Intervene to stop imminent industrial extraction threats, including existing and proposed oil and mining concessions, and territorial rights rollbacks, via both legal and policy arenas and an international markets campaign.

Given immediate threats from the current round of oil and mining leases, we will continue to scale up existing work to address urgent threats while developing this longer-term strategy.

The purpose of the communications group is to make the Initiative favorably viewed in public opinion polls in Ecuador and Peru; to have opinion leaders, scientists, ministers and key political leaders in both countries publicly declare their support for the Initiative and their opposition to expanding mining and oil activities; to obtain significant stories in both countries’ mainstream media and on social media; and to achieve international visibility in social media and conservation/environmental publications and networks, and among private and public conservation foundations and funding institutions.

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.

The local government unit (LGU) identified the partners to work with based on their expertise and presence in the area. For the development of the proposal for funding for the establishment of the Siargao Climate Field School for Farmers and Fisherfolk, Surigao State College of Technology (SSCT) was identified as implementing partner. SSCT has a campus in Del Carmen and they conducted consultations with farmers and fishers as they developed the proposal. SIKAT, an NGO experienced in implementing community-based coastal resource management programs, and other NGOs provided valuable input to the proposal. 

As implementing partner, SSCT will incorporate Climate Field School's module in their related programs such as Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Bachelor of Agricultural Technology. The climate field school module would include modules on understanding and using weather forecast in decision making which makes the commitment made by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration to provide resource persons for the module highly significant.  The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and other academic institutions are also being tapped to conduct competency exams and to monitor results, respectively.

The approach focused on 3 essential ecosystem functions: water, biodiversity and soil. The following steps were used to define criteria for each group:

1. Identification of ecosystem service relevant parameters and criteria (> 100 criteria)
2. Pre-screening: spatialization of parameters at national, regional and local scale (41 spatially available criteria)
3. Consultation: selection of final criteria based on 3 groups (water, biodiversity, soil) during group work, direct consultations; prioritization, indicator weighting and determination of criteria values (28 prioritzed criteria). Criteria examples: rainfall, hydrological resources, population density, land use, soil carbon and productivity 
4. Multicriteria analysis based on quantitative and qualitative values; preparation of 14 scenario maps, combining different groups (water, biodiversity and soil) with four priority levels; identification of priority area of 11,122,540 ha
5. Verification of results based on data from the national restoration opportunities assessment method (ROAM) study and other sources
6. Validation of results by the national FLR committee & platform and selection of 8 priority watersheds

The national strategy for forest landscape restoration and green infrastructure was developed in a participatory manner during 8 months at various stages:

1) scope definition at committee level & drafting of terms of references, selection of advisors

2) validation of methodology,

3) consultation of government, civil society and private sector at regional level (10 of 22 regions),

4) 2 validation workshops at national level for committee & platform,

5) communication of the strategy at the level of the Council of Ministers (meeting of all Ministers and Prime Ministers)

6) dissemination on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The strategy takes stock of the current situation and framework conditions in Madagascar, analyses the main challenges to reach the 4 M ha goal by 2030 and gives strategic advice on how to overcome them and mobilize key actors.

The strategy recommends priorities covering good governance, coherent spatial planning, technical restoration measures and resource mobilization. Priorities are broken down into 12 objectives and concrete activities.

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.