Heidelberg already had a biodiversity policy and were organising a reward initiative related to biodiversity. This meant that there was already a good foundation to build on, and someone to advocate strongly for it within the company.

 The government of Bangladesh manages its artisanal hilsa fishery through a number of different regulatory measures, most of which focus on protecting juvenile fish:

1. Hilsa fishing is banned throughout the country during the perceived peak breeding season (22 days in October), with the aim of minimising disturbance to spawning and recruitment. Enforcement is focused on areas known to be important spawning grounds.
2. There is an eight-month nationwide ban on capture, possession, selling and transport of juvenile hilsa (fry less than 25 cm long) between November and July to maximise recruitment of juveniles to the fishery. Enforcement is focused on 7,000 square kilometres of coastal, estuarine and riverine areas. 
3. There is a year-round ban on use and production of monofilament gillnets, again for the protection of juvenile hilsa. 
4. Six hilsa sanctuaries have been designated to protect major hilsa nursery grounds. These sanctuaries range from 20-100 km sections of river. All fishing is banned for at least 2 months in these areas during their peak periods of juvenile presence.

A ‘mobile court’ team operates at the subdistrict level to enforce these regulations, with support from the police and other agencies.

In order to manage biodiversity at the municipal level, stakeholders and local governments need to have a clear understanding of their roles and competencies, as well as the tools that enable them to do so. For example, the tool for creating municipal systems of protected areas allows the municipality to consolidate the management of conservation areas, the actors involved in these processes, have more information about their territory and in many cases include the areas in land use planning. These systems are a platform that guarantees the participation and social appropriation of the municipality's inhabitants.

For the development of the virtual course, teaching and learning objectives were proposed and provided through two units: one on basic concepts and the other on practical tools for conservation. This process provided basic elements for understanding the relationship between biodiversity and the reality of the territories, as well as the identification of tools that facilitate the management of conservation areas by municipal representatives.

The participants developed the course over a period of one month, with an hourly intensity of 24 hours on the platform of the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública -ESAP- which uses a Moodle format.

FFS have been proven to have successful outcomes all over the world. They bring together aspects of agroecology, adult learning methods and community development and are widely adapted by NGOs, governments and international agencies. Overall there are some aspects that need to be considered to have successful outcomes:

• Gradual learning process: Changing processes and mindsets needs time and enough space within the workshops. Problems occur in real time and good solutions need to be practiced. This gives everyone the experience of positive outcomes and advantages in changing their perspective. Seeing something new work with success usually starts an open thought process.
• Farmers need to take the lead and define the programme.
• The learning process should be done in a structured and practical oriented process with regular meetings.
• Trainers need to facilitate rather than teach: Adult education needs to be considered by heart and supported by facilitators.
• Group processes need to be established. Therefore, training should focus on:
  • Practical group work with exercises in the field
  • Critical and analytical skills
  • Planning skills
  • Evaluation and feedback skills
• Situational and locally adapted approach during workshops.
• Fitting training fields need to be available.

Often more than one FFS is held during an implementation process. It is likely that groups develop slightly different approaches to tackle similar challenges or that groups choose different methods that are practiced at the training fields. Exchange visits offer the possibility to widen the experiences and solutions that are shared.

During exchange visits farmers from one field school visit another group of farmers that is held in a different region. Everyone is able to learn from a different experience and the outcomes of another group. This way good practices and success stories can be shared, and each group gets new input in a bottom up approach.

The management of protected areas through conservation activities is normally separated from tourist use activities. Creating a connection between the two activities can be a tool to solve many problems, showing everybody that the Park's activities are part of a single and complex strategy.

The red deer census in Foreste Casentinesi National Park is at the same time an important action of wildlife monitoring and a big touristic event, based on high quality tourism. It directly involves, during four days in low touristic season, local accomodations like mountain huts and "agriturismi" (farms),  environmental guides and interpreters, restaurants and other economic enterprises.

Each year, the working group agrees on the theme for a shared working study, which aims to share the good practices, identify the leverages and obstacles in order to better address the solutions. The co-creation of the study ensures the members’ interest in the discussed topics, thus guaranteeing their commitment. In addition, aiming towards common goals enhances the synergies among the working group.   

For example, a working group focused on the mobilization of employees identified 11 examples of successful practices such as organizing nature visits on site, displaying signs presenting biodiversity issues of operational sites, organizing events and moments of exchange with specialists, identifying a biodiversity referent, organizing training sessions or competitions. 

Two fundamental aspects to efficiently mobilize the employees were determined:  

• On one hand, the requirement to elaborate an engaged social approach led by the top management of businesses (CEOs); 

• On the other hand, the importance of promoting measures that lead to action and promoting their experiences.

The working group serves as a dialogue platform to find better solutions for biodiversity.  

The chair is made up of French IUCN Committee teams and an President  is elected usually among the business partners for a three-year mandate. The President shares with the IUCN team the concerns of businesses in order to guarantee a relevant agenda.  

The dialogue is reinforced first through a virtual meeting to agree on the yearly agenda based on a chair’s proposal, and then complemented by two face-to-face meetings per year. An improvement the last years has been the organization of sites visits on a voluntary basis from our business partners to learn from each other and confront the practices through concrete actions. It gives an insight on the replicable actions as well as the context-specific ones.  According to the needs, more meetings and exchanges can be organised throughout the year.  

Sheep farming is the main activity in the area. The number of livestock far exceeds the forage capacity of the forest rangelands. As a result, it is difficult to respect the parcels set aside for regeneration. However, the organization of livestock farmers into associations enables them to benefit from indemnities compensating them for the use of the cleared areas. This helps to regenerate the Atlas cedar, which is in danger of extinction.