Joint ventures (JV) are formal, contractual agreements with communities or community trusts. In this solution the community is involved in ownership of the tourism camp and there are, therefore, benefits and costs for both parties. Ownership brings with it a sense of pride and responsibility, but also a level of risk. The JV includes a shareholders' agreement; a lease agreement; a management agreement and a marketing agreement. Wilderness Safaris and the Torra Conservancy meet regularly to discuss the partnership, resolve issues, etc. Over and above financial benefits of the JV, Torra Conservancy members have gained: improved planning skills; insights and capacity for collaborative action; improved knowledge of their rights; broader vision for their community and Board committee members are empowered to make decisions and are involved in business management. JV benefits for Damaraland Camp/WS include: access to a new site, increase in market share, improved conservation and an overall fit with WS company philosophy of including communities in conservation.

Shrimp farming and cassava cultivation to reduce the pressure on mangroves and increase the resilience of women to climate change impacts.

Women organized in initiative groups in each community. Community saving allowing for the regeneration of 3 ha of mangrove forest.

Training on improved smokehouses, conflict resolution and alternative options for fire instead of mangrove wood. Exchange of experiences between women.

The purpose of this building block is to engage teachers and students from local schools in environmental protection. Members of staff of the reserve reached an agreement with the management of local schools to incorporate teaching hours in subjects such as biology, ecology and nature study by staff members of the reserve as well as planned visits to the reserve’s museum. The tandem between teachers and members of staff allowed to not only improve the environmental education in school children, but also to use the nature museum of the reserve as a place for children’s practical lessons, where they study the animals and plants of the area.

The participatory community decision-making process is the crux of effective community-based conservation. It entails community dialogue and periodic village-level consultations with different community segments i.e. village headman (Gaonburah), elders including key decision makers, women and youths. WWF-India approached the communities in western Arunachal Pradesh to keep aside a certain proportion of their rich community forests as a conserved area without compromising on the traditional right to access and use and at the same time arrive at a consensus on how to protect and manage the area for biodiversity conservation. This effort included meetings with village headmen/ key decision makers for clarification of the CCA concept, taking other villagers into confidence through numerous meetings and community/public dialogues, biodiversity documentation through research and studies, arriving at rules and regulations and finally, physical demarcation of conserved areas for effective management.

Development of partnerships with local hotels to encourage them to allocate funding to the project.

Organisation of awareness-raising meetings to prevent people from hunting marine turtles. Validation of a participatory local law on their protection.

100% of field activities (beaches and fishing port monitoring, construction and monitoring of hatcheries) are performed by villagers.

Helped to secure adhesion to the project by inhabitants, most of whom in the past had been hunters or traders / consumers of meat or eggs.