To support the Government of DRC in its national transition towards IWRM a Roadmap was developed to guide the development of a National Water Policy. The Roadmap outlines the principal orientation and necessary steps in the elaboration of the National Water Policy, the principal stakeholders involved, an initial work plan, and a fund mobilization strategy. DRR is also highlighted in the Roadmap as a priority theme along with capacity building and cross-sectoral coordination. This Roadmap is influenced by the IWRM experience in Lukaya and makes specific reference to DRR and the role of local communities in IWRM.

A National working group on Eco-DRR was also formed at the demand of the Government, who had interest in establishing a National Platform on DRR.

As this was DRC’s first experience in applying both the Eco-DRR, as well as IWRM approach, it was critically important to progressively develop and strengthen capacities over time, which involved:

• Awareness-raising;
• training and workshops;
• Hands-on learning activities in the field demonstration sites;
• Field visits and study tours both in the country and in the region.

There was a total of 71 trainings and workshops. These covered general meetings (inception and presentation); national awareness raising workshops on Eco-DRR and IWRM; workshops related to IWRM, the role of Eco-DRR in IWRM and action planning; trainings on hydro-meteorological monitoring, soil erosion monitoring and flood risk modelling; training on agroforestry and value chain production; and trainings on soil loss monitoring and bioengineering to reduce soil erosion.

This component aimed to promote ecosystem based measures and disaster risk reduction in Afghanistan where such work is budding only nationally. The project therefore identified entry points such as climate change adaptation work and promoted the overall concept of disaster risk reduction in the country with ecosystem-based measures as an integral component of DRR.

The project invested significantly in building capacity for Eco-DRR implementation. Firstly, awareness raising for different audiences (communities in the project area, government, university and other local and national audiences) was conducted by various means such as radio, conferences, workshops, factsheets and posters, 3D model and video.

Secondly various workshops on Eco-DRR implementation were undertaken at the local level to instruct on nursery management, early warning and preparedness, community resilience centre management, as well as trainers training. Field demonstrations and practical trainings at the provincial and national level served as a basis for strengthening Provincial and National Governments’ understanding of Eco-DRR practice in order to sustain future implementation and replication of Eco-DRR measures.

Finally, the project involved universities in Afghanistan in national and provincial EcoDRR conferences and trainings, in an effort to mainstream Eco-DRR concepts and practical knowledge in university programmes.

Where commercial lionfish harvesting is not practical or permitted (such as in protected areas), or if the current fishing pressure is not sufficient to suppress lionfish populations below site-specific management targets, a combination of alternative removal methods can be used to reduce lionfish populations, including:

• culling by SCUBA, either by protected area managers or dive operators

• lionfish culling competitions (also known as derbies or tournaments)

• deep-water traps, whilst still at the design stage, have the potential to be used as a tool within a package of lionfish management actions

Multiple stakeholders may need to conduct one or more of these activities at a given site to achieve a desired level of lionfish suppression.

The dynamics of human and natural systems are complex and characterized by reciprocal feedbacks that can interact across local and global scales. Successful natural resource management requires a better understanding of these coupled human and natural systems (CHANS), which must be incorporated at the planning stage. A CHANS approach involves both ecological and social concerns, and requires an interdisciplinary team to develop a conceptual framework of socioecological interactions (SEF), aiding all actors to consider potential outcomes from many different perspectives.

As a viable lionfish control programme will impact upon a wide range of stakeholders, it is crucial to develop a lionfish management strategy using a CHANS approach to maximize benefits and minimize unintended outcomes.

A population dynamics model that estimates lionfish population abundance, biomass and size structure under different management scenarios is central to lionfish management planning. Changes to all affected systems can then be interpreted qualitatively using the SEF.

The creation of the Yaigojé Apaporis Indigenous Reserve and Natural National Park marked the beginning of a new relationship model between indigenous peoples and the Colombian Government. It was necessary to seek mechanisms to ensure the governance and integral conservation of their life systems, without interfering with their rights to their territorial autonomy and to the cultural management that they have traditionally carried out. Once the park was created, the process of formulating its Special Management Regime (REM) was initiated. This regime was the instrument through which the joint administration of the park was shared by the Colombian Natural National Parks (PNNC) and the Yaigojé Apaporis Indigenous Captains Association (ACIYA). Establishing the REM required an internal (or endogenous) research methodology, proposed by the indigenous communities and supported by the experience of the GAIA Amazonas Foundation. This methodology was based on the guidelines issued by an Amazon Indigenous Congress that identified the topics to be collected in each of the communities, in order to guide the design of the REM. This approach helped promote the participation of indigenous communities with three representatives and a shaman.

The Yaigojé Apaporis Indigenous Reserve was created in 1998 through a request of the indigenous Tanimuca, Yucana, Letuama, Matapí, Cabayari, Macuna, Barazano, and Yujup-Macú peoples. In 2008, through a consensus in an extraordinary session of the Traditional Authorities and the Indigenous Captains (ATCI), these communities decided to request the creation of a National Park overlapping the limits of the Reserve. The request was based on the consideration that this would eliminate the development of mining operations and other natural resources exploitation that might endanger biodiversity, their sacred sites and, as a consequence, their customs, social composition, and environmental context.

The creation of the Yaigojé Apaporis Indigenous Reserve and Natural National Park has a long process of working with the GAIA Amazonas Foundation, which had the technical and financial support of the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. The decision to move to a Special Management Regime (REM) needed the have full local support, ensure the autonomy of the indigenous communities, and strengthen their traditional systems. In addition, it was necessary for them to have negotiation and coordination skills to establish an agreement with the State.

The National System of Protected Areas Act, enacted in July of 2000, established the Conservation Mosaic Approach. Mosaics are a “set of Conservation Units (UC) of equal or different category that are close, adjoining or overlapping, and other public or private protected areas” that are managed in an integrated manner, according to the goals of each UC.

To address the challenge of managing socio-environmental conflicts and optimizing human, financial, and material resources, the Bajo Río Negro Conservation Mosaic was established in 2010, with a total area of 7,329,220 hectares, and integrated by 11 UC, among them the Jaú National Park and the Unini RESEX. The implementation of this approach prioritizes conservation processes for larger areas, which allows for landscape integrated management of areas along the Jaú and Unini rivers to the north, and the Bajo Río Negro to the south of the mosaic. By viewing the protected areas like parts of a larger unit, functional and interconnected, it was necessary to include a participatory methodology in the design of management plans, that encouraged the participation of multiple actors in the decision-making process related to the administration of the territory and its natural resources.

The Jaú National Park represents one of the largest extensions of protected tropical rainforests in the world, protecting a great extent of the Aguas Negras river basin. Due to its prominence, this protected area was prioritized by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA),  a program created in 2002 by the Brazilian Government and managed by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio).

The ARPA program has the financial backing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the German Government, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Amazon Fund, through the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the Moore Foundation, and currently, private companies that act as donors to the program. The program is designed to last 13 years, and it’s aimed at expanding and strengthening the Brazilian National System of Protected Areas in the Amazon, through the protection of 60 million hectares of conservation units in the Amazonian biome, and ensuring financial resources for the management of those areas in the short and long run. It is implemented in three independent and continuous phases: Phase I between 2003 and 2010, Phase II between 2010 and 2015, and Phase III with a deadline of 25 years.