Between 2013 and 2018, captive-bred choughs were soft-released in small cohorts replicating normal family group size.

The plan was to release chicks shortly after fledging although sub-adults (< 4 years old) were used for the first release. Captive breeding at Jersey Zoo was not successful until 2014.

Cohorts acclimatized and socialized in the release aviary for a minimum of 2 weeks and trained to associate a whistle with food, enabling staff to call birds back to the aviary if needing re-capturing. Each cohort was initially given a set amount of time outside then called back in for food and confined until the next release. Duration outside increased day by day until reaching full liberty. Staff followed any bird that failed to return attempting to lure it back if feasible. If it had gone to roost, staff would return at sunrise to retry.

All birds were fitted with leg rings. Tail-mounted VHF transmitters were fitted to all birds released between 2013 and 2016. Initially, they received three supplemental feeds a day, as in captivity, reducing to once a day. This continues to the present day permitting close monitoring.

Jersey Zoo’s Veterinary Department conducted pre-and post-release faecal screening to monitor parasite levels, administer wormer if necessary, and have also treated physical injuries.

Paradise Park loaned two pairs of choughs to Jersey Zoo in 2010 to begin a captive breeding program. To establish a wild population, it was estimated 30 to 50 juveniles needed to be released over a 5 to 7-year period. Any shortfalls in numbers would be supplemented by importing juveniles from Paradise Park.

Jersey Zoo transformed two aviaries into dedicated breeding aviaries and created a display aviary to house the flock over winter mimicking natural behavior. Nest boxes were fitted with cameras for remote monitoring. Nestlings are susceptible to aspergillosis and nematode infections in captivity. Cameras allow staff to monitor for clinical signs and intervene as soon as possible to ensure survival.

Paradise Park, with decades of experience breeding choughs, provided guidance, training, and financial support. Jersey staff spent time behind the scenes at Paradise Park to learn about chough husbandry reciprocating once the release was underway with staff from the UK visiting Jersey.

Despite releases ending in 2018, Jersey Zoo continues to breed chough in captivity providing a backup in case there is a renewed need to release. It also allows a conservation message to be communicated to the public through educational talks at the display aviary. Surplus juveniles are returned to Paradise Park’s breeding program.

Jersey farmland bird transects have been conducted by Durrell staff, partners and volunteers since 2005. This data combined with other datasets highlighted declining population trends leading to the publication of The Conservation Status of Jersey’s Birds.

In 2010, a partnership between Durrell, the National Trust for Jersey, and the Government of Jersey established Birds On The Edge, a conservation initiative to restore depleted coastal farmland bird populations. The reintroduction of chough acting as a driving force to implement change.

Feasibility studies supported the need to reintroduce chough; natural colonization was not a feasible option. They also identified a release site at Le Don Paton on the north coast. The National Trust for Jersey introduced a free-ranging flock of Manx loaghtan sheep to graze the site ensuring the birds had natural foraging habitat once released. The National Trust also purchased adjacent agricultural fields to avoid any land management conflicts and to sow conservation crops (another component of the initiative).

A reintroduction plan was created following IUCN Guidelines for reintroductions and other conservation translocations. This document assisted in securing licensing for the release, initial funding, and provided a way of clearly communicating intentions to stakeholders.

UN SDSN Turkey has built an efficient coalition for education on SDGs with the academy, NGOs and municipalities.

The 7 weeks certified seminar program including experimentation workshop in the form of online courses to municipal employees and to the stakeholders are efficient to prepare the staff to take action for the climate crisis and build sustainable and resilient cities.

Three foresight techniques were employed: (1) horizon scanning, (2) the Delphi Method, and (3) Backcasting. 

Horizon scanning is a technique used for researching signals of change in the present and their potential future impacts. This ensured a comprehensive overview of the existing development issues, and narrow them down to a set of potentially challenging ones. Data collected in this process include secondary data related to SDG targets, headlines of newspapers in the past 3 years, social media trends in the past year, and insights into the local situations by local NGOs and CSOs.  

The Delphi method was employed to narrow down and prioritize the potential challenges and issues. This method was used for the design of the consultation process in which each expert has the least non-academic influence on each other. This project had two rounds of questionnaires. The first round was to cross-check the data from horizon scanning by the experts. The second round was for prioritizing identified challenging development issues. 

The prioritized ones were selected as topics for the regional foresight workshop in which Backcasting was employed. It was used to design a participatory process in which stakeholders formulated their aspirations and proposed strategic directions to achieve the future. 

Local researchers are the most important actors in the implementation of this project. 

The project involved experienced researchers and professors based in 8 universities which were organized in 6 regional teams in the North, Northeast, Central, East, South, and Deep South. 

Although they come from various disciplines, most of their research interests are focused on development, at the local, provincial, and regional levels. They have insights on local problems, social capital and close connections with different stakeholders in the region. They came into this project with expertise covering some issues within the localization and implementation of the SDGs, and curiosity to learn more and utilize the Global Goals for promoting their local agenda.

Digital KICK in its current state addresses a few SDGs including SDG 2, 3,4,5,6,11 and 12. Customized content to enhance knowledge on other SDGs can be incorporated into the solution.

The national fleet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) highly depends on imported fuels and is therefore a significant source of GHG-emissions. The bilateral program “Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport (LCST)” implemented by RMI and the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aims at supporting the RMI Government´s planning and decision-making processes with respect to its low carbon future and the reduction of GHG-emissions from domestic sea transport, through consultancy, research, training, coordination of policy support to RMI and supporting in delivering RMI’s commitments under UNFCCC to achieve reduced GHG emissions from domestic shipping 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

The Marshallese Government founded and is an active member of the High Ambition Coaltion for Shipping (SHAC) at IMO and UNFCCC and due to their ambition, the group of supporters of an ambitious contribution of sea transport to the climate goals is growing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international meetings and high-level conferences are taking place remotely to a high extend.

Ri Majol, the people of the Marshall Islands were known for their superior boat building and sailing skills for centuries. They traveled frequently between their atolls (for trade and war) on big offshore canoes called Walap (some of them 100ft long). The lagoons of their low-lying coral atolls where crested by sails of smaller outrigger canoe designs for rapid inside lagoon transportation, food gathering and fishing. Together with Waan Aelõñ in Majel, we are reviving the traditional knowlege combined with modern technology. The ambitious goals of the Marshall Islands in the sea transport sector have become the main driver and motivation for us to pursue and to transition towards a low carbon fleet for the Marshall Islands for transport inside the lagoons and between atolls. Currently, a 150 ft. Training Vessel is about to be constructed and delivered to RMI by the 2nd half of 2022. After the agreement of the design, the market survey process started with the objection to identify shipyards that are interested and capable of building the new built as drafted in the tender design. The Maritime Training Approach in the Marshall Islands sets a clear focus on Low Emission Sea Transport Education and will train future sailors as part of the national fleet operators.