Subnational | PANORAMA

Sustainability and replicability

Maintaining and strengthening the established stakeholder’s engagement mechanism with overarching provincial, district and divisional governance bodies with sustainable financing solutions and capacity building is required for sustainability and replicability of the solution. 'The National Policy of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas management' provides the required policy framework for replication of this solution. When the communities identify the potential of resilience building of their livelihood through conservation, it becomes an incentive for their active collaboration on co-management and join monitoring of natural resources. Within given Sri Lankan context, there are many environmentally sensitive seascapes, where it could replicate this model, and this is being factored within National Environment Action Plan 2021-2030 for Sri Lanka. Therefore, there is an evident potential for sustainability and replication of this model.

Partnerships with stakeholders at every level
Continuous awareness raising about the importance of BRMS and community lives associate with it.

During the initial phase of restoring the BRMS, a case study was carried out using methods of unstructured focus groups discussions via cause-problem-impact diagrams and structured key informant interviews, and observations of this initiative revealed that community believes on 'CBNRM and Co-management' over 'regulation driven management' of Department of Wildlife Conservation. This solution was accepted and is currently proposed for replication at ESA national scaleup plan in seascapes.
Co-management of implementation activities to ensure sustainability and active lobbying to influence and implement conservation measures was also considered as a lesson learned.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Providing Emergency Aid to Health Centres

Map of PHCs Where Medical Supplies Have Been Delivered (as of 13 July, 2021)

Vinni Jain/CWS

The second wave of COVID-19 in April, 2021 left India in deep distress, with rural and remote communities affected severely. These areas have a huge shortage of essential supplies and medicines, with primary health centre (PHC) workers being short staffed and overworked. Due to CWS’ strong on-ground presence and the implementation of Wild Surakshe workshops in rural Karnataka and Goa, we were able to directly observe the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on people in rural India.

The Wild Surakshe program has enabled us to build a network of several hundred people to act on the ground. Thus, our local field staff are well-equipped to provide support and help curtail the rapid spread of COVID-19 and similar zoonotic diseases in these areas.

We are currently using our resources to support over 500 PHCs across Karnataka and Goa by procuring COVID-19 essentials like face shields, PPE kits, oximeters, thermal scanners, gloves, masks, and medicines. Our field staff are also closely monitoring the state of these PHCs to offer any additional immediate assistance they need. By providing such immediate assistance during emergencies in our project areas, we want to ensure people are getting help when they really need it, and strengthen our ties to local communities and stakeholders.

1. We speak to medical staff and community workers to identify rural PHCs in remote areas without access to COVID-19 relief materials and take note of their patient loads and requirements.

2. We raise funding, source materials and provide medical resources requested by them such as oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, BP Monitors, IR thermometers, etc.

3. Our pre-existing relationships with PHCs through Wild Surakshe and other CWS programs help us understand local challenges and effectively meet their requirements.

1. Communities in these remote areas were hit hard by the second wave of COVID-19 in India, and need urgent ongoing support and relief to manage this and future outbreaks.

2. Doctors from primary health centres in these areas have a very strong network. By tapping into this network and forging a long-term relationship with doctors, we can understand local conditions and health requirements better for future interventions and continued support.

Implementation

Monitoring

Subnational

Stakeholder Engagement

Key stakeholders such as Department of Wildlife Conservation, Divisional Secretariat & District Secretariats, Ministry of Environment, UNDP, Ocean Resources Conservation Association, University of Wayamba, IUCN, Sri Lanka Navy, Coastal Conservation Department, National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency were involved in this project. Together the technical knowledge and experience of experts in the field, demarcation of the Bar Reef, designing of buoys, buoy deployment and allied activities were implemented.

While above named institutions provided the neccessary technical expertise, training and awareness and input for monitoring and evaluation, key local community members, such as members of the 'Tour Boat Society' (a society which was established for tour guides in the area), were also given the opportunity to participate in the demarcation activities to identify the GPS locations of the areas to be protected at Bar reef with the participation of specialists and other stakeholders. An identified team of locals, such as tour boat operators/guides were also involved as local volunteers to assist in monitoring and maintenance of the buoys and the protected zone.

Since the community involved were heavily dependent on promoting tourism in Bar Reef, and in order to encourage flow of tourists to the Bar Reef, they were motivated to participate in conservation activities.
District/Divisional Secretariats and DWC were capacitated on the true gound level situation and importance of Bar Reef conservation and its biological value for the both the community and environment.
Participatory approach to project design & implementation and mobilization of national, regional & local level champions.

During the course of implementation of conservation activities, it was identified that inclusive community engagement, mobilization and transparancy is much needed. Since this was a transitional community who, depending on the season, engaged in both tourism and fishing activities simultaneously. it was difficult to find a fully focused and committed community to actively participate for conservation activities throughout the year. Further, it was noticed that with changing economic conditions, Easter Sunday attack, COVID-19 sitution and fall of tourism, community was rather less driven to participate in Bar Reef conservation.

In conclusion, with capacity building and awareness raising, active, voluntary engagement in buoy redeployment after off-season, periodic progress monitoring and recording of the changes of the reef and increased community awareness on natural heatwaves, anthropogenic activities that adversely affect the ecosystem, led to motivation and dedication of community to conserve the Bar Reef and ensure sustainability.

Evaluation, Monitoring and Data Collection

Participant With a Pre Survey Form in Bisle Village in Karnataka

Nagachandan Honnur/CWS

Handing out Pre Survey Forms in Palya Village

Mamatha Prasad/CWS

Before and after each Wild Surakshe workshop, we conduct pre and post surveys. The surveys allow us to record the baseline level of knowledge of participants and to receive feedback about the workshops. So far we have conducted more than 3000 pre surveys and 2500 post surveys. We are currently analyzing the information collected from these surveys from over 150 workshops.To enable offline data collection in remote areas we have developed an application and platform called Wild Connect. Our staff download the app on their phone to access the forms they need to fill. Once the data is entered, the forms are stored locally, then uploaded to the cloud whenever internet connectivity is available. This cloud data can be accessed and downloaded by our central office staff for validation and further analysis. Our staff also use the app to collect data on human-wildlife conflict incidents. Wild Connect is only used by CWS staff to collect data, and is not used for any insurance or compensation payments. The results and outputs from the Wild Surakshe program will be shared with relevant government and private agencies and published in peer-reviewed scientific articles and reports to develop targeted long-term interventions to prevent future outbreaks and the rapid spread of zoonotic diseases.

1. We ensure field staff are well trained in unbiased and accurate data collection.

2. The pre and post surveys administered are well structured and detailed, which enables effective evaluation.

3. The participants are asked about the effectiveness of the program twice, at the end of the workshop and while conducting post surveys.

1. Sometimes, using laptops or mobile phones to gather data makes some of the participants uneasy. Some of them are still skeptical about the use of technology.

2. When field staff conduct a workshop and contact participants post surveys over the telephone to seek suggestions, participants have been very welcoming and our relationship with the communities has grown stronger.

3. Currently, our app does not have multilingual services and support, but we plan on incorporating this in the future.

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Subnational

Conducting Workshops in Villages Near Protected Areas

Workshop in Chembu village

Saritha DL/CWS

Conducting a Workshop in Gumballi Village in Karnataka

Mohana Kumar/CWS

Workshops are conducted in vulnerable villages focusing on public health and safety by trained CWS staff. Participants usually consist of families, frontline workers, government staff, and members of other non-profit and self-help groups. The workshops are conducted using illustrations, videos, and demonstrations. Each workshop has five sessions. The first session titled “ Our Wildlife'' introduces the participants to various wildlife species found in their landscape and their significance. The second session, “Preventing Injuries due to wildlife” teaches the participants how to coexist with wildlife and the do’s and don’ts of wildlife encounters. The third session titled “Responding to Wildlife Encounters” takes participants through the steps one can follow if a conflict incident such as livestock loss or injury takes place. The fourth session “Zoonotic Diseases'' shares important information on seven relevant zoonotic diseases - COVID-19, Nipah, Scrub Typhus, Kyasanur Forest Disease, etc. The fifth and final session “Basic First Aid'' teaches participants various basic first aid techniques through demonstrations. After each workshop, we also distribute safety guidelines and emergency contact information. To obtain feedback and evaluate effectiveness, we conduct pre and post surveys before and after each workshop.

1. We ensure workshops are interactive with questions/ discussions/ local examples.

2. We encourage participation of representatives from all relevant sectors (health/forest/administration/self-help groups/panchayats etc.)

3. We use videos and demonstrations for better visualization of concepts.

4. While concluding workshops, we ask for feedback and try to apply it in following workshops.

5. We provide handouts with summarized information.

After conducting several workshops we have learned the following:

1. Most of the participants are busy and travel from far locations. We ensure we know about time constraints at the start of each workshop so that participants can be present for the entire duration.

2. Breaks between sessions are important for participants to discuss and absorb information.

3. We encourage local leaders to help us identify the people we can invite, which enables better discussions during the workshop.

Implementation

Subnational

The participation of civil society in co-management

Authorities and civil society gathered

GRUPAMA

Meeting of authorities and civil society

GRUPAMA

Civil society acts as the driving force and articulator of the biodiversity conservation and nature tourism development proposal.

On the other hand, participation and co-management ensure a broad base of society to implement the proposal.

Local NGOs know the reality and problems of the area and are in horizontal contact with the inhabitants. In addition to identifying the problems, they can and should contribute to their solution.

In general, civil society maintains continuity of proposals over time, while political actors alternate due to electoral changes.

On the other hand, civil society maintains its focus and centers its interest on the project, while the authorities must attend to a number of issues that dilute their attention.

Notwithstanding the above, CSOs can make contributions in cultural, artistic and sports issues.

At the beginning, the loss of power implicit in co-management generated some discomfort among political actors. It is difficult to accept the interference of third parties who are not elected by popular vote.

It was also difficult for the representatives of civil society to determine exactly the limits of their powers and not to exceed them.

Pluralism and non-partisan group action, even if each individual maintains his or her own preferences and political activities, has served to reduce the fears of political actors and to gain their respect and that of the community.

Experiencia de cogestión en Rincón de Franquía

Building Relationships With Local Stakeholders

Interacting with Stakeholders in Kundacheri Village

Nagachandan Honnur/CWS

Interacting with Frontline Workers in Martalli Village

Mohana Kumar/CWS

Before conducting workshops, we build connections with local key stakeholders who are at the frontline of managing zoonotics and human-wildlife conflict. First, we contact the state health ministries. Currently, we have support from the Directorate of Health Services in Goa and the Department of Health and Family Welfare in Karnataka. We then identify districts for conducting workshops and obtain permissions from the District Commissioner, District Zilla Panchayat CEO, District Health Officer, and Forest Department officials. So far, we have done this in 10 districts. We also meet and get permissions from taluk (sub-district) officers including Taluk Executive Officers of Panchayats, and Block Medical Officers. Next, we identify the Village Gram Panchayats where we will conduct workshops and get permissions from Panchayat Development Officers and Primary Healthcare Centers. Lastly, we visit and invite local prominent citizens or organizations relevant to our program such as previous partners, teachers, child development program officials, veterinary officials, and farmer cooperatives. We use these interactions to understand local health and infrastructure challenges. Based on our findings and the local ecological and socioeconomic context, we adapt the content of our workshops.

1. We take local socio-economic and ecological conditions into consideration.

2. We take notes on local cultural perspectives towards wildlife.

3. We obtain information on local health conditions such as accessibility to healthcare, interest levels in visiting primary health centers, major deterrents to availing these facilities, prominent diseases which we should talk about, etc.

4. We analyze past disease outbreaks or human-wildlife conflict incidents from the village which can be used as examples.

Some of the challenges that we faced while working with remote, rural communities were:

1. Mobilizing stakeholders to participate in our workshops due to the remoteness of locations and the COVID-19 pandemic

2. Scheduling workshops and coordinating with diverse groups of participants, their COVID-19 duties, local festivals and other events

3. Travel to and from the workshops for both staff and participants in remote areas with poor travel and communication infrastructure (such as lack of mobile phone connectivity)

We have now learned that while meeting with stakeholders and inviting participants it is essential to take everyone’s availability into account, consult as many people as possible about the date and time, and hold the workshop in an easily accessible and centralized place. During the course of project implementation, we have also developed several best practices for ensuring workshops are relevant to the local context. Different socio-cultural practices of local communities (some of them tribal) are taken into account while conducting workshops.

Entirety

Subnational

Capacity Building for Field Staff

Capacity Building

Anubhav Vanamamalai/CWS

CWS Field Staff

Nagachandan Honnur/CWS

For program implementation, we recruit field staff who conduct the workshops, deliver the content to participants, and collect evaluation data. Each team works in a specific region of the Western Ghats. We select people who are local to the area and can speak in multiple languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Tamil, and Malayalam. Once staff are hired, we teach them to disseminate the workshop content and ensure they understand the intended impact of each session. We train them in first aid using demonstrations and real-life examples. We also teach them best practices for community engagement and ethics. So far we have trained 1 Program Manager, 6 Project Coordinators, and 13 Educators for Wild Surakshe. Having well-trained, passionate, and dedicated field staff has been instrumental in allowing us to cover 11 PAs. Wild Connect, our app for offline data collection, has also helped us streamline data management making it easier to manage the program. These factors will be key for scaling to 69 PAs over the next 3-5 years. Currently, our teams conduct the workshops in local languages (eg. Kannada) but enter data on the app in English. We plan to incorporate multilingual services on our app.

1. We choose field staff based on past experience, enthusiasm, educational background, community engagement skills, and the ability to work with government staff.

2. We teach staff public speaking skills and go over the delivery of each session multiple times. Emphasis is placed on learning how to capture the attention of large audiences and make concepts easy to understand.

3. We ensure that staff members are trained based on established research and guidelines by experts.

4. We train field staff at frequent intervals and provide continuous feedback.

1. The field staff need to be trained not just on workshop delivery, but also on how to interact with government officials and community members.

2. Previous experience with community engagement and public speaking should be taken into consideration while hiring educators.

Entirety

Subnational

Community resource governance in support of protected area and landscape planning (top-down/bottom-up synergy)

MEP used Mali’s decentralisation legislation to create, with local people, a model of “elephant-centred” CBNRM. This legislation performed a vital enabling function that resulted in a model of resource governance at the village and commune levels, that was enshrined in local and commune conventions, as well as the commune socio-economic development plans. The MEP then worked with government to further reinforce these systems by drafting new legislation that created a new protected area covering the whole of the elephant migration route using a biosphere model which supported the community conventions. The aim was to give a mandate to the government foresters to be able to support local communities in the enforcement of their conventions if need be, thereby strengthening the community systems. This aligns government and community interests to mutually reinforce each other and provide a cost-effective approach to reserve management. This top-down approach complements the bottom-up approach of community engagement.

The model of “Elephant-centred” CBNRM that had been devised.

The importance of enabling legislation to catalyse grass-roots empowerment.

The need for a neutral “facilitation” agency to bring the different parts of the community together.

The speed of the process of creating new legislation is lengthy and depends on the degree to which government partners are engaged and championing the initiative, however NGOs can provide technical support and reminders to generate forward motion.

Partnership

Through this project I have brought together a number or local and national partners:

Organisation
Burren Geopark
Clare Local Development Company
Dept of Rural & Community Affairs

National Parks and Wildlife Service
Purpose
Each partner has either a local or national remit for an area in the project. By bringing them together we pool the resources and knowledge to deliver the system

Coordinging

The bringing together of all the bodies with each focusing on a specific area. As each partner joined they added an element to the system and then the other partners gained this feature.
These are public government funded bodies and the features they pay for are given provided to local comunities in a fremium model offering

Resources
Each organisation has resources and contacts that are utilised in the project.

The main lessons were:
- make sure you are meeting with a person who can make a decision

- show the benefits of the system

- show the advantages of the colaborative approach (tide rises all boats etc)

- give all partners credit as the program progresses

- analysis what a partner can give (they may be able to contribute time / work instead of financial)

Letter of support for project