Through a deliberate strategy of getting Parliament votes and media attention, the Murray Darling Basin Plan was passed through Federal Parliament in 2013. The Darling River is one of the largest in Australia and runs from north to south. The Darling River flows into the Murray River and had been reduced to a trickle at the mouth due to big ag’s water usage for irrigation. A consortium of community members spent 10 years getting this plan passed.

This solution addresses the complexities of having multiple jurisdictions and interests involved in co-managing a very large and diverse area. Today complementary management and planning provisions apply in virtually all marine waters within the GBR, irrespective of the jurisdictional responsibility.

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) have been long recognised as an effective approach for safeguarding biodiversity at local, national and global levels. This report takes stock of the policies and practices relevant to OECMs in China. The report explores the critical role of OECMs in China’s conservation efforts, emphasising their potential contribution to the country’s commitment to Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). With well-established policies and practical evidence base in place, China is poised to embrace OECMs through both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

 Ajloun Reserve covers 12 sq km from the remaining fragile and fragmented forest patches northern Jordan. The most important component of RSCN’s solution to integrate the local communities in its conservation programs was nature-based low impact ecotourism. We developed eco-tourism infrastructure and facilities (cabins, restaurants, trails) to attract nature lovers to stay overnights in the area, which only received limited numbers of day visitors before the establishment of the reserve. We linked the reserve with the surrounding historical and cultural attractions creating benefits and alternative income to the local communities, and assisted in the rehabilitation of local houses located along the hiking trails as stop points for food and beverage.  Our ecotourism product depends on natural and cultural resources, low level of technology with low negative impact on nature respecting the sites carrying capacity. 

Val Alba Nature Reserve was established after a 1-year long participatory process that involved all local stakeholders and regional administration. It answered to a 30 year long expectation of the local community and it was the first bottom up experience of establishing a protected area in the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia (North East of Italy). This experience has become a model in the Region for the following preparation of Natura 2000 sites management plans.

In 2007, following an attempt to blast a road in the heart of the mountain known as Jabal Moussa, the Association for the Protection of Jabal Moussa (APJM) NGO was established to protect the mountain from increasing pressures, within challenging socio-economic and political contexts. APJM negotiated and funded a lease contract with religious endowments to rent large swaths of the mountain, and Jabal Moussa was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2009. Inspired by the Man and Biosphere Programme, APJM launched a community-based ecotourism program the same year, engaging several local community members. From a previously neglected and threatened area, Jabal Mousa became a well conserved touristic destination, welcoming 20,000 visitors in 2017, and increasingly contributing to the wellbeing of its local communities. Despite the very fragile law enforcement framework, Jabal Moussa is today thriving due to the engagement of the local community and the support of the general public.

Lack of facilities geared for education FOR biodiversity and outdoor education in protected areas was identified by Treverton, a private education institution, as something to be developed. The Treverton Wildlife Area (TWA) was created as an education resource for protecting a threatened biome.  In 1999 negotiations were conducted between the local Agricultural Association and the provincial conservation parastatal organisation for the area, which was previously managed as a cattle farm, to be converted into a conservation biodiversity protected site.  After notification to the learners at Treverton and the Department of Education was given, age related programmes were initiated. Learners from Treverton as well as surrounding schools now conduct projects and outdoor education activities either teacher driven or self-motivated under guidance.  Education FOR biodiversity and outdoor opportunities are achieved with financial contributions and management.

The Cote Bleue Marine Park (PMCB, France) was created in 1983. This bottom up initiative is based on an experimental cooperation between local public authorities and professional small scale fisheries, in order to implement a program for sustainable development of fishing activity, marine environment protection, experimental scientific research and public awareness and education. The territory represent 9.873 ha on 42 km of rocky coastline including 2 no-takes reserves of 295 ha, where all kind of fishing, mooring and scuba diving are prohibited.The originality is the use of no-takes reserves and artificial reefs (both for production purposes and protection against illegal trawling) as a complementary tools for conservation of exploited resources and sensitive habitats.

Con el incremento de las actividades productivas y el avance de la frontera agropecuaria, en muchos países en desarrollo se plantea, de manera creciente la necesidad de “ponerle freno” a dicha expansión. Esto crea una paradoja dado que dichos países requieren a su vez del incremento de divisas para recomponer su economía nacional. En ese sentido, en Fundación ProYungas desarrollamos el concepto de “Paisaje Productivo Protegido” (PPP), derivado de la Categoría V (“Paisajes Protegidos”) de la IUCN, que pone a las actividades productivas como eje central en la generación de los recursos económicos, técnicos y políticos necesarios para la preservación del entorno natural donde estas actividades productivas se implementan. El concepto coloca al sector productivo como eje central, pasándolo del lugar del “problema” al lugar de la “solución”. En la actualidad más de 2.500.000 hectáreas están siendo manejadas bajo este concepto en ecosistemas críticos de Argentina, Paraguay, Chile y Bolivia.

Since the 1950’s, the local authority of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) have been working hand in hand with the scientific community for the protection and the management of the French Southern Lands (TAF), leading to the creation of the TAF nature reserve in 2006 and its extension at sea in 2016 (672,969 km2). This very large MPA raises new challenges related to the lack of knowledge on marine ecosystems and the already visible impacts of global changes. The science-based model of TAF is key for the successful management of one of the largest MPAs in the world.

Fifteen percent of the Western Cape is formally protected. Unfortunately, this network is unrepresentative of the biodiversity contained within the province and does not adequately buffer the province against the impacts of climate change. In an endeavor to supplement the existing network, priority areas, which have been identified through systematic biodiversity plans, are being safeguarded through elaborate public private partnership agreements and mainstreaming avenues.

The Eco-Corridor Fund for the Caucasus (ECF) is a funding instrument supporting community-based biodiversity conservation in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Eco-corridors are created by connecting various classifications of parks and protected areas across all three countries. ECF uses contractual nature conservation agreements and a clear set of processes to fund ecologically sustainable land use in specific regions and selected communities in Georgia. The result is an interconnected mosaic of managed and unmanaged habitats under various land categories and classifications. These community-managed landscapes protect, connect and support healthy native ecosystems while ensuring the socio-economic status of the communities involved is not harmed or diminish, but in many cases is improved. ECF is a not-for profit, practical conservation organization funded by KfW Development Bank and WWF Germany.

Tropical tree-dwelling mammals such as monkeys, kinkajous and opossums depend on complex treetop highways to get to food, potential mates and avoid predators on the ground. In one of the largest-ever canopy-based camera-trapping studies to date, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists and partners found that when a pipeline clearing in Peru threatened those highways, leaving natural bridges, or connecting branches, for arboreal species really reduced the severity of that impact.

“Here we partnered with industry to identify a problem, implemented a proposed solution and used an innovative camera trapping technique to test the solution. The results plainly and powerfully show the effectiveness of a simple way to reduce impacts of human activity on biodiversity—a conservation biologist’s dream,” described one of the researchers. These results are now in the process of being incorporated into Peruvian legislation.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai faces immense external and internal pressures. Since the park is surrounded on three sides by the developed city, it faces the dangers of an isolated, shrinking habitat. The diverse array of flora and fauna within are subsequently threatened. As a long-term conservation strategy, advocates have lobbied to enhance connections between the park and wilderness areas to its north.

The Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR) is a privately protected area managed by the FPWC. Having grown from 400 to 20000 hectares since 2010, the refuge stretches along the border of Khosrov Forest State Nature Reserve (IUCN Ia category). The overall objective of the CWR is to contribute to efficient biodiversity protection in Armenia by improving the conservation measures in the reserve’s previously unsustainably managed buffer zones and wildlife migration corridors. This is done by interlinking sustainable community development, conservation and behaviour change.

FPWC maintains a permanently manned ranger station in the area (6 rangers are employed from the community), which is sufficiently equipped to protect the territory against any negative human impact. The rangers are patrolling the 8000ha at a 24/7 regime preventing any illegal activity in the area, as well as monitoring the animals by applying newest technologies. CWR is the only project of this type in the entire South Caucasus.

The UNDP supported GEF financed New Conservation Areas in the Philippines project (NewCAPP) has worked with the Government and local and indigenous communities to create new conservation areas as a strategy for expanding coverage of key biodiversity areas in the PA network. The project supported indigenous communities to map, inventory, formally establish and manage Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) in their traditional territories.

This project is improving the ecological connectivity between 2 protected areas in Sabah, Malaysia: Kinabalu Park (World Heritage site) and Crocker Range Biosphere reserve. It addresses the issue of forest fragmentation due to uncontrolled deforestation and expansion of agricultural activities by establishment of several community conserved areas (CCAs) in between both parks, habitat restoration, improving agriculture production and creating alternative incomes.

In a process facilitated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, nine communities surrounding the Mbe Mountains formed a conservation association to safeguard local forests and watersheds – and Africa’s most endangered ape, the Cross River gorilla. Strengthening traditional management rights for local people improved their sense of ownership and reduced levels of hunting. The association is working to limit forest loss and protect habitat corridors by improving sustainable agriculture.

The Community Conservation Social Enterprise Development (CoCoSED) Initiative is an Initiative which seeks to provide sustainable financing to Conservation activities while providing long term economic and financial resilience to communities adjacent to Protected Areas, Biodiversity Hot-Spots and fragile landscape.

Before the implementation of this Initiative in 2016,  Gorillas recorded were between 25 to 35 individuals but now there are about 45 Gorillas and about 180 to 200 Chimpanzee. Also, over 1000 members of communities adjacent to the protected area have been trained on biodiversity conservation and alternative sources of livelihoods provided to raise more income to the communities as well as to the conservation of biodiversity.

Amboseli National Park is home to some of Kenya’s largest elephant populations. However, the park is small and the elephants require surrounding community lands to fulfill their needs. In 2008, local stakeholders recognized that habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation would lead to the loss of livelihoods and tourism revenue and opted to ensure the ecosystem’s sustainability. IFAW therefore partnered with relevant stakeholders to secure critical corridors and dispersal areas for elephants in community areas of the Amboseli landscape. To achieve this, IFAW implemented a multi-year commitment to secure 26,000 acres as wildlife migratory and dispersal land in the Amboseli landscape.

The Metropolitan Region of Campinas has engaged with decentralized management, developed policies and actions in order to consolidate a proposal for the Connectivity Area, a buffer zone that prioritizes corridors of integration for the Metropolitan Region and identifies sites providing Ecosystem Services (ES). Supported and facilitated by ICLEI South America through the INTERACT-Bio project and in close collaboration with the RECONECTA-RMC program, the initiative resulted in decisions and alignments, capacity building, articulation of the twenty cities of the region and other stakeholders. The Connectivity Area proposal has been integrated to relevant regional planning policies as a strategic area for metropolitan action. A Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was developed and will further identify roles and responsibilities for action within five main pillars: urban afforestation; linear parks; ecological corridors; local wild fauna; inspection, compensation and regulation; communication and articulation.

The Cham Islands MPA, as well as the Biosphere Reserve, are probably the most significant programs towards resilience-building in Hoi An. Hoi An officially declared its vision to become an eco-city by 2030. The MPA allows Hoi An to regulate fishing activities and pollution. The MPA has also supported the development of eco-tourism models to diversify local income sources, proving that environmental protection can also be compatible with economic growth.

Since 2013, the government of Seychelles identified the need to reduce economic vulnerability and dependance on tourism, increase the GDP from marine sectors, create high-value jobs and ensure food security through the protection and sustainable use of marine resources.

The Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) was created in 2015 together with the Government of Seychelles and The Nature Conservancy. The parties concluded the first debt-for-nature swap for ocean conservation, through a US$ 21.6 million debt restructure. SeyCCAT was given the management of two innovative financing deals, the Blue Grants Fund (total of US$ 11.6 million) and the Blue Endowment Fund.

SeyCCAT is now a conservation trust fund tasked with mobilizing resources to advance the Seychelles’ blue economy.

The ALPBIONET2030 project investigated for the first time where and to what extent the Alpine territory is suitable for ecological connectivity. It carried out a GIS based spatial analysis for the overall area of the European Alps. As a result of the analysis, three different types of Strategic Alpine Connectivity Areas (SACA) were defined: Ecological Conservations Areas (C1), Ecological Intervention Areas (C2) and Connectivity Restoration Areas (C3). The concept behind this categorization is that areas that are still valuable should be protected (C1), their habitat conditions should be improved and their surface probably expanded. Ecological Intervention Areas (C2) are those with conditions difficult for wildlife but also with realistic potential for improvement. Connectivity Restoration Areas (C3) are mainly the large Alpine valleys with high human impact, intensive land use and major barriers, where only specific restoration measures can help to improve the conditions of ecological connectivity.

In many developing countries, the expansion of the agricultural frontier and its effects on natural ecosystems have led societies to discuss the need for curbing the growth of production activities. This creates a paradox given that these countries, in turn, require more production to rebuild their national economy. In this respect, ProYungas Foundation has developed the concept of “Protected Productive Landscape”, which derives from the Category V of the IUCN (“Protected Landscape”). But the novel part of this idea is that it puts production activities as the central point in the generation of economic, technical and political resources necessary for the preservation of the natural environment where these production activities take place. This concept places the production sector as the focal point of action, shifting it from the “problem side” to the “solution side”.  Currently, more than 300,000 hectares are being managed under this concept in critical ecosystems (Yungas and Chaco) in northern Argentina and Paraguay.

North America’s Laurentian Great Lakes truly are great. These “inland seas” represent the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, with over 21% of the earth’s surface freshwater. And yet for all their importance these lakes have suffered much. Climate change, invasive species, contaminants and habitat loss are just some of the stresses that have profoundly impacted and altered them.  

It is a challenging context for conservation, and accordingly, protected area agencies and partners across the lakes have sought ways to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of their efforts. To this end, the Great Lakes Protected Areas Network (GLPAN) was established to improve communication and facilitate collaboration at the binational (Canada-United States) scale. One outcome of this partnership has been better profile and awareness of protected and conserved areas on other binational platforms, most notably the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Au milieu de l’Atlantique Nord se trouvent les Açores, un archipel de neuf îles. Malgré leur petite taille, l’espace maritime des îles représente près d’un million de kilomètres carrés. En vertu des cadres juridiques de l’Union Européenne (UE) et du Portugal pour la Planification de l’Espace Maritime (PEM), la région des Açores, dirigée par la Direction Régionale des Affaires Maritimes (DRAM), est tenue d’élaborer son Plan de Situation. Il s’agit du principal instrument de la PEM au Portugal. Le projet MarSP a été mis en place pour soutenir le développement des plans spatiales maritimes dans les archipels de la Macaronésie (Açores, Canaries et Madère). Ce projet pilote a permis de renforcer les capacités et les outils nécessaires pour la mise en œuvre de la PEM dans ces régions ultrapériphériques de l’UE de 2018 à 2019. L’équipe des Açores a développé des méthodologies innovantes pour aborder les premières étapes du processus de planification, où les parties prenantes et citoyens ont joué un rôle central.

Fifteen percent of the Western Cape is formally protected. Unfortunately, this network is unrepresentative of the biodiversity contained within the province and does not adequately buffer the province against the impacts of climate change. In an endeavor to supplement the existing network, priority areas, which have been identified through systematic biodiversity plans, are being safeguarded through elaborate public private partnership agreements and mainstreaming avenues.

The project used a participatory decision-making process to develop recommendations for transboundary cooperation in targeted external communication about nature conservation in the two national parks. The project led to a joint agreement about the allocation of resources (money and staff time) to maximize public opinion about nature conservation activities in the parks. Some of the actions will be implemented through jointly funded park projects from 2017-2020.

The project used a participatory decision-making process to develop a transboundary bear management plan for a nature park in Italy (Prealpi Giulie) and an adjacent national park in Slovenia (Triglav). The project led to a joint agreement for the allocation of resources (money and staff time) toward satisfying all stakeholders concerned about brown bears in the Transboundary Julian Alps Ecoregion. Some of the actions will be implemented through jointly funded park projects from 2017-2026.

Starting from their territorial contiguity, the common natural and cultural heritage, the two parks have created a unique protected area of about 1000 km² across the F/I border. A long partnership process, at first generated by the need of common wildlife management, lead then to sustainable development and common visual identity. Thanks to more and more integrated projects, they developed a shared vision, and have finally created a common juridical structure following a new EU regulation: EGTC.

The project was carried out from 2006-2008 in the transboundary protected area called Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park (Finland, Norway, Russia) that focused on promoting nature protection and sustainable nature tourism in the area by developing: 1) joint methods for nature monitoring; 2) joint guidelines for sustainable nature tourism; 3) joint action plan; and 4) EUROPARC transboundary park certification.

Esta solución forma parte del Proyecto MarSP, “Macaronesian Maritime Spatial Planning”, que pretende reforzar los procesos de Ordenación del Espacio Marítimo (OEM) en los tres archipiélagos macaronésicos de la UE: Azores y Madeira (Portugal) y las Islas Canarias (España). El proyecto se aborda de manera conjunta, para mejorar la cooperación de las tres regiones y garantizar una coherencia y un proceso coordinado de OEM, teniendo en cuenta los problemas transnacionales identificados. Esto pasa por considerar esta región marina del Atlántico Norte como un sistema socio-ecológico compartido, una suerte de Océano Europeo Macaronésico, con elementos comunes en lo ecosistémico, en lo socio-cultural y en lo político-administrativo. Con esta solución se crearon las bases de dicha cooperación transfronteriza, que en este caso debe, además, considerar otros retos de gestión, asociados al carácter ultraperiférico, insular y oceánico. Como resultados, se elaboraron diagnósticos propositivos, buenas prácticas y recomendaciones.

North America’s Laurentian Great Lakes truly are great. These “inland seas” represent the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, with over 21% of the earth’s surface freshwater. And yet for all their importance these lakes have suffered much. Climate change, invasive species, contaminants and habitat loss are just some of the stresses that have profoundly impacted and altered them.  

It is a challenging context for conservation, and accordingly, protected area agencies and partners across the lakes have sought ways to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of their efforts. To this end, the Great Lakes Protected Areas Network (GLPAN) was established to improve communication and facilitate collaboration at the binational (Canada-United States) scale. One outcome of this partnership has been better profile and awareness of protected and conserved areas on other binational platforms, most notably the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.