On the basis that government ministries are willing and able to work together to develop solutions to address impacts of ASM on the wider environment, Protected Areas and on stakeholders impacted by such mining activity, a national working group (which includes such ministries, agencies and relevant representative stakeholders) needs to be established. This will help steer the process of project engagement with local government, artisanal miners and wider stakeholders at the local level to set the scene for Frugal Rehabilitation Demonstration (FRD). A key step in this process is to select sites for FRD that can serve the development and application of the methodology within the ecological, economic and social context. The purpose of establishing this FRM working group is to ensure a participatory, consultative approach to the development of the methodology, and to enable a demonstration site selection process that ensures an informed and strategic approach based on agreed criteria. Sites selected for methodology demonstration need to be typical, representative and associated with formalised ASM capacity to undertake the rehabilitation.

Acknowledging and identifying conflicts between ministries and sectoral stakeholders is important. It is important at the early stages of an initiative to recognise these problems and to establish and work through a consultative platform to make the case for a methodology that is of value to all stakeholders, that is inclusive of artisanal miners and the stakeholders impacted by such mining as well as government ministries. It is only through such collaboration that a methodology can be developed that addresses environmental concerns, meets artisanal miners needs for performance-based incentives and access to land, and can be valued by government in formalising condition-based permitting for mining. It is within the context and platform of engagement that the FRM can be demonstrated to be of value to all stakeholders, and deliver outcomes at the local as well as national level.

The process of establishing the Pakistan’s first MPA has led to a number of valuable lessons being learned, mainly regarding how stakeholders from various sectors (federal and provincial governments, civil society and academia) can collectively work towards pushing through policies for environmental conservation. Pakistan also has a large coastline, and this process can now be replicated for other sites which are rich in biodiversity. Some other potential MPA sites have already been identified, including Churna Island, Miani Hor, and Gwatar Bay.  Through regular meetings of the MFF NCB and other regional gatherings Pakistan continues to share its experience establishing Astola Island MPA and vision to establish additional areas.

To support the process of to establish Astola Island MPA, MFF Pakistan utilized the membership of its National Coordinating Body to undertake the necessary feasibility assessments, conduct consultations, and raise awareness about the importance of the area.  Membership of the NCB includes several government agencies with an interest in marine and coastal resources, the private sector, and civil society organisations.  This unique ‘soft governance’ platform facilitated cross sectoral dialogues and advocacy that enabled the declaration of the MPA more quickly than would have otherwise been possible.

The lands where the disaster risk is most critical are typically located downstream and do not belong to the forestry enterprise. The areas where flash floods and debris flows originate are the upstream located upper catchment areas. Many of these areas are managed by the forestry enterprise. Its involvement is therefore crucial. 

The forestry enterprise aims at better management of the upper catchments by regulation of grazing, prevention of deforestation and by reforestation activities.

Furthermore in the case of the solution the forestry enterprise provided land for lease to interested community members, which would rehabilitate the land, plant trees and grow fodder for their livestock while preventing overgrazing and destruction of the vegetation. 

The farmers together with receiving the technical advice by the agricultural extension service get the opportunity to purchase directly the appropriate packages of seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other agrochemicals. As these purchases are needed at the begin of the growth season, when financial means are scarce, they are partly (50% of their costs) provided on loan basis under affordable conditions (interest rate below normal market rates).

The agricultural service provides farm-specific advice on choice of crop and the best combination of seeds (varieties), fertilizer, pesticides, cultivation and irrigation technology. The purpose of this building block is to provide the farmers with the best available knowledge to guide their decisions and practice. 

Sometimes it may happen that the agronomist advises the farmers to apply a needed input at a certain time, but the farmers do not follow this advice, since at that time they either do not have the financial means for purchasing the recommended inputs or lack access to it. Thus, the provision of advice would not be effective.

Reliable and recent data about the study community is a key contributor to the success of an intervention.

Data provides prior knowledge of the community and possible areas of collaboration with other exisiting projects, if any exist.

In our Vihiga project, results of the baseline survey informed us of the current situation (exisiting nutritional gaps). The results were also shared with the communities and it is from these findings that the communties based their deliberations and came up with possible ways of tackling the problems found.

For scaling up of the project in Turkana and Ethiopia, we will utilize agrinutrition data collected earlier in both areas.

Data collection in the mid and end will help determine the effectiveness or otherwise of the intervention

The starting-point was the agreement on the methodological steps (see BB 1) for the pilot project, including the involvement of key stakeholders and capacity development needs and measures. The upcoming revision of the management plan was an ideal entry-point for the integration of EbA and the work plan the key instrument. It defines that EbA should be treated in thematic meetings with different stakeholder groups and a workshop, in a specific chapter of the management plan and as part of an EbA Action Programme. Training of the core team was then followed by the collection of climate-related data and information which fed into the sessions with communities and a workshop.

Through the elaboration of an EbA Action Program , the EbA approach was institutionally anchored in the protected area “Cananéia-Iguape-Peruíbe”. In addition, the methodological approach will be applied in eleven other protected areas in four federal states of the country through strategic partnerships with the Brazilian Environmental Ministry (MMA), the Brazilian Environmental Agenday (ICMBio) and others. The aspiration is that in the future, all protected area management plans consider EbA as a strategic response to climate change.