Multi-national | PANORAMA

Joint communication and appearance

Flyer on partnership of the two sites

CWSS

Joint dissemination of information and joint appearance at national and international level to inform on migratory birds and their habitats in order to raise awareness on the importance of their protection. Examples are an exhibition on migratory birds at the ITB Berlin 2017 and a joint flyer.

Defining common issues and joint goals.

Joint communication creates broader awareness internationally.

National

Multi-national

Partnership flyer

Memorandum of Understanding

Signing the MoU at the Trilateral Wadden Sea Conference 2014

CWSS

In 2014, the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation, represented by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, and the Banc d’Arguin National Park signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to protect the millions of birds that travel between their sites each year.

Defining common issues and joint goals.

The MoU is the written basis of the cooperation between the two sites and four countries with regard to nature conservation and bird life. In the framework of the MoU the Banc d’Arguin National Park joined the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative.

Multi-national

Expert elicitation workshop

The actual expert elicitation assessment is carried out during a workshop or series of workshops, attended by appointed marine experts in the field of marine environmental or socio-economic sciences. The experts collaborate and discuss the status and trends on the different parameters for the marine assessment and come to a consensus score. The scores are recorded during the workshop and entered into the SOME website. Notes are taken by a rapporteur on the discussion and the details of relevant reports, papers or other documents are recorded . The interaction and discussions during the workshop should allow the editorial board to identify potential authors to participate in the subsequent report-writing phase of the process.

A minimum of 20 experts, with at least 5 for each key discipline areas (fisheries and biology, physical sciences and socioeconomics).

A minimum of 3 full workshop days.

Internet access

The workshop allows

Documentation and dissemination of results

SOME website

GRID-Arendal

Example of summary table on the state of marine habitats in the SOME website

GRID-Arendal

GRID-Arendal has created a pilot, web-based system to capture, analyse and display state of the marine environment assessment results: http://some.grida.no. The website allows for the real-time capture and display of data (scores for parameters, confidence, risks) during the workshop and provides an online template for the production of a State of Marine Environment Report. The content and graphics can be exported and used as the basis for a national or regional SOME report or the contents can be adapted for use within other formats as required. The database allows direct correlation to the outline of the World Ocean Assessment, thereby permitting cross-referencing and combining outcomes of the assessment to optimize it as a contribution to the international effort. Another key aspect is that the diagrams and outputs that are produced by the web site are designed for easy communication of the workshop results to policy- and decision-makers. The diagrams are simple, jargon-free and clearly communicate the main findings of the judgments made by the experts.

The system is used at the expert elicitation workshop.

The web-tool

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

A guide for App Development

Decision Tree for App Development

MACBIO

App development and use is a strategic process. This guide aims to assist in this process, follwing the Digital Principles.

First objectives and types of apps are analysed, before looking at strenghts and weaknesses, as well as alternatives to smartphones and apps as technology. A guide on researching the existing app market concludes this chapter.

Secondly the enabling environment of app development is considered, from user centred development, over budget considerations and development options.

Lastly, technical aspects of app development are explored, dwelling on user needs, functionality, platforms, back and frontend, distribution and hardware considerations.

Successful development depends on enabling factors, following a strategic process that helps to ensure that the app solution

is tailored to user's needs
uses the right type of technology to address the identified objective
doesn't reinvent the wheel, if other suitable solutions already exist
is within the budget
is developed, using resources effectively
has the required functionality
uses the most suitable platform
combines backend end frontend
is distributed well
considers hardware and connectivity

The below decision tree can help to understand whether and how an app may be a useful solution to a given problem statement, following these guiding questions:

"Do I need an App for that?",
"Who makes an App for that?" and
"How to make an App for this?"

This structure is based on our experience and aims to avoid app solutions that do not properly consider objective, user need, available resources and technical requirements.

A guide for App Development

The spectrum of Smartphone Apps in (marine) resource management

There is a wide spectrum of Smartphone Apps in (marine) resource management. This Block gives orientation in the app jungle, starting with definitions and background on smartphone and app usage, and the opportunities this provides e.g. for natural resource management.

Also, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, if the answer to “Isn’t there an app for this” is yes. A list provides an overview of different app types and examples from marine management and other sectors, with a special focus on the Pacific region.

Mobile technology is on the rise and more and more people have access to these technologies, as the computing power of smartphones increases, their price drops, mobile phone coverage and access to the internet becomes more widespread and digital literacy is increasing - in industrialized world, as well as in developing and emerging economies.

Apps are bedoming more and more popular and can be powerful tools, if the addressed problem and objective of the proposed (app-) solution is well defined.

While there are many enabeling factores that can turn apps into powerful tools, often however, novelty and technical feasibility can be deceiving. Digitizing a solution often merely digitizes the problem. Instead of just going with the fashion, the problem and objective of the proposed (app-) solution should be well defined, followed by a careful SWOT analysis and consideration of possible alternatives.

Specific benefits of apps could be, e.g. wide geographical reach, while a threat could be the lack of acceptance by certain audiences, depending e.g. on their cultural background and digital literacy.

Thus app development and use must be seen as strategic process. For such a strategic approach of app development, use and monitoring, it is crucial to identify the right type of app addressing the identified audience and objective, be it “citizen science”, “crowdsourcing”, engagement, education or individual data collection.

The spectrum of Smartphone Apps in natural resource management

Top Down - National and International initiative

EcoPeace annual Conference Nov 2016 with government support

Meeting

Basin commissioners and representatives from around the world at EcoPeace's 2016 conferenct

Top-Down is the process to create broader political awareness of the issue. It includes advocacy for national and international support. Commonly a concept paper that explains the problem initiates this process with further research to support and document the issues. It is important to appeal to the news media, as their attention is necessary to heighten the political awareness of the issues and to convey the information to the public, resulting in the creation of a broader public demand for action. Media attention mobilizes national and international engagement and can foster domestic and international resource mobilization. In our experience, public opinion plays a decisive role in dictating the political agenda to local leaders as well as national decision makers.

Strong community engagement and public initiatives create the demand for political action. It is important to create an environment in which it is politically safe to discuss the solutions, if the solutions are truly in the national self-interests then politicians will more easily embrace the change and even lead it. Good relations to media and the international community can facilitate government involvement.

In an unsteady political landscape, environmental issues are held hostage, used as pawns in the overarching political conflict and within the framework of the official peace process. In order for the initiatives to produce a real change, a careful balance must be maintained: to achieve the explicit approval of officials without losing momentum to the tedium of politics.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Bottom Up - Grassroot initiative

Community involvement

Children at EcoPeace

Local stakeholders learn to become environmental leaders. They learn about their water reality. When people understand the local problems and their community's responsibility, they can meet and engage with similar groups of stakeholders from other communities across the conflict. The common ground for these cross conflict meetings is the safeguard of the shared watershed and the communities engage in productive meetings to identify solutions. Together they identify projects that speak to the self-interest of both sides. Through this process, the communities gain the capacity to advance solutions even within a turbulent political environment. In most cases, the combination of a strong youth program and outspoken adult leadership creates the political will of mayors and other municipal leaders to get involved.

The local community's leadership needs a respected leader from the local community to provide the best leadership. It is important that a regional project manager with strong project experience mentors the local leader.

Local leadership from the local community is especially important in a conflict situation to secure the trust that the leader acts in the community’s self-interest. Walks in the nature and along shared water bodies provide the best opportunity for communities to understand their water reality. Only when people understand the local problems and their community's responsibility, they can meet other communities. Community members voice an appreciation and need for an organization as EcoPeace to facilitate cross border meetings to ensure that the meetings provide a “safe-place” for the local communities to discuss issues effecting cross-border and neighbor communities. Participants were free to talk about their realities while using constructive means to seek solutions. Meetings and collaboration on environmental issues delivers a capacity to create and sustain strong networks of cross-border communication with long-term impact beyond the cross-border initiative.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Certification as a transboundary protected area

Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park received EUROPARC certification as a transboundary (TB) area in 2008 and was renewed in 2013. Aims of the certification are to 1) identify priorities for future transboundary work, and 2) raise the national and international profile of the parks and TB area as a whole. Application requirements include a joint long-term vision and guiding rules for future cooperation along with an action plan (see Building Block 3), which are essential for the continued transboundary cooperation. Initial suggestions for the vision and guiding rules were circulated among working group members before the Steering Committee agreed on the final vision: “Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park is an internationally recognised sustainable nature tourism destination known for its wilderness characteristics and natural, cultural and historical values. Promotion of nature conservation and sustainable nature tourism preserves the core values and contributes to the sound development of the area.” Bilateral and multilateral agreements between Finland, Norway and Russia were also needed for TB certification, which incorporated input from all three countries and were prepared in Finnish and translated to English then to Norweigian and Russian.

Finnish partner Metsähallitus had previously been certified as a nature protection area and had good experience with that certification procedure. The Finnish-Russian Oulanka-Paanajärvi National Park obtained the EUROPARC certificate in 2005, and Finnish staff were in contact with this national park to clarify official procedures for obtaining TB park certification. Russian partners worked intensively with the environmental ministry of Russia to justify the certification and its benefits.

Coordination of collecting the required materials from each partners in three countries was helpful for completing the certification process. Furthermore, the application was completed with the help of a translator during a trilateral meeting. A well-planned timetable is needed in addition to communication with the certifying organisation while completing the application. The application form itself was easy to complete. EUROPARC’s transboundary certification programme has been a good tool for transboundary cooperation, which has been supported by all local partners. Certification and re-certification processes lead to agreed-upon assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of the cooperation compared to other transboundary protected areas. It has also motivated participation in annual meetings of European transboundary parks, where many topics involving transboundary cooperation are shared and discussed.

EUROPARC Transboundary Protected Area certification for Pasvik-Inari Trilateral…

EUROPARC's Transboundary Parks Programme

Transboundary action plan for nature protection & sustainable tourism

The aim of developing a transboundary action plan was to ensure the future of the cooperation among the five protected areas across international borders for continued nature protection and sustainable nature tourism. The plan is available in English, Finnish, and Russian, and is divided into two main parts. Part A describes characteristics of the area, including basic information about natural and cultural history, legislation, land use, and management of the areas. Basic information is useful for those curious about the transboundary area. Management plans, area plans, and regional plans are needed for coordinating nature protection and sustainable nature tourism between and within countries. Knowledge of international agreements, legislation, practices and planning in each area is also needed for transboundary cooperation. In part B, the 10-year vision describes the joint aims and strategies of the the cooperation. Mutual strategies include: cooperation, nature monitoring, dissemination of information and nature tourism. Finally concrete actions are suggested, and more concrete plans can be made to guide short-term planning. The plan was therefore considered as an advisory plan, focusing on common long-term guidance.

Trilateral cooperation in Pasvik-Inari dates back to the 1990’s. During this time, managers of the nature protection areas signed a trilateral agreement for international cooperation, which enabled development of the action plan to implement the cooperation. Finnish and Norwegian managers of nature protection areas had schemes of their own, which were adjusted to the needs of transboundary cooperation. Creating the action plan was a prerequisite for actual transfer of funds for the project.

Developing the action plan was done with a limited timetable and during a time when internet connections were not working in Russia and fax was the only way to share commented versions of the plan. Costs for translating the final plan in English to national languages (Russian, Norwegian and Finnish) were high, and there was plenty of proof-reading work for the project partners. These issues need to be considered when planning the budget of the project. The action plan has proven to be a very good tool for the cooperation. Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park has an action plan working group, which coordinates the implementing of the individual actions. The action plan provides useful list of possible activities, from which individual activities can be implemented when external project funding becomes available. Updating of the current action plan begins in 2017, so that in year 2018 when the current action plan is expiring the updated one will be ready for implementation.

Action Plan for Nature Protection and Sustainable Nature Tourism in Pasvik-Inar…