CEJAD realized the value of engagement is very critical in getting various stakeholders with different needs to realign consequently unlocking resources as well as forge alliances for meaningful participatory development.

Forums were held in the community to ensure that public participation is at the heart of the marine plastic waste as well as getting community groups to own the problem and take charge.

Partnerships are critical for scaling and innovative idea like boom and traps as well as getting the buying from the government as well as unlocking funding for scaling.

To prevent mismanagement of plastics waste from reaching beaches and the marine environment, the investment of litter booms, traps, and other technological solutions is and still a priority.

As part of the regular government budget cycle, DECR submits a selection of output and outcome indicators to demonstrate progress and justify funding requests. Capacities to track the state of ecosystems are therefore relevant not only to support conservation, but also as means for the department to report on its performance.

This building block therefore focused on the development of capacities to monitor ecosystem health and use monitoring results to communicate the benefits of ecosystem management. These capacities were built with support from the BEST 2.0 Programme funded by the European Union, focusing on coral reefs in the Key Biodiversity Area of Princess Alexandra Land and Sea National Park, as a pilot project.

This included the implementation of a training program for DECR staff and partners in the use of the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) methods and the development of a tailored Reef Health Index (RHI) for TCI. The RHI itself and the underlying indicators were recommended as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for DECR to report on their activities. In addition, further KPIs were compiled for DECR to monitor social and economic outcomes that could be associated to coral reef health, and hence, to their conservation activities. 

DECR is one of the main protected area managers in TCI. As a government department, DECR depends on funding allocated through a regular budget cycle. Although the government collects a number of fees and taxes that are linked to nature-dependent sectors such as tourism, none of these payments is earmarked to protected area management. Instead, these funds flow to the consolidated fund, from which they are redistributed across public entities.

Building a strong case for protected area management was fundamental for DECR to promote: 1. increasing funding through the regular budget cycle, and 2. earmarking of a portion of nature-related revenues.

To support DECR in this task, GCFI funded technical assistance for the estimation of budget needs and gaps for basic and optimal protected area management. In addition, an assessment of the tourism value of nature was conducted based on existing studies. By comparing these figures, DECR could show authorities that increasing funding was financially reasonable, given that its operating budget in the year under analysis (2015/2016) was 25 times smaller than the added value of nature for tourism and 30 times smaller than the nature-related tourism revenue for the government.

The process of upcycling plastic waste to make products of value such as jewellery and sculptures is truly valuable. It requires one to assess the whole plastic value chain to identify the gaps, opportunities and pain points in order to plan accordingly.