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.

A series of trainings for national decision makers was conducted covering topics such as FLR terms & definitions, strategies addressing drivers of degradation (e.g. wood energy), as well as financing options. Capacity building was conducted continuously and had a ‘training on the job’ character; it was aligned with concrete aspects such as FLR studies (ROAM study, financing options), the national FLR strategy and identification of FLR priority landscapes. ~40 relevant actors (universities, civil society, private sector) were able to provide their input in the form of questionnaires on how to define priority areas for FLR, which was a cornerstone of capacity building.

The training was complemented by the participation of national representatives at various FLR & AFR100 regional and international conferences; this enabled further knowledge exchange at global level to improve national strategies.

At present, capacity building focuses at the regional level; a training module has been developed and tested in Boeny region in April 2018 and will be adapted for application in Diana region. Additional trainings will be held for the Ministry of Spatial Planning, covering land governance.

A multidisciplinary national FLR committee was set up as an advisory board, facilitating intersectoral & interministerial coordination to moving from the FLR pledge to concrete policies and action. It consists of 15 persons including the ministries of environment, agriculture, energy and water, spatial planning and representatives from civil society and the private sector.

It covers five working groups dealing with i) forest management, ii) water, iii) agriculture, vi) financing and v) soil management. It validates all key decisions. Members also participate, as resource persons, in technical capacity building activities.

The committee conducted a stakeholder and capacity needs assessment, funding analysis and facilitated various multi-stakeholder dialogues e.g. for the development of the national forest landscape restoration strategy and ensures that the interests of involved stakeholders are considered.

The FLR platform is a multi-stakeholder dialogue forum with more than 50 members, led by the FLR committee, to discuss, propose and validate practical solutions for forest landscape restoration at regional and local level and support the implementation of the FLR strategy and capacity development.

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.

It is necessary to develop a strong, concise and attractive pitch pack, which is professional and clearly shows the project’s importance and budget. It is extremely important to make a clear pitch on how, by funding the project, the organisation or company will benefit. For example, for X amount of money the funder logo will be used on project t-shirts and the funder will be mentioned in all media coverage.  The pitch pack should include the project logo, and use visual aids to bring the point across. In this case we used images of Aldabra, it’s wildlife and the impact of the plastic pollution. Since we were distributing these packs in the UK and Seychelles it was vital to create each pack with the local context in mind, whether it was currency conversions or the use of particular quotes from recognisable figures. Alongside the pitch pack we created a campaign video which introduces the problem and the solution using strong imagery and a voiceover. With these steps completed, we could then plan the project launch. The aim of the launch was to garner a maximum amount of media coverage and engage as many individuals and companies as possible via a face-to-face event. We therefore organised events both in UK and in Seychelles, in which potential donors and supporters were invited.

Before beginning to approach potential funders it was necessarily to carefully plan and design the project and anticipate all the information that funders would wish to know. This includes the project aims and outputs, the team involved, the logistical plan and the budget. It is also important to clearly think about how the project will have a lasting legacy beyond the clean-up expedition. This should be developed into a full written project proposal.

Following completion of the project design it is necessary to set-up project media sites, this also required developing a project logo, title and tag line. We also set-up specific project email addresses. The media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & project website) all required initial content and therefore a photo library was compiled and content text established. Before launching the project we also completed team recruitment (12 team volunteers in total) and allocated specific team roles for the duration of the project, for example, social media officer, outreach officer, science officer. With this now in place it was possible to plan a fundraising strategy.

Developed attitude and behavior assessment surveys targeting specific groups (e.g., visitors, local communities, and productive sectors) who visit or reside near MPAs carried out at different times. A web-based “Friends of the SMPA Society” comprised of national and international scientists and members of civil society were put in place. The project developed an information dissemination and communication strategy specific in marine topics, which will inform the general population about MPAs through print, audiovisual (radio, TV, newspapers, and internet), as well as dissemination meetings. The main activities were: a)Dissemination campaigns; b)implementation of the SAMP web page; c)awareness campaigns in educational centers (schools and universities); and d) establishment of a data base of images and videos bilingual (Spanish and English). SAMP promoted in international and national events of scientific nature, such as seminars, congresses, side-event in COP of Biodiversity, among others. Main results: 11% increase over the baseline of behavior and attitudes test scores; 5 new funding proposals leveraged by the “Friends of the SMPA Society"; national recognition at the end of the GEF-Project promoted a participatory roadmap for sustainability of next 5 years reacheness.

The institutional and individual capacity for the management of the MPAs in the SAMP were improved: a) developed or strengthen training programs for MPA management (e.g., regulatory framework, management plans, financial
sustainability, and monitoring and conservation); b) developed of planning and resource use agreements; c) supported the consolidation of the MPA management plans; d) monitoring and use of GIS tools to aid MPA management decision-making was developed; and e) assessment of the MPA management effectiveness using the METT tool was runned. Additionally, the project contributed to enhance the institutional
capacity of INVEMAR and to improved MPA management by providing funds to update monitoring/research and GIS laboratories in new headquarters in Santa Marta. The main outputs: A monitoring system for the SMPA articulated with SINAP’; Agreements for planning and resource use developed for six (6) pilot MPAs specifying roles, financial obligations, and conflict-resolution mechanisms; Selected staff from MPAs and decision-makers trained in MPA management, financial planning, and monitoring and evaluation; Existing ecology programs in higher educational institutions include MPA; Decision Support System based-GIS tools. 

The sustainable financial management plans are oriented to meet the needs of the Subsystem through the identification of activities  run by the local communities which can raise revenues. Such activities include eco-tourism (scientific tourism, birdwatching, marine mammal watching), sport fishing, scenic diving and sustainable use of biodiversity resources. These plans are entailed towards the conservation of the ecosystem goods and services while giving economical opportunites to local communities and environmental entities. A financial framework ensuring the sustainability of the SAMP consolidated through the strengthening of current sources of financing and the inclusion of new ones. The framework includes the development of provisions and mechanisms to increase the current government and non-government contributions to the MPAs. Agreements to override MPA management cost with the direct beneficiaries of conservation was defined. To assess the potentiality of payments for avoided deforestation in mangroves as a financing option for MPAs and SAMP, a pilot project for the reduction of emissions caused by deforestation-degradation of mangroves was formulated and executed in Cispata. Now under replication and apply for "bluecarbon market". 

The SMPA is established and supported by a legal, institutional, and operational framework. 

•Legal, institutional and operational framework:

8,6 million hectares under protection (8,9% aprox of marine areas)

11 new MPAs (initial target was 3)

2 Action Plans developed and supported: SIRAP Caribe y Pacífico: a) stakeholder analysis, articulation mechanisms, work plans, and specific actions for the MPAs to be included as part of action plans; b) reviewing the status of the processes for the SIRAPs’ establishment, at the same time taking into account the SINAP’s guidelines and facilitating the coordinated actions within the MPAs.

•Legal developments

SAMP Action Plan 2016 – 2023 design and start implementation

Formal adoption of SAMP by CONAP (National Protected Areas Council)

Operational agreements

Those results contributes to guarantee a representative sample of coastal and marine biodiversity at multiple biological organization levels; to assure the continuity of ecosystem services;  to maintain the natural elements asociated to material and inmaterial importance objects essencial to cultural values; and to guarantee the ecological processes maintaining the conectivity of marine biodiversity.