Overexploitation of forests in the region, overgrazing, forest fires, rapid urbanisationand the impacts of climate change are endangering forest functions in the Mediterranean region. The GIZ Regional Programme ‘Capacity Development for Forest Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (FEbA)’ is tackling these issues by (a) linking non-forest actors with those engaged in forest management and (b) by capacity development targeting in first instance decision makers.

Watershed management is, at its root, a human behavior challenge. But where humans are often the source of such problems, they are also the solution. Rare trains local leaders to implement behavior change campaigns that inspire communities to adopt new norms for how they interact with nature. Rare empowers communities in Colombia’s most water dependent geographies to participate in the management of their watershed ecosystems so that they benefit from higher water quality and flow and reduce the risk of droughts and floods due to extreme weather changes.

Since 2013, Rare has built the capacity of 14 officials of one of the largest regional environmental authorities of Colombia, Corporación Valle del Cauca, to engage local stakeholders in protecting riparian areas and improving land use practices using the Pride for ARA approach. These farmers are inspired by the Pride campaigns and the offer of technical assistance to protect critical ecosystems for watershed resilience.

The solution aims at sustainable development in coastal areas of the East Asian Seas region by reducing and preventing impacts of natural disasters, climate change and sea level rise. It provides references and capacity building for national and local authorities in coastal and marine spatial planning. National adaptation activities and best practices for capacity building and field application tailored to needs and priorities of each country are provided.

AFC scaled up a model for communities to participate in protected area management developed with GIZ between 2013-2016 in the Hin Nam No NPA. AFC supported three civil society organizations to implement the model elsewhere, including through co-management training modules, national-level awareness raising, exchange visits to Hin Nam No, local capacity building and policy advocacy. There are now 21 officially approved village co-management agreements, covering 204,747 ha of village forests.

The development and use of protected area competences at different levels have taken place in local and Regional scales with good results in all continents. The ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation competences published in 2003 by Appleton et al. ‘Competence Standards for Protected Area Jobs in Southeast Asia’ has been used in various ways to develop local competence based approaches in more than 20 countries.

The MAR Fund is a regional financial mechanism established to provide long-term dependable funding, collaborative planning and priority setting for conservation, recovery and sustainable use of natural resources in the Mesoamerican Reef. It raises and allocates funding for a network of priority coastal and marine protected areas. It also focuses on issues that affect the integrity of the MPAs, such as overfishing, through the design, establishment, management and monitoring of fish replenishment zones.

We describe our collective efforts to transform Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in Mongolia from a “paper park” (existed only on paper with no active management) into a model protected area. Five overlapping and complementary aspects of our work included: 1) rigorous research; 2) a management structure, plan and process; 3) building local capacity; 4) cultivating local support; and 5) creating sustainable administrative policies and funding. Lessons learned may offer guidance for other protected areas.