Peer trainer candidate for marine monitoring practicing skills
Jennifer O'Leary
We recognized the need to build leadership for effective MPA management from within, and ownership and leadership of the approaches co-developed.
We convened a group of 18 regional and global experts to train the most engaged MPA practitioners across 3 nations as peer trainers in evidence-based (adaptive) management. The expert team first broke down adaptive management into 3 core components: marine monitoring, data summarization and management, and strategic decision making. We then invited applications from MPA staff and engaged community members in 3 national MPA systems (Kenya, Tanzania, and Seychelles) to become peer trainers in one of the areas, as we recognized that no one staff could likely train in all three.
We received 60 applications and invited 30 MPA members to participate in the peer trainer training in Seychelles in August 2019. We developed a 5-day training course. We did 2-days of joint sessions, then each group had 3-days in their individual core areas. The final day was testing in the core concepts. Of the 30 practitioners who participated, 11 passed as peer trainers or assistant peer trainers.
These peer trainers are now working in their respective nations to continue improving MPA management.
Existing leaders in the approaches through past in-country training events willing to become peer trainers.
Willingness of experts to volunteer their time to develop and lead the training.
Building ownership and leadership is key.
5-days probably not enough time for a peer trainer course - ideally, there would be three 5-day courses with time to practice skills in between, but this requires more funding than was available.
Identification of areas and conflicts during the 1st workshop of the MarSP project in Faial island
Cláudia Hipólito
Presentation of Dra Helena Calado during the 3rd workshop of the MarSP project in Terceira island
Cláudia Hipólito
Stakeholders developing one of the activities of the 3rd workshop of MarSP project in Terceira island
Cláudia Hipólito
The Maritime Spatial Plan of the Azores was designed in a transparent and inclusive process, with the active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders. A strategy for stakeholder engagement and guidelines for public participation were drafted for this purpose. The engagement was designed in a series of three stakeholder workshops held simultaneously in the three most populated islands of the archipelago (São Miguel, Terceira and Faial). The workshops had the same structure, which combined communication about the MSP progress as well as activities to discuss, complement and validate the project outcomes. Prior to the workshops, stakeholders were mapped using the snowball technique. All identified stakeholders were assembled in the regional stakeholder directory and invited to participate in the events over the two years of the project. Complementary activities such as interviews were undertaken to fill important knowledge gaps related to specific maritime sectors.
Planning and undertaking a transparent and inclusive participatory process.
Widespread coverage of the entire archipelago, enabling the participation of stakeholders of the nine islands.
Timely organisation and coordination among the team members, enabling communication and exchange among the simultaneous workshops in the three islands.
Collaboration of colleagues and volunteers to support and moderate the workshops.
Communicating and giving feedback to stakeholders on the results of the workshops.
Stakeholders need to be contacted well in advance to get a good response.
Good coordination and organisation among the team members and in the preparation of the materials is essential for timely implementation of the workshop activities.
The development of a visualisation tools could help to decrease the ecological footprint of this type of workshops (most materials were paper) and decrease the time spent in the organization of the materials.
Lack of data; multiplicity of reference systems or its nonexistence; the information dispersed both in terms of responsible entities and types of data (digital, analogue, etc.), affected the development of materials.
Large workload to try to standardize all the information in order to be able to use it in a GIS system.
Entities take too long to collect and make information available hindering the team's work.
Integrated and participatory research and development
An integrated research and development program should then be designed and implemented involving local communities, institutions, and decision-makers, taking into consideration capacity building, preventing inequality, local specifics, dry area ecosystems and understanding specific needs of local communities.
Motivation and promotion of awareness among the people with regard to the activity objectives and the ways to achieve them are essential.
Understanding the specific needs of a local community or a group of beneficiaries is critical in designing and implementing an appropriate system.
Institutional capacity building, water resource management policies, and management and maintenance programs are the keys to success.
Dry area ecosystems are generally fragile and have a limited capacity to adjust to change.
SI provides benefits to farmers such as higher incomes, lower risks, increases water productivity, and has a positive spill-over effect in modern technology adoption (seed and fertilizer). However, its implementation must ensure that farmers understand the practice and how to operate/manage it properly. Most important is determining best time to irrigate and the right amounts to maximize water use efficiency and productivity. Integration of cultural practices and improved varieties is important to achieve best results. Incentives are provided to adopt the technology of drip irrigation, helping modern technologies adoption.
MEET ecotourism products must satisfy a minimum criteria of sustainability and quality to be included in the MEET Catalogue. This criteria is measured and monitored against a specific set of indicators. The process is also supported by MEET tools such as the Ecological Footprint Calculator - used to measure environmental impact. MEET members commit to this monitoring on a continuous basis to ensure continued improvement of the products. MEET is currently expanding the criteria to also measure socio-economic, conservation, governance impact of ecotourism products.
The MEET Ecological Footprint Calculator, developed during Interreg-Med DestiMED project, provides the necessary tool for protected areas and others involved to measure the ecological footprint of their ecotourism product.
Furthermore, to support the use of this tool, MEET recently developed an online training module on using the calcultor. to This online training module is avaialble on www.consevationtraining.org.
Ensure those involved understand the value of this measuring and monitoring from the start, as it can seem like a big undertaking initiaitlly.
