Three types of data were particularly important in the design and promotion of the “Program for Earthquake-Resistant School Buildings”: school data, data on damages, and data on hazard risks. School data was collected by surveys and investigations conducted by FDMA and MEXT. A list of the surveys is indicated below.

One of the biggest instigators for developing and promoting school retrofitting is the past experiences of earthquakes. The 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake triggered the development of the program’s comprehensive guidelines, and the program gained momentum after the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake and 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China which caused the collapse of 6,898 school buildings and 19,065 deaths of schoolchildren. This prompted MEXT officials to pass the revised Act on Special Measures for Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures, which supported additional national subsidies toward the school retrofitting and reconstruction program. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake prompted the program to give higher priority to nonstructural elements and highlighted the need for tsunami countermeasures and functional improvements of schools as evacuation centers. Learning from each disaster event and applying the lessons learned to the improvement of the systems has contributed to ensuring the seismic safety of public schools.

Promoting EbA measures with a high level of community involvement and binational ties was an effective way to achieve greater interaction between community, municipal and national actors, and also between peers (network of resilient producers; local government encounter). The results are, on the one hand, greater local empowerment, and on the other, scaling-up of EbA measures both vertically and horizontally. Thus, contributions are made towards institutionalizing EbA and creating conditions for its sustainability. The replication of the integral farm model arose from networking between producers, communities and local governments, and from a regional project with the Binational Commission of the Sixaola River Basin (CBCRS) that provided the financing. The Agrobiodiversity Fair, the work of producers as a network, and the Binational Reforestation Events, which are now all under the auspices of local and national institutions, were important mobilizing forces of change and spaces for exchange and learning. In the vertical sense, the scaling-up of EbA included working with the CBCRS to integrate EbA in the Strategic Plan for Transboundary Territorial Development (2017-2021), and with MINAE in the National Climate Change Adaptation Policy of Costa Rica.

For the continuity of the project, we need sustainable finance. Forena is currently partnering with Lux* Resorts and Hotels, Kolos, Rotary clubs, PWC(PricewaterhouseCoopers), Abax, IBL Together(Ireland Blyth Limited), HSBC(Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) and Porlwi by nature (Ciel Group). It feeds into the overarching project to regenerate the total 11 hectares of the mountain ecosystem.Tree planting and clean up events were done with those stakeholders and their employees. These activities support the revival of the ecosystem of Citadel and Petrin, the reduction of soil erosion and desertification and allow the connection with nature and healthy living. In this way, the stakeholders get to know how their money is being spent for the reforestation of Citadel and Petrin.They are contributing to the conservation and preservation of the native forests of Mauritius indirectly. Protecting nature should not only reflect the work of non-governmental organisation but also that of stakeholders involved which would not have been possible without them.

FORENA alongside Friends of the Environment(FOE) are currently running the 'Restoration and Valorisation of the Citadel of Port Louis' project, under the Tourism Authority, with a team of experts comprised of architects, historians, archaeologists, and ecologists of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), that envisages the historical restoration and valorisation of the Citadel heritage to be used for tourism, education and leisure purposes.

FOE  has been active in the organisation of environmentally important conferences and seminars. They have renovated and now assume management of the Martello Tower Museum and, through the Heritage Trust, continue the rehabilitation of cemeteries. Members have been participating on many committees for the environment over the years. 

MWF works for the conservation and preservation of the nation's endangered plant and animal species. They collaborate with local and international partners, with the long-term aim of recreating lost ecosystems by saving some of the rarest species from extinction and restoring the native forests.