The project designed a Green and Resilient Development Planning template to be used at the village level, and proposed a model to scale up local planning to integrate ecosystem and disaster to the landscape level. Community-based mapping, GIS modelling and remote sensing assessments were undertaken to better understand the current and historical changes in disaster risk, ecosystem health and land use, while taking climate change into account. A visioning assessment with the local community was also conducted to better understand the community’s development needs.

 In the template, the planning process starts with a thorough examination of existing physical, social, cultural, religious, and socio-economic conditions, as well as identifying and locating key hazards and disaster prone areas through community consultations, field visits, and local expert knowledge. Once the information is collected, communities are encouraged to discuss and identify local development priorities with respect to livelihoods, village development, disaster prevention and improving community resilience. A village development map, accompanied by a short report explaining the findings, development goals and strategies make up the final plan.

In order for the finished product to have practical value, the model should be i) hosted in a location convenient and conducive to land use planning, ii) hosted in a place free from environmental elements (rain, wind, salt water, etc), iii) visible by community/state planning agencies, iv) revisited on a regular basis to incorporate spatial information into ongoing planning exercises

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.

In order to establish a commercial lionfish market, it is important to understand the perceptions of stakeholders (particularly fishers and restaurant owners) and the general public towards catching and eating lionfish. For example, in a survey of the general public undertaken in Belize in 2015, around half of respondents who had not eaten lionfish stated that they would not try a free sample because they believed it to be dangerous. Furthermore, lionfish exploitation was significantly associated with knowledge about the invasion.

Once the barriers and misconceptions around catching/eating lionfish have been identified, they can be resolved by developing a targeted outreach programme with the general public and social marketing campaign targeting restaurants and consumers that informs people about the lionfish invasion in a way that reflects local concerns and values. 

Activities may include:

• cooking demonstrations
• educational presentations
• lionfish tasting events (held in partnership with local restaurants/cooks)
• safe-handling workshops
• interactive, educational booths with lionfish tasters

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.

Participative conservation is a principle by which the protection and conservation strategy that is applied in the PNCAZ starts. This is necessary because one of its challenges is to ensure an effective control and surveillance of the protected area with only 45 park rangers covering 1.35 million hectares and a perimeter of nearly 1,000 km.  These conditions demanded a participatory strategy with the incorporation of communal park rangers. This allowed the inclusion of the fronts of defense of the populations, peasant rounds, and even the local authorities themselves, in the control and surveillance strategies, within the framework of the Master Plan of the Park. All of them have acquired a commitment to assist in the conservation and protection of the park, or to define and plan the settlements of the populations to prevent their advance, and land use change.

Managing a protected area of over 1.35 million hectares with a high level of human activity in its buffer zone (2.3 million hectares), required the generation of innovative management tools, focused on social participation. CIMA implements an Intervention Model known as FOCAL, which is currently being incorporated into other protected areas in the country. FOCAL includes tools such as:

• Strengths and Uses Mapping (MUF): It gathers socio-economic information from the communities and population centers, their needs and perceptions about the area and the use of natural resources, to identify local organizations with which alliances need to be created to implement preservation actions.
• Participatory Communal Zoning (ZPC): It guides the development process of ecological-economic zoning at a community level to achieve consensus among the population regarding the sustainable use of the territory and its natural resources.
• Coexistence rules: They enable to reach agreements at the level of the populated center or community, define codes of behavior and provide stability to the planning process and the Quality of Life Plans that are created as a result.

Although the PNCA had financial support during the 2008-2013 period, these sources are not considered sustainable in the long term. For this reason, CIMA searched for mechanisms to improve the Park’s financial sustainability.  One of them was to design the Cordillera Azul REDD+ Project. As part of that project, CIMA and The Field Museum of Chicago, as a strategic partner, developed a technical document to verify how the PNCAZ has avoided the emission of more than 1.6 million tons of CO2 per year from deforestation, and almost 13 million tons of CO2 during the 2008-2015 period. This led it to be considered a REDD+ megaproject, validated by international standards such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), and the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standards (CCB). These standards lent legitimacy and credibility to voluntary markets through certificates of greenhouse gases emissions reduction not issued. Thanks to these certificates, the project was able to obtain its registration in Markit, a tool to manage global carbon credits internationally, which in turn led CIMA to work on carbon credits negotiation processes in the international arena.

The legal framework for protected areas in Peru favors a co-management and participatory approach, and enables the establishment of Management contracts between the Peruvian Government and private non-profit organizations, as an effective mechanism to support management. In this context, since its creation, the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCA) has had technical support from the NGO Center for Conservation, Research and Management of Natural Areas - Cordillera Azul (CIMA - Cordillera Azul). Years later, in 2008, the State signed an agreement with CIMA for the total administration of the Park's operations for a period of 20 years. Under this framework, a Global Development Agreement (GDA) was signed with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID,) the Moore Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Field Museum of Chicago and CIMA, to combine efforts towards the conservation of the PNCAZ and to have financial support during the period 2008-2013. This allowed to establish a long-term vision for the adaptive management of the Park, to implement a participatory management model, and to achieve greater financial sustainability through the leverage of funds for the PNCAZ.