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.

Through the process of the Unini River Extractive Reserve (RESEX) creation, and under the framework of the contract for the co-management of the Jaú National Park, the FVA implemented innovative and participative mapping methodologies for the use of natural resources, and has been investing in a process of organizational and local capacity strengthening for sustainable use of natural resources. Among them is the development and implementation of a methodology for the use of natural resources  (SIMUR) in the Unini River. This served as input for a process in 2008, after the creation of the RESEX, with the development and implementation of “Terms of Commitment” with the local communities of the Unini River. These documents represent a series of agreements among the six communities living along the Unini River in the Jaú National Park and the Government of Brazil. The goal of these agreements was to regulate their permanence in the Park and to establish a co-management process with the local population and the Park administration. As a result, community participation in the decision-making processes in both conservation units (Jaú National Park and Unini River RESEX) was and is fundamental to the efficient management of both areas.

In 1979, the area presently occupied by the Jaú National Park was proposed as a Biological Reserve, a management category that is restrictive toward exploitation of natural resources in Brazil. In 1980, the Jaú National Park was created, and since then it has the challenge of managing the high level of socio-environmental conflict in the area.

The Vitória Amazônica Foundation (FVA), with presence in the area since 1991, has applied innovative and participatory mapping methodologies for natural resources use, which were the basis for the development of its zoning and Management Plan, between 1996 and 1998, within a co-management contract with the Federal Government of Brazil. Years later, Brazil created the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC) and developed tools for building participatory processes. As a result, the FVA, as the technical collaborating institution of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) provided support to local communities during the creation of the Unini River Extractive Reserve (RESEX), in a process that lasted until 2006, with the intention of guaranteeing access to natural resources and land tenure for the populations in the Jaú and Unini rivers.

The Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (PAC-NKM) was designed in 1996, with the participation of the National Government of Bolivia, the Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN), the Nature Conservancy (TNC,) and three foreign corporations from the energy sector. Its goal was to avoid or mitigate the emission of up to 5.8 million tons of CO2 over 30 years (1997-2026) on a surface of 600,000 hectares. This project was positioned as the first forest-based carbon sequestration project in the world and is sought to be replicated in other countries, as it allowed to certify nearly a million tons of CO2 during its first nine years of implementation (1997-2005). As this is an action implemented in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a trust fund of 2.5 million dollars was established to contribute to the Park’s sustainability in the Protection, Community Development, Monitoring and Verification of Carbon Sequestration, and long-term Financing Programs. Despite being designed to work until the year 2026, the execution of the PAC-NKM was halted in 2013 with the intention of adapting it to the new political framework of Bolivia, in connection to the Mother Earth Joint Mechanism.

The Bolivian legal framework establishes the legitimate right of groups of local actors to decide on protected areas management and their natural resources. Since 1996, the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park developed a governance model through the creation of a Management Committee that was built gradually and that nowadays helps in planning, decision-making and the achievement of management goals for the area. The actors of the Committee are members of national, departmental, and local government as well as members of the non-government sector, with the participation of the Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN) during the co-management period of the Park (1995-2005). It also includes representatives of the seven indigenous communities and the Bolivian Indigenous Union of Bajo Paraguá. Besides this, since 2013 two additional governmental institutions participate with only the right to vote. Both of them are important in border protection and in supporting the protected area and its neighboring communities development. Since the creation of Management Committee, it has worked as a strong governing body for the protected area, without interruption in its meetings.

The co-administration model of the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (PNNKM) between the National Government of Bolivia and the Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN), from 1995 to 2005, set a foundation for institutional strengthening for the Park’s management. This model enabled the consolidation of the area and structured a planning process through the application of institutionalized management tools such as the Protection Plan (2013-2017) and the Annual Operational Plan, which had rarely been used in the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP). Likewise, the FAN contributed in procuring funding to ensure management sustainability, mainly through the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (PAC-NKM). Adding to this, the promotion of participatory mechanisms, such as the Park Management Committee and the involvement of members of local communities in operational instances and decision-making, have been fundamental in improving the Park’s management.

Sadly, this co-administration model was phased out in 2006 due to changes in the national socio-political context witch centralized management of protected areas within the National Government. The main impact of this change is seen in the Park’s financial sustainability.

Palau has a long history of managing its fisheries. For generation upon generation, the Traditional Chiefs placed vulnerable reef areas off limits to fishing, known as a “bul,” to protect both biodiversity and the livelihoods and food security of their people. In these modern times, it is broadly accepted that “marine capture fisheries have direct impacts not only on the target market species, most significantly tuna, but also can have large impacts on a number of incidentally caught species, some of which are particularly vulnerable to overexploitation and can directly degrade habitat and can have broad indirect or collateral effects on community structure and processes. 

Using this traditional method of conservation, Palau has created a "whole-domain" management approach from ridge to reef and beyond, the most ambitous component being the Palau National Marine Sanctuary. As Palau moves forward with the implementation of the PNMS, the Bul concept is kept in the forefront of all processes. 

Cooperation projects such as EbA Amazonia are development agents that come and go. In contrast, state institutions, whether national, regional or local, are permanent with the main objective to ensure the welfare of communities in a specific area. Local governments operate close to the rural population.

Capacity transfer is another important issue from the point of view of the project.

To make the development approach of the municipalities compatible with the conservation approach of a protected area is fundamental in order to gain allies for the conservation of an area and the development of the surrounding population. This relates to building block 4 - the generation of conservation agreements between a community and their strategic allies form a solid base to channel support from the local governments in the development and implementation of adaptation measures. At the same time, information and training on how to access the state's public investment system for the local governments broadens their capacity to serve the local population and to access different funding sources.

The native communities of Boca Isiriwe, Masenawa and Puerto Azul decided to start using chestnut trees (Bertholletia excelsa) that existed within their territories despite having no prior experience in doing so commercially. The first requirement or condition that the EBA Amazonía project established was to exclude the possibility of contamination of the fruits with heavy metals. Samples of soil and fruits of the chestnut were taken. No significant residues could be found, in spite of the proximity of mining operations.

The project supported them as this activity suited well with the ecosystem approach assumed by the project.

A complete database of the occurrence and distribution of the species was created in order to model the changes that the species would suffer based on current and future climatic information. According to the modelling, chestnut will remain a species with a wide distribution throughout the area of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, with slight changes in its distribution. This way, the project responded to the local interest by providing the necessary information to guarantee a sustainable production process.