned to overcome differences in PA management authority and capacity in developing collaborative plans:

Lessons in resolving potential contradictions between developing (or difficulties in implementing) a national government level collaborative PA management plan and national processes of decentralization in PA management? Or perhaps differences in who decides and who is involved in PA management.

Private Sector and Business Leadership

The success of the model is primarily anchored on its business principle, conceived and driven by private sector leadership ethics and character. Community and government policies and processes are encumbered by too much bureaucracy and lethargy and can hardly drive such a complicated process forward. Whereas private sector leadership means that people with business instinct and ambition can see the opportunity of generating income from land by creating a win win arrangement where land supports wildlife which supports tourism which generates income. Since paying of rental fees is a huge overhead for the conservancy, the private sector players spearheading the project must be able to source for markets and people who are willing to pay to experience community wildlife sanctuaries that benefit local people and also wildlife. The people from the private sector who develop and implement the conservancy model must be imbued with high business integrity so that they can engage in legal and honest partnerships with communities and nurture a long-term and profitable relationships. This will enable habitats and ecosystems to flourish and marketing policies to bear fruit over time as both require long term planning, patience and great sacrifices by both parties.

There is need for safe and stable business environment because the undertaking is long term and hence need for long term stability and predictable policies. There is also need for favourable investment policies that encourage market driven private sector investments and partnerships with local people and on land. This model lays heavy emphasis on business inspired conservation where wildlife must directly benefit the people as an incentive to set their land for conservation

Conservation of natural resources and wildlife is constrained by shortage of land because the areas set aside for wildlife by national governments are too small. The participation of communities bordering national parks comes in handy by using their private land as part of conservation. However, this only works when the people derive direct benefit from this wildlife. Private sector participation that identifies business opportunities to bridge the income gap is paramount and can be used in many other parts and circumstances where private sector investors get into profitable partnerships with communities. The private sector spearheads the investment and marketing while the communities serve as custodians of the land and natural resources in exchange for income so generated. For this to succeed, the less the bureaucracy the better and the arrangement should be guided purely by mutual business partnership between the people and the private sector leaders in collaboration with other stakeholders including government institutions and departments.

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Porini Mara Camp in Ol Kinyei Conservancy

Science and Research

Research collects data on environment, history, land use patterns and government policy. This makes it possible to have a basis for making decisions and for engaging the communities, the private sector and the government. The researchers in our case were able to map out movement corridors for animals like elephants and migration routes and seasons of other animals like the wildebeest. This is a useful guideline in establishment of conservancy boundaries and for engaging the policy makes and communities. Research provides useful information for publicity campaign locally and internationally making it easy to win support from stakeholders.

Research is also useful in laying projections and carrying out monitoring to show the trends of positive and negative change. We have had very useful research data showing dramatic recovery of hitherto declining populations of some endangered animal species like the large cats. There is also socio-economic data that shows the growing income trends and better livelihood outcomes in the communities that surround the conservancy as a result of positive impacts of the conservancy

There has to be national concern that attracts research interest from reputable firms, institutions and individuals. The researchers need support and facilitation to carry out research work among the people and also in the environment. The stakeholders involved must be receptive to scientific information and must demonstrate interest in utilizing the findings to make better decisions for the people and the country

Research issues must have genuine theoretical questions to answer in order for them to be of interest to science. Its only then they can attract he necessary support and accreditation to learning institutions that makes their methodology academically acceptable and their results credible enough to be used as a basis for decision making and planning. For instance, it was important in Maasai Mara to show evidence of wildlife decline in as much as it was to answer the question as to why it was happening. It was also important to understand trends in land use in the greater region and to link it to decreasing wildlife habitats due to land subdivision and upsurge of other land use activities like agriculture and real estate development.

Its also very important to involve indigenous communities in design of research programs and objectives and to make use of their historical, cultural and anecdotal knowledge.

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Stakeholder Collaboration

A stakeholder forum in session in Maasai Mara

Ol Kinyei Conservancy

Natural Resources management and community mobilization requires an interplay of stakeholders who are very critical to success of community conservancy model. There are those involved in advocacy and community education and their input is very important in creating awareness and facilitating information exchange. This makes it possible for community to develop trust and appreciate their contribution to environmental conservation and ultimately to economic development. The NGOs play an important role in information sharing data and drumming up for international support in research and education. Other important collaborators include the local and national governments which develop framework of collaboration with communities and set guidelines on administration and management of wildlife in areas outside the conventional national parks and reserves. The government land office is very crucial as all land adjudication matters are vested in them and they set guide lines for leases and laws that govern them. Most important all sectors of the community, including youth and women, must be involved in conservancy management and benefits sharing to ensure they mainstreamed in conservation and guarantee sustainability of the initiative

There is need for shared vision among the stakeholders who are motivated by overriding desire to conserve the environment, including the large mammals mostly affected by habitat degradation. The communities must have a unity of purpose based on shared desire for better livelihoods and regard for wildlife. The conservancy requires continuous engagement with the communities so that they can appreciate their contribution individually and collectively

Resource management and community issues are complex and cooperation of all stakeholders is important. Communities are very sensitive to patronising approach to issues affecting them and need to be engaged with great patience and finesse. One important approach is to use community leaders and sensitize them and then enable them to discuss the issues with fellow community members and address their fears, hopes and ambitions. Different stakeholders have different approaches and viewpoints and there is always need to have a core team that takes divergent views and tries to harmonise them with key objectives.

Finally government is cardinal stakeholder and success of conservation efforts largely depend on goodwill and support from national governments. Clearly spelt out goals makes it easy to win support when the government appreciates contribution of private sector and the communities in solving environmental problems and availing more land for conservation

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Community Partnerships

Community Mobilization meeting in Ol Kinyei Conservancy

Ol Kinyei Conservancy

The communities are at the heart of the solution. They own the land and have the property rights on the land. The challenge is that the land in individual parcels is not economically productive in the rangelands bordering national parks. When communities join their individual parcels of land and form a large conservancy unit, it becomes ecologically viable for conservation and can support large populations of wildlife and their habitat requirements. These wildlife populations can then support tourism activities by attracting visitors on safari and nature expeditions at a premium fee since its more exclusive than the typical national parks. This in turn generates revenue that can pay the landowners the cost of not using their land, while creating other livelihood opportunities like employment and support with other community projects like education. The primary objective is to endear the communities to the concept and get them to accept that collectively they stand to earn more long term benefits by not fencing or developing their individual lands and instead forsaking it as a wildlife habitat together with the other parcels of other community members

There must be goodwill and trust between the community and their leadership on one hand and the community and the proponents of the conservancy on the other. The legal framework must be able to support lease arrangements that guarantee the land owners that there is a legal recourse should there be any dispute.

Indigenous communities have regard for wildlife and would take initiative for their conservation as long as there is tangible benefit. The people also support genuine investments based on natural resources that support conservation and give solutions to poverty and environmental degradation.

National laws that support registration of titles and leases are important as they decentralise decision making from the national governments to individual land owners who can freely get into negotiations with the conservancies. This makes it easy to make decisions and empowers the communities to make decisions that affect them

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Innovative adaptation measures to climate change

Latrine Akasuga

Vincent Hornsperger

Restitution de la cartographie des risques aux membres de la plateforme communale d‘Isare

Nelson

Foyers améliorés à bois

Cyriaque Nzojibwami

Atelier de prévision saisonnière

Abedi Minani

Climate change adaptation measures are initiatives and actions taken to prevent or reduce damage, or exploit beneficial opportunities from the effects of climate change. The ACCES project promoted innovative adaptation measures in consultation with the population:

- Adapted crops to climate change: the use of crop seeds adapted to drought or heavy rainfall, helps to strengthen the resilience of populations.
- Risk Management and Disaster Prevention: In order to reduce the vulnerability of the Burundian population to extreme weather events, the establishment of an information system that allows the population to access weather forecasts and early warning system in the event of extreme weather events.
- Akasuga toilets: The ecological latrine called AKASUGA allows the separate recovery of solid and liquid human excreta in order to improve soil fertility.
- Improved wood burning stoves: the spread and use of improved stoves contributes to reduce deforestation and the degradation of wood resources
- Seasonal forecasts: the diffusion of the seasonal forecast is a determining factor decisions for the agri-breeder

• Participatory planning and accompaniment of CCA measures with the population and the local administration for good acceptance

• Gender mainstreaming in all CCA activities so that women play a leading role in the implementation of these measures

• Awareness-raising, training and capacity building enabled the various actors and beneficiaries to learn about the new CCA measures

• Do not give up on cultural taboos or fears but listen to, understand and explain to the population the advantages of such measure (case of Akasuga latrine) which is now very popular after having encountered the reluctance of the population and the municipal administration

Implementation

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National

Long-term monitoring to assess effectiveness of protection

Aldabra ranger monitoring turtle emergences

Seychelles Islands Foundation

At the Aldabra research station, the Seychelles Islands Foundation implements long-term monitoring programmes of species and habitats. The results of these programmes are used to advise and assess effectiveness of conservation and management strategies. Set up by Jeanne Mortimer, a turtle track monitoring programme has been carried out consistently across the 52 nesting beaches on the outer edge of Aldabra since 1980. Each morning rangers record the number and type of turtle emergences during the night for an index nesting beach, while other beaches are visited less often due to location. No active management interventions for turtles are carried out on Aldabra. Analysis of data from 1968 to 2008 concluded a 500-800% increase in the green turtle population to an estimated 3100-5225 female nesting annually (Mortimer et al. 2011) and the population has continued to increase. This shows that establishing protected areas where turtle nesting habitat is undisturbed and adult turtles are safe is an extremely effective tool in the conservation of certain species and should be a primary management approach. This not only includes the nesting beach, but also includes the fringing reef where females may remain during their consecutive nesting attempts.

To be able to implement long-term monitoring programmes, standardised monitoring methodologies are necessary. All new personnel on Aldabra undergo training in order to maintain the correct standard and procedures of data collection. In order to retain institutional memory, a handover period is conducted in which experienced staff and recent recruits feel confident in the knowledge of conducting monitoring on Aldabra.

The documentation of monitoring methodologies in detailed guiding protocols is necessary to ensure that the same assessment procedures are implemented over the years. This is especially important on Aldabra where its remoteness and isolation results in high staff turnover. Protocols ensure that all information on what is collected is easily available for new staff. Having protocols and clear objectives also ensures that data can be maximized and retains its value. As a result, on Aldabra, all monitoring programmes are documented, including turtle track count monitoring, one of the longest data collection programmes implemented on the atoll.

Monitoring

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Enforcement of protection of a remote marine protected area

Aldabra boat

Seychelles Islands Foundation

Aldabra Atoll has been protected legally and as well as in practice for almost 40 years. Through the Aldabra research station, the Seychelles Islands Foundation has been actively present on the site. Furthermore, monthly patrols are conducted to the majority of Aldabra’s beaches, and other research activities take staff to various parts of the atoll weekly. As a result, there is a strong presence around the atoll. Being such a remote location, this active and continuous presence on Aldabra deters turtle poachers from the atoll and also enables poachers to be stopped if caught in the illegal act.

Operations on Aldabra are funded through visitor entrance fees to Vallée de Mai, Seychelles second World Heritage Site also managed by SIF. Boats and fuel are needed to access most beaches for conducting patrols. Qualified personnel trained in skippering and experienced in navigating on Aldabra is essential to reach beaches far away from the research station.

In order for operations to be successful and for safety purposes, the training and transfer of knowledge is an essential component when working on a remote marine area. A thorough understanding of environmental conditions such as tides and currents and geomorphological elements, such as shorelines and islet locations, is vital to conduct movements on Aldabra. Skills and knowledge are passed on to all new personnel working on Aldabra by more experienced personnel before visiting far away sites and conducting patrols. Moreover, staff needs to be aware of the legal framework of the protection of the atoll in order to know how to intercept poachers.

Implementation

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Formalise and recognise co-management.

The formalisation of a co-management group provides a space for discussion that favors transparency in available information and in the making of specific decisions.

This space for dialogue with key stakeholders in the fishery, whose opinions are correctly validated by their constituent base, enables all stakeholders to work together in the design of a management plan.

This ensures that the measures that will be implemented to achieve sustainability will be respected by the users, since there is full knowledge of decisions and the reasons for taking one or another decision.

This work strategy provides stability and governance to the system.

In this case, it is the Crustacean Management Committee of the Province of Chiloé that must work on the design of a management plan for the Stone crab fishery. In Chile, the law recognizes this co-management instance as an advisory body to the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

- It is necessary to maintain transparent actions in information and in decision-making processes.

- The responsibilities of representatives of the co-management group need to be clarified in order to avoid discussing issues or aspects that exceed the objectives of their co-management.

- It is recommended to organise a working plan for the co-management group and to regularly schedule the activities of the group.

Private representatives - fishermen and processors - handle a large amount of information that is not codified or explicit. Before the co-management system was set up, this information was not available and therefore was not being used for fisheries management.

Often, private and public objectives converge. However, before the creation of the co-management committee these objectives could not be realised or understood to be aligned due to a lack of appropriate communication channels.

The support and involvement of users in research and control is greater under a co-management system than without it.

Planning phase

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Evaluation to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard.

This building block relates to an external and objective assessment of the fishery to a widely validated sustainability standard (in this case the MSC Fisheries Standard). Carrying out a pre-assessment generates a diagnosis of multiple aspects of the fishing operation, which permits to build a road map for the set of stakeholders involved in the fishery as regulators and direct users to improve each identified aspect. It facilitates the working agenda of each stakeholder in order to reach the common goal of fishing sustainability.

Based on this initial evaluation of the stone crab fishery, a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) has been designed and implemented with all interested parties. In this process, the necessary actions to reach the MSC's sustainability Standard have been scheduled over the next three years. This includes identifying responsibilities and sources of funds for the achievement of the activities.

- It is necessary to incorporate other institutions, such as NGOs, foundations, state development agencies and research organisations into the process, which will allow to catalyse the necessary actions to achieve the goals.

- Fluid communication between the stakeholders is important in order to plan join actions for common good.

- The MSC capacity building program offers a range of tools and training initiatives to help fisheries work towards sustainability and certification, including a pre-assessment template and a benchmarking tool.

The organizational capacity and level of commitment of the social group that will lead the solution is fundamental. A fragmented organisation will not achieve the commitments required for this solution.

Conducting sustainability training processes in the social group that heads the solution was crucial, since it generated a first-time confidence for the solution’s benefit.

The implementation of the solution is initially slow, since it is necessary to carry out convincing work for the different stakeholders, but as they visualize the improvements, the path becomes lighter and the advances are faster.

Implementation

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