Subnational | PANORAMA

A dedicated unit for mangrove conservation

The provincial government of the state of Maharashtra in India, acting on the orders of the court, created a dedicated body in January 2012, to protect and conserve mangrove forests in the state. The dedicated unit, called the Mangrove Cell, started functioning as a part of the state level administrative body responsible for conservation of forests and wildlife. Considering the high level of encroachment in the mangrove areas, pressures of land conversion for real estate and industrial projects, and other anthropogenic factors, the government accorded the highest level of protection to mangrove forests by declaring them as “Reserved Forests”. Further, the Cell was empowered as per the statutory laws governing the management of forest resources in the country. Provisions were also made to engage field level personnel to safeguard these forests. With almost a third of the mangrove forests in the state falling within one of the most populated metropolises of the world, Mumbai¸ a specialised unit was formed to check and prevent incidences of encroachment and mangrove destruction within and around the city. Along with protection of mangrove forests, the Mangrove Cell is also responsible for conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems in the state of Maharashtra.

A judiciary framework that enabled the court to address an administrative gap and dictate the formation of a specialised unit for mangrove conservation.
Laws and regulations that ensure conservation of forests in the country.

In the past, conservation of mangrove, coastal and marine biodiversity was not one of the topics of focus in the conventional framework of managing forests in the country. Since management of these ecosystems require specialised knowledge and expertise, the formation of the Mangrove there has led to a more effective management of mangroves and marine ecosystem.

Entirety

Subnational

Knowledge transfer in regenerative soil management.

Defining environmental problems

This building block consists of transferring knowledge of regenerative soil management to technicians, producers and state officials.

We offer a diploma course in Holistic Management at the Earth Center—our educational facility that offers an average of 40 workshops annually and capitalizes on GESGIAP’s 30 years of experience in conservation and sustainable development. The diploma course in Holistic Management is attended by officials, technicians, producers, and students and covers topics such as Key-line hydrological designs, pest control, bio-intensive crops, and preparation of bio-fertilizers. It is having a real impact on the formulation of public policies in the state of Querétaro, the application of resources, the management of livestock herds, and therefore, in the regeneration of soils.

Workshops, networking events where participants share their experiences, and on-going technical training and support to producers who adopt regenerative management tools, are also fundamental to this building block.

We ensure that necessary conditions are met by building alliances between producers, technicians, and officials; guiding and orienting public policies; providing technical training and support to producers; managing resources for optimal infrastructure development; and fostering a sense of responsibility and environmental stewardship in participants. In this way, we create a culture of conservation and participatory, ecological citizenship that is receptive to implementing regenerative soil management.

We have learned that in order to achieve a permanent impact, we must accompany projects until we are sure that participants have developed all necessary capacities. We must also provide support to participants to develop infrastructure and acquire equipment; continuously organize workshops for alliance-building among participants; optimize resource management; ensure a balance between conserving resources and generating economic opportunities; and establish monitoring and evaluation schemes that systematize experiences and record the impact of actions and strategies.

Biodiversity conservation, often seen as an economic burden for rural communities, is not guaranteed by the sole act of decreeing a territory as a protected area. Yet because of GESGIAP’s work for over 30 years—educating, training, providing technical accompaniment—we are seeing the emergence of a society with sustainability capabilities and a sense of belonging, defending the territory and working to restore biodiversity.

Implementation

Subnational

Management holistic manual

Management Holistic Manual

Consolidating inclusive governance for adaptation

Sanajaba community identifies threats within the Esquichá micro-watershed (Coatán Basin)

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

Meeting with forest managers from El Rosario to plan activities. Esquichá Microbasin (Coatán Basin)

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

Valentina Ortiz (Tojchoj Grande community, Tacaná) member of the Esquichá River Micro-watershed Council

IUCN @ Milton Navarro

The stakeholders of the Esquichá River micro-watershed face governance challenges for adaptation, such as insufficient coordination between the community, municipal, departmental levels, and the sectors. The Council of the Esquichá River micro-watershed, gathers municipalities, communities, and the Communal Nurseries comissions. A multilevel technical support is provided to ensure sustainability:

With technical support, the Committee has learned about EbA measures and has incorporated them into the micro-watershed Management Plan. Technical assistance has been provided to identify efforts for its implementation and financing (e.g. forestry incentives). This is how the Committee, now with greater organizational capacity, has had an impact on other instances (Municipal and Departmental Councils, INAB) and has achieved the allocation of funds for the EBA measures.
Technical assistance provided on management of communal forest nurseries.
Implementing a gender approach that actively involve women in capacity building and decision making. Women have been trained in communication skills, to improve their leadership abilities (https://www.iucn.org/node/29033).
Support for the Municipality of Tacaná to integrate adaptation measures into the local planning (Municipal Development Plan).

Under Guatemala’s System of Development Councils, the Esquichá River Micro-watershed Council is made up of the Community Development Councils of the micro-basin communities, which allow to work in an organized manner and influence higher levels (eg. Municipal Councils).
CORNASAM, created in 2004 as a platform for departmental coordination, has allowed for an articulated dialogue between the municipalities of San Marcos, basin organizations and micro-watersheds.
Gender approach to actively involve women in decision making and capacity building.

The improvement of local women leadership skills, has a long-term impact in the management of natural resources and the social cohesion of communities. Women felt they had a lot to contribute; having taken ownership of these spaces, their confidence to act in other circles also increased. When consulted, women indicated that after gender and communication training, they have “lost the fear of expressing themselves in meetings where there are men," noting that they are aware of their right to participate as key actors in promoting forest restoration in water recharge areas as a climate change adaptation measure.
Governance for adaptation must promote open, equitable, respectful, and effective participation, so that planning and decision-making mechanisms are enriched by inclusive participation.
The EbA measures implementation builts upon community participation and local leadership. Communities are convened thought their leaders. This approach has greater chance to ensure sustainability in time and replicability of EbA measures.

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

Municipality of Tacana signs municipal agreement to establish guidelines for ad…

Community Leaders Train to Become Better Communicators

Implementation of scalable EbA measures to increase forest cover and water availability

Reforestation in water recharge zones, Esquichá Microbasin

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

Reforestation in water recharge zones, Esquichá Microbasin

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

Based on the vulnerability analysis and by common agreement, the communities prioritized several EbA measures in order to increase their resilience:

Protection and restoration of water recharge zones. Includes reforestation on municipal or communal lands with water sources; protection of community pine forests where the largest areas of natural forests (Abies guatemalensis) in good condition are found; reparation of communal forests affected by pests; and reforestation of areas without trees adjacent to natural forests. For these actions that improve connectivity and forest cover, access to forest incentives is also promoted.
Establishment (1) and strengthening (15) of community forestry nurseries, to support reforestation actions.
Agro-forestry systems and good practices: Productive systems on 16 farms are optimized and diversified, incorporating timber and fruit trees to improve soil conservation, productivity and food security.
Recovery of lands affected by landslides: Agroforestry systems as well as access to forest incentives for the recovery of areas damaged by storms are promoted.

The communities of the microbasin embraced these measures and support their implementation with important technical resources.

The Tacaná Municipal Council gave support to communities for access to forest incentives.
IUCN had 10 years of experience in the territory and local technicians.
There is excellent community leadership, which increases their willingness to dialogue, learning and the search for solutions.
There is an awareness of climate change, since extreme events in previous years have affected several communities, damaging both their assets (crops, housing, productive infrastructure) and the water resource.

Key factors for the implementation of EbA measures were: a strong organizational base, community agreements, social participation and leadership from local authorities (both indigenous and municipal).
To ensure that EbA was able to demonstrate an initial impact in communities and in this way, create confidence in the adopted strategy, the first step was to promote reforestation in the upper parts of the micro-basin (water source areas) or in areas affected by landslides, as well as community work around forestry nurseries. These actions helped to consolidate the concept that forest cover is "an insurance" in the face of climate change.
Valuing the ecosystem services of the basin helped to see adaptation as a task for all communities, in order to obtain benefits for both the Esquichá micro-basin and for other communities located further down in the Coatán River basin.

Strengthening forestry nurseries in San Marcos

"Action learning" and monitoring to increase capacities and knowledge

Delfino Roblero, youth representative, forest monitoring for pests and disease. Esquichá Microbasin (Coatán Basin)

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

Sanajabá community forestry nursery, Esquichá Microbasin (Coatán Basin)

IUCN @ Paul Aragón

There is a continuous process of capacity building with local communities and institutions to identify, design and implement ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) measures, generating evidence on their benefits, and creating conditions for their sustainability.

The process includes not only theoretical workshops but also: technical assistance, field practices, exchange tours and a diploma for municipal technicians. The process is collaborative and participatory, and the experience was of great learning and empowerment for the groups involved, especially women.

Some examples of activities include:

Application of the CRiSTAL tool - "Community-based Risk Screening Tool - Adaptation and Livelihoods" with municipal and community representatives
Along with 16 communities and the Municipality of Tacaná, the forest restoration strategy was designed and implemented, supporting community nurseries
Communities are accompanied in the management of forest incentives for sanitation, reforestation and protection actions.
Local leaders are trained in methodologies to monitor the effects of forest restoration and protection of water sources on food and water security.

The Municipal Council of Tacaná provided accompaniment to the communities in the process of access to forest incentives.
IUCN had 10 years of experience in the territory and local technical staff.
There is excellent community leadership, which increases their willingness to dialogue, learning and the search for solutions.
There is an awareness of climate change, since extreme events in previous years have impacted several communities, damaging both their assets (crops, housing, productive infrastructure) and the water resource.

Having knowledge on water security and specific technical information on EbA facilitated the processes of awareness raising, participation, adoption of community agreements and implementing targeted actions, which in turn helped to avoid the dispersion of resources.
Since there is an organizational base in the communities, in the form of Communal Forestry Nursery Commissions and in some cases Community Development Councils (COCODEs), the process of "learning by doing" is greatly facilitated since, through these local platforms, it is possible to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge, and collective learning.
Local empowerment through social participation is key to ensure the implementation and continuous improvement of a Monitoring and Evaluation system, as well as to obtain lessons learned. Communities are convened thought their leaders. This approach has greater chance to ensure sustainability in time and replicability of EbA measures.

AVE project presented on national television

Identificación de medidas de adaptación basada en ecosistemas

Sustainable territorial planning for the region

The Ecological Planning Working Group of the Initiative will conduct research, analysis, and surveys, and facilitate indigenous peoples' own bio-cultural mapping. Mapping provides geospatial analysis for planning at the larger landscape scales. Compiling and integrating layers of information such as pending indigenous lands claims, industrial threats, wildlife corridors, hunting grounds, protection status, ecosystem types and biodiversity data, population data, access routes, and fluvial links helps the alliance establish priorities and make sound governance decisions. In addition, such biocultural mapping is a key aspect of storytelling.

- Work will be carried out and guided by indigenous leaders and technical teams to weave together a tapestry of indigenous life plans, further flesh out implementation and find emergent threads. Examples of potential emergent threads include developing capacity for implementing self-reliant renewable energy and/or transportation systems; training and coordination for watershed restoration and water quality management; and establishing a regional hub for incubating and innovating solutions.

- Engage academic sector

- Conduct research focusing on solutions and alternatives to current growth-focused economic models that are based on export-driven resource extraction industries and that instead focus on alternative indicators of wellbeing

- Exploration of models of indigenous co-governance in other parts of the Amazon or the world

Indigenous life plans respond to a development vision of the indigenous territories so it is important to ensure its implementation, respecting the particularities of each community and each indigenous group. These natural resource plans are created through collaborative decision-making, and provide tools for self-governance and participatory management that harness the collective wisdom of the community.

An initial process of gathering all the indigenous life plans has started since last year. However, various indigenous groups need financial resources to update their life plans.

Social business company for commercializing cooperative products

The Silver Back Company Ltd is a social business company created by the Environment and Rural Development Foundation(ERuDeF) in 2013 to assist communities in ERuDeF's areas of operation commercialise products produce by cooperatives.

Proceeds generated through the Silver Back Company will be used towards the capitalization of the Forest Protection Fund (a community based conservation trust fund) and the ERuDeF Endownment Fund (designated to support the charitable activities of ERuDeF) and partly reinvested into the company.

The factors include; Availability of Non-Timber Forest Products such as Palm Oil, Eru, Natural Honey and by-Products etc, Availability of well organized cooperative societies in the protected area and the collaboration of the local communities.

The lessens learned include;

New strategy needs to be in place to enhance the effective implementation.

Training and capacity building to be intensify.

New products to be identified and their corresponding value chains developed

Cooperative Societies to be trained and capacities built on sustainable production of goods.

Implementation

Subnational

Capacity building of actors

Participants of the FLR training

GIZ PAGE

Certificates for the FLR training are handed over by the AFR100 Focal Point

GIZ PAGE

Participant receives his certificate after FLR training

GIZ PAGE

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.

An assessment of stakeholders and capacity needs was conducted and completed (06/2016)
High personal experiences and technical abilities of the RPF National Committee members were great assets for the capacity building. They acted as trainers and external resource persons were not necessary
High political commitment from partner side
Support of BIANCO (national independent anti-corruption agency) to improve transparency in the forest sector (until late 2016)

The trainings and regular exchanges helped to create a common understanding about the FLR concept as a multi-sectoral landscape approach and its practical implementation in Madagascar at policy, strategy and practical level
It was crucial to increase the knowledge about the RPF approach based on international discussions and local realities. Each actor had own definitions of "landscape"; capacity building on the approach proved essential to ensure the same level of information for all stakeholders, especially those in sectors other than the environment
The innovative aspect was that members of the National Committee dedicated a lot of time and also actively participated in the development of training modules and capacity building.
The implementation of capacity building was highly participatory and the content was improved continuously by participants, also adapting the ‘language’ of key sectors such as land use planning and finance

Crowdfunding

ACUP Crowd Funding

Seychelles Islands Foundation.

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 extremely straightforward to achieve this step, once the necessary research and preparations are in place. It is a matter of 'just do it'. Once the crowdfunding begins, and gains momentum, it creeaetes a sense of excitement and energy among project team members and contributors alike, as we watch targets being met and the portfolio of supporters grow. Access to the totals and ability to track contributions is an important enabling factor.

The important lesson we learnt during the crowdfunding stage is that it is better to set up the crowdfunding page for a smaller portion of your project budget and therefore better to wait to see if your receive any cooperate sponsors before initiating this phase. It was also useful that SIF had committed £20,000 pounds to the project. This encouraged public and corporate sponsorship as it was used to match the first £20,000 that was raised. People are also more likely to sponsor a project target that looks achievable especially bearing in mind these will be smaller donations. The crowdfunding page must also portray the project clearly and appeal to a wide variety of people. It is therefore important to set up the reward system for donations, ranging from small rewards to substantial rewards for large donations. For example, we rewarded small donations with a high quality digital photograph by a wildlife photographer who spent time on Aldabra and large donations with an invitation to the post-expedition events, hosted in Queen’s College.

Funder Pitch Pack Design & Project Launch