Plus de la moitié de la population mondiale vit en ville, ce qui génère de nombreux problèmes environnementaux et sociaux : pollution, perte de la biodiversité, faible sécurité alimentaire, etc. Notre solution consiste à planter des forêts comestibles en ville. La forêt comestible imite l’écosystème naturel d’une véritable forêt, tout en ayant l’objectif de produire de la nourriture. Nous nous sommes inspirés du modèle de Seattle Beacon Food Forest pour introduire la première forêt comestible publique de Taiwan dans la ville de Hsinchu, en coopération avec la municipalité et les gens du quartier concerné. Des “Work Party” et des ateliers pédagogiques sont régulièrement organisés pour encourager la participation citoyenne. Cette solution apporte une nourriture saine accessible à tous, une opportunité d’apprentissage holistique, et elle permet aussi de cultiver les vertus du partage. Vivre dans un écosystème urbain qui prend à la fois soin de l’homme et de la terre, c’est possible !

Répondre à la demande croissante en bois-énergie est un défi et un facteur de déforestation et de dégradation des forêts. La Restauration des Paysages Forestiers (RPF) et les engagements des pays envers l’AFR100 s’adressent ainsi à la production durable de bois-énergie afin de répondre aux réalités sociales et économiques.

La chaîne de valeur bois-énergie, en s’adressant à toutes les parties prenantes, encourage les petits entrepreneurs. L’approche combine des éléments juridiques, de gouvernance, économiques et techniques depuis les transferts des titres fonciers et des plans de reforestation individuels sur des terres dégradées au niveau villageois jusqu’à la récolte, traitement, transformation, distribution et commercialisation par les consommateurs finaux de bois-énergie ainsi que les technologies de combustion associées (foyers améliorés).

Elle modernise la chaîne de valeur du bois-énergie et génère des bénéfices pour les intervenants. Leurs revenus annuels ont doublé en moyenne.

Yawi-Sumak es una combinación de palabras indígenas, Yawi significa: saladero, un sitio en el bosque donde las aves y otros animales se reúnen para ingerir sales minerales y Sumak significa: bonito, grandioso. A través de un ciclopaseo ecológico con más de 300 ciclistas, se muestran las acciones que implementan autoridades ambientales, gobiernos locales y la comunidad en la conservación y uso sostenible de los recursos naturales. Esta herramienta de comunicación innovadora e incluyente permite a la población urbana tener una experiencia vivencial al conocer la belleza escénica, servicios ecosistémicos y especies paraguas, así como también la riqueza cultural de los grupos étnicos que habitan en la región: Shuar, Saraguro y Mestizos.

La iniciativa se pudo replicar en el Programa Regional AbE Ecuador para fomentar el ecoturismo comunitario en Membrillal, Manabi y se ha constituido en el ciclopaseo más importante del país. Fue presentada en el foro mundial de la bicicleta en México 2017.

La Reserva Comunal Machiguenga alberga gran diversidad biológica y cultural,habitada por las comunidades nativas de las etnias Matsigenka, Ashaninka, Kaquinte y Yine-Yami, quienes son los guardianes del bosque y de sus riquezas desde tiempos ancestrales. El buen vivir de estas poblaciones necesita la articulación de los diferentes niveles de gobierno y actores locales, por ello los planes de vida, son las herramienta clave que permiten articular su visión de futuro con las actividades del Estado, la sociedad civil y el sector privado.

Las comunidades socias del Ejecutor de Contrato de Administración “MAENI”(ECA MAENI)  que cuentan con PDV son Chakopishiato, Koribeni, Poyentimari y Tangoshiari elaborados con el soporte del equipo del ECA y la Jefatura de la RC Machiguenga.

Los PDV se basan en 3 pilares para:

• Auto-reflexionar acerca del estado actual de la comunidad,
• Pensar y planificar el futuro de la comunidad y
• Conectar con actores externos a fin de alcanzar sus metas.

La gestión participativa es clave para Santuario Nacional Megantoni (SNM), por ello promueve los acuerdos de conservación (AC), con asociaciones de productores, comunidades nativas y la empresa privada como La Ibérica (empresa chocolatera) y PERHUSA (empresa exportadora de café), con la finalidad de promover la conservación de la biodiversidad del SNM y dinamizar el desarrollo local.

Actualmente se tienen 06 AC, que benefician a 248 familias y estas a su vez retribuyen protegiendo 58 367 ha del SNM y 33 459 ha en la zona de amortiguamiento mediante acciones de vigilancia comunal. El SERNANP acompaña en el proceso, capacita y reconoce a los vigilantes comunales. Las empresas compran el cacao y café a precios justos y hacen uso del sello “Aliado por la Conservación”, certificación que demuestra que los servicios o productos son elaborados bajo un esquema de buen uso y manejo

La Reserva Comunal Amarakaeri (RCA) fue creada por iniciativa de 10 comunidades indígenas para conservar la multitud de servicios como alimento, abrigo, medicina y agua. La reserva contribuye a la protección de dos cuencas y asegura la estabilidad de las tierras y bosques para mantener la calidad y cantidad de agua para el desarrollo de las comunidades nativas que sufren sequias e inundaciones. Las comunidades han incluido en sus planes el aprovechamiento de la Castaña como medida para obtener recursos económicos.

L’Institut de développement durable Mamirauá a été fondé en 1999 en vue de proposer des connaissances scientifiques, technologiques et novatrices aux communautés de la région de l’Amazonie. Le mandat est exercé avec le plus haut niveau d’éthique et de responsabilité, en respectant les connaissances traditionnelles des habitants.

L’Institut a créé la Réserve de développement durable de Mamirauá. D’une superficie de 1 240 000 hectares, la Réserve abrite la plus grande zone humide de la planète, ce qui la place au premier rang des réserves de développement durable (de catégorie 6 de l’Union internationale pour la conservation de la nature) au Brésil.

Au cours des dernières décennies, la Réserve de développement durable de Mamirauá a été surexploitée par des entreprises privées. C’est pourquoi l’Institut travaille en étroite collaboration avec les communautés locales afin de veiller à l’utilisation durable des ressources halieutiques.

Las pesquerías de almejas y callos tienen un papel muy importante para el bienestar de las comunidades costeras del noroeste de México. Estas pesquerías enfrentan desafíos como sobre-explotación, ilegalidad, mal manejo, falta de información, bajo involucramiento del sector productivo en la toma de decisiones, entre otros. Para afrontar estos retos, en COBI se han implementado diversas herramientas de manejo en colaboración con diferentes actores (comunidades pesqueras, sector de gobierno, academia y organizaciones de la sociedad civil). Estas herramientas incluyen el diseño y adopción de estrategias integrales de aprovechamiento. Además, se ha generado información sistematizada que ayuda a diseñar y evaluar las estrategias de aprovechamiento, identificar los impactos ambientales en la pesquería y, crear sistemas de manejo sostenible para almejas y callos, ya sea a través de procesos formales, por medio de un decreto oficial, o tradicionales, mediante acuerdos comunitarios.

En México, la agricultura de pequeños productores bajo condiciones de temporal ha dejado de ser una alternativa viable para la mayoría de las familias campesinas, debido a su baja productividad y el alto costo de los insumos. Esto se traduce en altos índices de siniestralidad, bajo precio de las cosechas obtenidas, migración y la degradación de sus recursos naturales. Ante esta problemática, investigadores del INIFAP desarrollaron 5 componentes tecnológicos que ayudan a los agricultores a reducir los costos de producción e incrementar su rendimiento: a) Labranza de conservación, b) Nutrición orgánica, c) Selección de semilla propia, d) Manejo ecológico de plagas y e) Método alternativo para el almacenamiento de granos y semillas.

El objetivo general del proyecto fue consolidar este modelo de producción agrícola sustentable, mediante el fortalecimiento de la organización social de los productores de la región, así como la implementación y réplica del modelo de cinco ejes sustentables.

El café con sombra representa más del 66% de la Reserva de Biosfera Apaneca-Ilamatepec en El Salvador, que interconecta y posibilita el flujo de especies de flora y fauna. Sin embargo, este cultivo tiene dos grandes amenazas: la primera, es la eliminación del cafetal debido al cambio de uso de suelo para urbanización, y la segunda, el reemplazo de los cafetales para cultivos de granos básicos y hortalizas.

En ese sentido, el proyecto del Fondo de Desarrollo Verde en la región SICA en El Salvador denominado “Apalancamiento de fincas con manejo agroecológico del agrosistema de café en la Reserva de Biosfera Apaneca-Ilamatepec” trabajó con 50 productores y productoras para la restauración de ecosistemas y paisajes a través de la producción agroecológica y diversificada en el cultivo de café. Esto permitió que los ingresos mejorarán gracias a nuevos productos y al valor agregado que aporta el manejo agroecológico en el café, fortaleciendo la cadena de comercialización de los productos asociados al cultivo.

El proyecto es minimizar el conflicto humano-jaguar, realizando planes de manejo de fincas con medidas anti depredación, telemetría GPS para entender el comportamiento de jaguares y trabajamos con la comunidad. La mayoría de muertes de jaguar es por la depredación al ganado que no tiene un manejo adecuado. Apoyamos a productores a que potencien los beneficios en la finca. Los planes reorganizan la propiedad y los productores trabajan intensivamente, utilizando menos área de potrero, y estos con agua, pasto mejorado, áreas de cultivo, corrales nocturnos para vacas y terneros pasen la noche, todo esto propicia que las zonas de potreros se regeneren y se transforme en bosque. Las medidas que hemos utilizado son cercas eléctricas alimentada por un panel solar, collares con campanas para el ganado y con unas pequeñas luces a los lados del collar. Hemos colocado collares en jaguares para entender su movimiento en 14 fincas. La ganadería extensiva mal llevada a disminuido la biodiversidad en Panama.

Compte-tenu du fait que le nombre de 3 Techniciens forestiers (Chefs de Zone) affectés à la Direction du Parc National de Toubkal (DPNT) était insuffisant pour honorer la mission de suivi des activités touristiques et de la faune sauvage, et qu’aucun recrutement n’était prévu par le Haut Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts à la Lutte Contre la Désertification pour combler ce manque d’effectifs, la DPNT a envisagé de recruter, depuis 2015, dans le cadre d’un service externalisé, des éco-gardes au sein des communautés locales, et sur la base de profils très spécifiques (ex : ancien guide de montagne, ancien braconnier).

De plus, pour être opérationnels sur le terrain, ces éco-gardes ont bénéficié de formations animées par des experts en faune/flore et l’équipe du Parc National de Toubkal afin d’identifier les espèces faunistiques prioritaires, manipuler le matériel technique mis à leur disposition et réaliser le monitoring mis en place par la DPNT.

In Paraguay we have managed to combine the vision of biodiversity conservation with the restitution of ancestral lands of the Mbyaguarani indigenous people. What we have called “socioenvironmental condominium” is a sample of what can be achieved between environmental organizations and indigenous peoples. Our goals are common and can be achieve by working with those who better understand conservation in situ: native peoples.

Aware of the potential of youth’s contribution to many sectors in society, Reforestamos México launched its Young Forest Entrepreneur initiative to improve the forestry education, particularly in Latin America, complimenting it with entrepreneurial skills for students to be capable of creating valuable projects by making sustainable use of the natural resources in forest protected areas. Every year, students participate with qualified project ideas, among which the best ones receive one-year support through specialized mentoring to consolidate into an enterprise. 

The Amarakaeri Communal Reserve was created by an initiative of 10 indigenous communities to conserve the multitude of ecosystem services like food, shelter, medicine and water. The reserve contributes to the protection of two watersheds. This ensures the stability of lands and forests, maintaining the quality and quantity of water for the development of native communities suffering increasingly from droughts and floods. The communities have included in their plans the use of Brazil nuts as a measure to generate economic resources.

With the threat of loss of biodiversity and exploitation of IP lands and communities in some areas of the Philippines, the Biodiversity Management Bureau – Department of Environment and Natural Resources (BMB-DENR), along with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development developed a project that is directed toward strengthening the conservation, protection, and management of key biodiversity sites in the Philippines by improving the governance and management of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs).

The hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha) is the national fish of Bangladesh, supporting the livelihoods of more than 500,000 people, particularly in coastal communities. The Bangladesh government’s Department of Fisheries uses incentive-based management to protect its hilsa stocks. Under the Hilsa Fisheries Management Action Plan, all fishing is banned for several months a year in a number of coastal sanctuary areas, and during these periods affected fishing households are offered compensation in the form of rice to improve food security and replace lost income. Other affected households are offered training and support to diversify their income sources. Used in conjunction with adaptive co-management and activities to raise awareness around sustainable fishing practices, this distribution of benefits aims to incentivise compliance with fishing regulations and improve the socioeconomic condition of fishing households.

Community outreach and engagement strategies for the management of mangroves have been promoted in the Gulf of Tribugá, seeking the well-being of the local communities, the preservation of their culture and the protection of natural resources.

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 Azerbaijan. 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, and in many cases is improved. ECF is a not-for profit, practical conservation organization funded by KfW Development Bank and WWF Germany.

The GEF and WB funded “India Ecodevelopment Project” established institutional arrangements at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala that worked with local communities to set up ecotourism activities, joint patrolling and visitor services. Innovative revolving fund was established that freed local community from debts. The institutional set up and assessment of management performance were adopted and scaled up at the national level by the Central Government.

 With a rights-based approach and working in close partnership with the region’s indigenous peoples and federations, the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative seeks to establish a bio-cultural sanctuary in the heart of the Napo-Marañon watersheds. In Ecuador and Peru, indigenous organizations have declared their territories as “No-Go Zones” for industrial-scale resource extraction and where indigenous co-governance, alternative well-being indicators, and all activities are judged by the extent to which they foster a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship.

Here, the ancestral territories of more than a dozen indigenous nations are adjoined by a number of protected areas, together forming a vast contiguous mosaic containing the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.  These rainforests are critical carbon sinks and help to stabilize our global climate and rainfall and yet, they are facing a chronic and ever increasing risk from extractive industries. 

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.

Indigenous communities of the lower Apaporis River – traditional owners of +1 mio ha of Amazon territory – worked with Colombian national park authorities on a solution to the threat of mining. Yaigojé Apaporis became Colombia’s 55th national PA in 2009. A special agreement respects the autonomy and traditional practices of indigenous communities. It hinges on work by local communities to record, document and transfer traditional knowledge for protecting the forest.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, the provincial government of British Columbia had clear cut a significant area of Clayoquot Sound, when the Tla-o-qui-aht Indigenous Peoples established the first Tribal Park in 1984. During the 31 years since then, several additional Tribal Parks have been declared by Indigenous Peoples in BC culminating in 2014 with the Dasiqox Tribal Park declaration, based on a precedent setting Supreme Court of Canada decision on Aboriginal Title to Land.

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape lies within the Country of the Gunditjmara and is comprehensively managed and protected under a system comprising Gunditjmara customary knowledge and practices in conjunction with National and State legislation, management plans and associated policies and programs. The management system combines Traditional Owner and adaptive management approaches, in which governance and decision-making is shared.

In the early 19th century, Gunditjmara Country was occupied by British colonists and access to Country became increasingly denied to Traditional Owners until the late 20th century. The Gunditjmara retained connections to the aquaculture system through knowledge of the stories of Budj Bim and associated land-use practices. In recent years, the work of the Gunditjmara within Budj Bim has increasingly turned to the renewal and transmission of cultural traditions and practices through the access to and control of those parts of Country owned and managed by them.

The Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development was created in 1999 to provide science, technology and innovation to communities in the Amazon region. This is done with a high level of ethics and responsibility, respecting their traditional knowledge.

The Institute is responsible for the creation of the Mamirauá Reserve. With 1,240,000 hectares, the reserve has the largest wetland area on the planet and is the first Sustainable Development Reserve (IUCN category 6) in Brazil.

In recent decades, Mamiraua has been over-exploited by private companies, so the Institute works closely with local communities to ensure the sustainable use of fisheries resources.

Soil for Life is a non-profit actively involved in teaching people from under-resourced communities in the Western Cape how to grow food using ecologically friendly methods. Since September 2000, we have gained a genuine understanding of the people that we work with, their environments, challenges, constraints, cultures and beliefs. We have used this knowledge to adapt our programmes to ensure that beneficiaries achieve the best possible outcomes.

Trainees are taught how to grow food using natural, water-wise farming techniques and how to identify and use the waste around them in their gardens. They learn practices such as composting, trenching, mulching, sheet mulching, close planting, drip irrigation and water harvesting to conserve water and soil nutrients.

To maximise impact, we provide trainees with ongoing support for up to four years. We also provide support and mentorship to gardeners who wish to develop small home businesses that generate income through the sale of produce, seeds, seedlings and compost.

Resilience is our capacity to recover from shocks and stresses. The predictions for climate change are increases in these shocks and stresses; including disruption to our food lines, increased fires, water shortages and rising temperatures. We believe there is urgent work needed to grow the resilience of our people to survive and thrive through what is coming. SEED is a non-profit organisation that operates from the Cape Flats in South Africa. We focus on growing real resilience in people and restoring communities from within.

Seeding Futures resilience training is an 11-week Accredited program that grows real resilience skills in un- and under-employed Cape Flats youth and connects them to relevant livelihoods in the local circular economy. 

The program consists of 6 modules that take participants through a learning experience designed to upskill and empower youth through practical and engaging training focussed on personal and collective resilience. 

The Siyakhana Food Garden, our flagship project, is regarded as one of the most successful urban food gardens in the wider Johannesburg metropole, as well as a hallmark of intersectoral collaboration. This is largely because of its mission to make far-reaching impacts at local, provincial, and national levels. It is not simply a garden; it also serves as a platform for other activities that address the following five key objectives:

• Improving the availability of a wide variety of good and nutritious food;
• Conducting relevant and appropriate action-research that is influencing policy and strategies;
• Offering training to develop capacity among emerging leaders in the area of food gardens and sustainable livelihoods;
• Engaging in advocacy and networking activities; and
• Achieving financial sustainability through a self-funding social entrepreneurship model.

Our aims are to:

• Address food and nutrition security;
• Promote public and environmental health;
• Enhance entrepreneurship; and
• Support and enable sustainable smallholder enterprises.

This was implemented between 2005 and 2007 as a multi-stakeholder partnership at the geo-site of Lichi “Badlands” Formation in Taitung County, Taiwan and it was later reviewed in 2016. Despite being a national-level designated area of high scientific interest, two of the local communities living in the site were suffering from a lack of economic opportunities, depopulation, and the deterioration of their production landscape. The solution was found through a dialogue facilitated by National Dong Hwa University which involved local communities and local schools on a series of community-led projects. Between November 2005 and December 2007, nine training courses and 43 platform meetings took place to stimulate ecotourism, geo-tourism and place-based education. The review conducted in 2016 found a positive value shift in the locals’ perception of the “Badlands” and the improvement of local livelihoods which were largely attributed to the school-community-university partnership platform.

The NGO Cities Without Hunger sets up community gardens on vacant urban land in the city of São Paulo’s socioeconomically deprived East Zone (Zona Leste) to provide jobs, income, and to enhance food sovereignity.

Cities Without Hunger aims to enhance local residents’ spatially and economically restricted access to high-quality fresh produce (high rates of unemployment, a low density of farmers’ markets or supermarkets, low mobility). 

The NGO provides agricultural training for people who have poor chances on the regular job market as community gardeners. Since 2004, the NGO has implemented 25 community gardens together with about 115 local residents who have started earning their livelihoods as community gardeners. After one year, gardeners are able to manage their plots autonomously and sell their produce directly to the people from the neighbourhood. Along with gardeners’ families, some 650 people benefit from the project by having their livelihood guaranteed.

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.

In informal settlements of the Greater Cairo Region, a rooftop farming project was initiated in 2014. The goal was to reduce ambient temperatures (microclimate) in a densely populated area through green spaces on rooftops, and reduce the impacts of the urban heat island effect and increasing heat due to climate change. In addition to the environmental benefits, rooftop farming has other socio-economic benefits, adding to income generation and reducing vulnerability to price hikes. As many challenges were faced affecting sustainability and continuation, a new project was developed to establish a social business model to strengthen the socio-economic aspects of the project, while looking at rooftop farming from a community development perspective. A Rooftop Farming Hub was established in two informal areas to act as a technical, socio-economic, and environmental driver for change within the participating community members. 

Mama Fatuma, the hard working middle aged woman living in Kibuyuni Village of Kwale County embodies the success of seaweed farming on the Kenyan coast. In a village where the predominant economic activity of fishing is a preserve of the men, Mama Fatuma encouraged fellow women to embark on seaweed farming as an alternative economic activity to wean them off over-reliance on their men folk and to enable them contribute to the family income. Following research trials and support from various sectors, seaweed farming is now earning Kibuyuni Village over USD 11,000 from the initial USD 2,000 in 2012 and beginning to thrive in various places along the south coast of Kenya and improving livelihoods through provision of additional income for families to pay school fees, meet medical costs and diversify the economy. It has also generated interest in mariculture and marine science generally among the youth in coastal Kenya.

The Centre for Environmental Justice and Development (CEJAD)aims to combat plastic and waste pollution by promoting sustainable solid management through public education on impacts of plastics to the environment and demonstration of BATs/BEPs such as source separation of waste, reuse, recycling and recovery as well value chain efficiency.

The project seeks to conduct the following activities:

• Equipping the women artisans with machinery, tools, and equipment for making sculptures and items out of plastic waste.
• Training women artisans on product development and packaging.
• Establishing a pilot waste segregation at source and management system for recovery, reuse, and recycle of plastic and other waste.
• Training women artisans on marketing and how to maintain market linkages.
• Undertaking a market research for their products.

In Zanzibar, seaweed farming is a small-scale but important livelihood activity, carried out at 80% by women. Recently, declines in production were observed, proved to be mostly due to climate change.

Tubular nets – an innovation piloted in the context of the Sea PoWer initiative, have shown promise over the traditional “off-bottom” peg and rope technology to improve seaweed productivity and local ecosystem conditions. However, tubular nets are used in deeper waters, and thus, require swimming or boat handling skills that most women do not have. Establishing seaweed farms in deeper water, using new technologies, could only be a successful adaptation option, with institutional support, significant investment and through the empowerment of women and the participation of local communities.

Parks Victoria and AMES Australia are running a successful partnership program – Working Beyond Boundaries – in Melbourne’s culturally diverse western suburbs. It helps refugees gain employment and language skills while connecting with their local park, to the benefit of people and the park.

The program includes a thriving community kitchen garden, a horticultural educational facility and traineeship employment program. It helps reduce isolation, improve food security, wellbeing and enhance employment opportunities for new and emerging communities.

The program was initially aimed at addressing impacts of isolation among women from new and emerging communities. It then expanded to create pathways to employment, improve workplace English and networking opportunities. It quickly became an important community hub and meeting place for socialising and learning, attracting people from a range of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The Mafia Island Marine Park (MIMP) was established in 1995. It was the first of its kind in Tanzania mainland. The local community lives within the park and their livelihoods depend mostly on the park’s marine resources. Before its creation, they observed increasing pressure on their fisheries resources due to migrant fishers using illegal blast and pull net fishing methods. Both the community and the government saw the need to mitigate the decline and took action. The Park adopted early on a collaborative management and inclusive governance system, as well as prioritized socio-economic benefits for the local inhabitants. MIMP is thriving, being a pristine place for fish sanctuary and high tourism hub.

The Beacon Food Forest is a community-powered permaculture project that took off in 2009, aiming to create a sustainable model that can support the community with affordable, healthy food, knowledge on growing food and biodiversity, and a sense of belonging in the face of climate change and food security issues. A food forest is a sustainable model that mimics the ecosystem of a natural forest but substitutes certain species with ones that have the same ecological function and are edible to humans.

The project is located on a leisure public land in Seattle, and it is built and maintained entirely by local residents as volunteers. All harvests are open for picking by any passerby, and work is shared by residents and new-comers as a group. By making the project open to all with a clear code of conduct, the project quickly gathered hundreds of residents from different walks of life, contributing tools, skills, and knowledge that can be gathered and passed down to the younger generation.

More than half of the world population live in cities, and this number is expected to increase. Cities raise many environmental and social issues such as poor biodiversity, urban heat island effect, lack of resilience, food insecurity and many more. Our integrative solution is to build food forests in cities. A food forest is a sustainable design which mimics the ecosystem of a natural forest, with food production in mind. It started in Seattle, U.S. where people came up with the idea to build a food forest on a public lawn. We introduced the concept into Taiwan and built the first public food forest in Hsinchu where a partnership was created with the local government and community. Work parties and educational events are held to engage people in holistic learning and to share the harvest with all, including nature. Our solution has provided affordable healthy food for the community and demonstrates an ecosystem-based adaptation that can care for people and land at the same time. 

We are testing biotech nano 500 biodigesters in conservation zones to prevent people from systematically using trees and plants in protected areas to produce energy for cooking and other necessities. This method prevent them from using fuels that are harmful to health and the environment within the protected areas.

In 2020, Honduras was not only affected by the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic but saw also massive disruptions and destruction caused by back-to-back hurricanes, Eta and Iota. The compounded effects of this double-crisis had major impacts on coastal communities.

Still, communities part of Rare’s community-driven Fish Forever program [GP1] showcased resilience towards these impacts, coping comparatively well. Coastal communities supported each other, demonstrating solidarity and strong social cohesion, and leveraged their healthy fisheries and money saved through Fish Forever’s savings clubs to cover income losses and other emergencies, ensure local food security, and recover. The crises also led to new opportunities through local entrepreneurship and a stronger understanding across local stakeholders of the importance of a healthy ocean for local livelihoods and food security.

Traditionally, fishing has been a male dominated industry mainly due to the used type of tools and equipment, culture, working hours, and poor policies. The presented solution is addressing this challenge brought about by tools or equipment which is the main barrier to women. Usually fishing requires the purchase of power or manual driven canoes or boats and nets which costs are out of reach by rural women. Therefore, a simpler and cheaper technique has been introduced – the naturally made strings from which locally available baits are hanged. These strings are tied between mangrove trees. This technique enabled women to participate in fishing given the costs of equipment become affordable; the technique does not require fishing at night or far away from homes; and equipment can be carried by women without much use of physical effort.

We are collecting agricultural residues such as rice husks, groundnut shells, maize cobs and maize stalks from farmers. We add value to them and produce Charcoal briquettes to curtail the cutting down of trees for firewood. Charcoal Briquette is a sustainable and reliable source of energy that helps replace the use of firewood,

By adopting charcoal briquettes made from agricultural residues, fragile forests are protected, the natural habitats for animal species are preserved while still meeting the energy and income needs of the growing populations.

Women and the youth that used to be involved in cutting down trees from the forests are now employed either at production facilities or as retailers of charcoal briquettes.  32,000 hectares of forest cover which Malawi loses every year is left to regenerate preserving natural habitat for different animal and plants species.

Stone tidal weirs are a type of fish barrier operated by tidal amplitude.  These structures are made of large rocks, extending along the shoreline on a colossal scale in semicircular, arrow-like, or almost linear shape. These weirs are completely submerged during high tide, and they emerge into full view at low tide, allowing people collect fish.

They are located within seascapes created and maintained by the harmonious interactions between humans and marine ecosystems.  Although they are on the verge of disappearance because of costal developments and global climate change, their role as eco-friendly fishing gear, womb for sustaining marine biodiversity, and tourist attraction has started attracting international attention.

This solution focuses on the cooperation established by universities and coastal communities to raise awareness on the role of stone tidal weirs and the connected traditional ecological knowledge of coastal communities as the cultural heritage.

Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary (BRMS) is an offshore continental shelf-patch reef in Sri Lanka that has been bleached. The area flourished with tourism-related businesses and the dependency of local livelihoods on the coastal ecosystem grew. The 2016 La -Nina/El-Nino reduced the live coral cover to less than 1% and the coral was turning to rubble. To allow the reef to recover its biodiversity, natural functions & to ensure the sustainability of their livelihoods, the community demarcated core areas & “A-Zone Left Aside for Restoration” were declared in 2018.

The main objective of this practice is to sustainably manage and protect BRMS by avoiding significant adverse impacts due to anthropogenic activities via strengthening resilience in sustaining green livelihoods, strengthening capacity in the community in natural resources management, and taking restorative action towards healthy and productive oceans. With the engagement of stakeholders, restoration of BRMS is in progress.

“ASAL – Arid and Semi-Arid Lands”, covers around the 80 % of the national territory of Kenya. The inhabitants of these counties are mainly pastoral communities covering vast areas. Yet, Kenya’s Arid and Semi-arid lands are endowed with a rich diversity of plant resources exuding gum and resins.

The KAVADI approach builds capacity in arid lands by training communities in wild harvesting techniques of gum Arabic and other resins such as Frankincense and Myrrh, and through the farming of Aloe plots and the pilot plantations of trees with commercial interests. These drought resistant resources create alternative livelihoods opportunities, making communities more resilient and in a better position to mitigate vulnerability to drought. On top of livelihood building, the plantations of drought resistant trees and plants regenerate and restore landscapes, since these species do well in terrains considered “degraded” hence not used for either traditional agriculture or pasture.

Ol Pejeta (OPC) is a private non-profit conservancy, registered Protected Area, and IUCN Green Listed. It is home to the largest population of Critically Endangered black rhino in E.Africa, the world’s last 2 northern white rhino and other Endangered species. OPC is in Laikipia County where rain-fed agriculture and livestock contribute >75% of household incomes.

This initiative challenges the traditional ‘either/or’ approach to conservation, demonstrating the benefits of integrating livestock with wildlife. Rather than setting aside land for conservation, the sustainable land management approach involves using cattle as a habitat management tool. Carefully managed grazing keeps rangeland healthy as well as ensuring land is productive. This additional revenue stream contributes critical income, all of which is reinvested in conservation and community development – extension services enhance livelihoods and resilience. The nature-based solution offers a model for conservation in areas where wildlife is usually not tolerated.

A pilot scale project was initiated in the 3 villages of Sukhai, Kivikhu & Ghukhuyi in Nagaland, which aimed at creating & linking Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) across the landscape & supporting conservation through livelihood creation. The model adopted aimed at strengthening the resilience of the communities by rejuvenating traditional conservation practices & providing supplementary livelihoods. Activities included compiling Indigenous Knowledge, sensitization on landscape conservation & capacity building of the communities in biodiversity documentation & monitoring, as well as promoting ecotourism as a livelihood option. Today, the project has yielded +ve results in terms of sustainable use of biological resources by adopting longterm sustainability, enhanced governance & effective conservation of landscape. This model is being mainstreamed within the governance mechanism & upscaled through a multipronged approach including financial support & legal recognition.

The Environmental Management and Economic Development Organization (EMEDO) hosts the secretariat of the African Network of Women Fish Processors and Traders (AWFISHNET).

We support building a gender-fair society and a gender-responsive fishery in Africa that recognizes, utilize and enhance women’s potentials and capabilities in the fisheries sector for sustainable and equitable development. We also contribute to enhance knowledge generation and dialogue between policy makers, civil society and scientists in order to develop fisheries and ocean policies that better account for the realities of marginalized coastal people living in poverty, and to help bridge between policy formulation and implementation. We specifically strengthen the organizational capacities of women fish workers organizations (national associations) where they already exist, and establish new ones where they do not yet exist. 

Yawi-Sumak is a mixture of two indigenous words: Yawi means saladero, a location in the forest where birds and other creatures congregate to consume mineral salts, and Sumak meaning beautiful or great. The activities taken by environmental authorities, local media, and the community in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources are demonstrated through a bicycle tour with more than 300 bikers. This unique and inclusive communication tool provides the urban residents with a lived experience of the region’s visual beauty, ecological services, umbrella species, and cultural diversity of the Shuar, Saraguro, and Mestizo ethnic groups.
The concept was repeated in the Regional Program AbE Ecuador to promote community ecotourism in Membrillal, Manabi, and has become the country’s most significant bike excursion. It was presented during the 2017 World Bicycle Forum in Mexico.

The “Forest Landscape Restoration through a Sustainable Wood Energy Value Chain” project, is implemented in the Bono East and Savannah Region of Ghana. Through the sustainable production and efficient use of energy wood, forests in selected regions in Ghana are being restored and preserved thus contributing to the implementation of the national climate policy and to the improvement of the framework conditions for sustainable forest management and energy supply in Ghana.  

Wood energy in form of charcoal and fire wood is the main source for cooking in Ghana. More than 14 Mill. cbm of wood are used annually for the consumption as charcoal or fire wood. Wood energy is therefore one driver for forest degradation, especially in charcoal producing hotspots. This solution elaborates on supporting partner institutions and small farmers in establishing a sustainable wood energy value chain integrated in Forest Landscape Restoration measures.

El oso andino (tremarctos ornatus) enfrenta serias amenazas, una de ellas asociada a la que la especie tiene presencia en los terrenos de pobladores locales. Su población ha disminuido dada la presencia de interacciones negativas entre la especie y los humanos por eventos de consumo ocasional de animales domésticos y cultivos como el maíz que pueden ocasionar la cacería del oso, sumado a las tradiciones de algunas comunidades humanas que lo persiguen. Este conflicto de vieja data se ha convertido hoy por hoy en un ejemplo de acción colaborativa entre las autoridades, la sociedad civil y las comunidades locales para conservar una de las especies más emblemáticas del país, a través de esfuerzos de monitoreo, educación ambiental y colaboración interinstitucional, contribuyendo a un manejo adecuado de los sistemas productivos y disminuyendo los riesgos y presiones sobre esta especie vulnerable.

By promoting Best Management Practices for silvo (mangrove) aquaculture, as well as supporting Farmer Interest Groups along the Mekong Delta coast, the solution aims to raise awareness of mangrove ecosystem conservation benefits and diversify farmers’ incomes. It encourages ecological farming techniques and the integration of mangroves in shrimp ponds.

Sikkim is the first state in the world that is 100% organic: All of its farmland is certified organic. The policy implemented a phase-out of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and achieved a total ban on sale and use of chemical pesticides in the state. The transition has benefitted more than 66,000 farming families.

At the same time, Sikkim’s approach reaches beyond organic production and has proved truly transformational for the state and its citizens. Embedded in its design are socioeconomic aspects such as consumption and market expansion, cultural aspects as well as health, education, rural development and sustainable tourism. Sikkim’s tourism sector, for instance, benefited greatly from the new organic image: between 2014 and 2017, the number of tourists increased by over 50 per cent.

For their achievements, Sikkim’s policies were awarded the Future Policy Gold Award 2018, awarded by the World Future Council in partnership with the FAO and IFOAM – Organics International.

Orchards are very common in Tajikistan’s landscapes and a widely used practice of cultivating fruit trees. Even though a diversified orchard offers multiple benefits, for efficiency reasons, however, many orchards comprise a limited variety of species.

Diversified tree species reduce the risk of pest and diseases outbreaks and ensure a healthy soil structure with an adequate removal and input of nutrients. Furthermore, the different blooming times of tree species provide nectar for pollinators over a longer period of time and hence are beneficial for beekeeping.

When setting up a resilient orchard, it is recommended to conserve natural flora and fauna and to establish the orchard in such a way that disruption of the surrounding environment is kept to a minimum e.g. incorporating existing natural resources into the structure of the orchard. 

The key to designing a resilient orchard is selecting fruit tree species and developing a long-term orchard management plan (10-15 years). 

About 95 percent of the staple crop production in Tajikistan comes from irrigated land which underlines the importance of irrigation in cultivating annual agricultural crops.

The productivity of irrigated annual crops depends largely on the provision of ecosystem services, e.g. pollination, water, and soil fertility.       

Irrigated annual crops are usually intensive cultures that make for efficient use of land resources and constitute artificial ecosystems that cannot make contributions to the maintenance and improvement of biodiversity and ecosystems services. To the contrary, they mostly focus on applying huge amounts of chemical inputs and in many cases use water ineffectively.

The sustainably managed irrigated annual crops focus on reducing hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizer, and synthetic pesticides.

Developed as a result of intense civil society engagement and structured around seven comprehensive guidelines that encompass the most relevant aspects of sustainable food chains and systems, PNAPO is a unique federal framework policy for advancing agroecology and organic production in Brazil. In its first cycle of activities it led to impressive quantitative results in terms of advancing the agroecological agenda in the country (budget and initiative-wise), investing over EUR 364 million, resulting in visible large-scale improvements for smallholders and vulnerable groups. Amongst others, it constructed over 140,000 cisterns and helped 5,300 municipalities to invest 30% or more of their school feeding budgets in organic and agroecological products purchased from family farmers. For its achievements, Brazil’s PNAPO was recognized with the Future Policy Silver Award 2018, awarded by the World Future Council in partnership with FAO and IFOAM – Organics International.

The solution Incentive-based Hilsa Fisheries Management comprises a suite of activities directly and indirectly related to the recovery of hilsa fish stocks in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government coupled seasonal fishing bans and the creation of hilsa sanctuaries with food and income-based social support schemes; the aim was to maximise fish stock recovery, and minimise the burden placed on fishers by limiting their access to this culturally and economically important fish. Stocks of hilsa and other species were reported to have increased, and hilsa catch weight to have roughly doubled, since the management plan’s inception. Communities are supported when fishing isn’t possible, particularly through a food-based scheme. This solution is published as part of the project Ecosystem-based Adaptation; strengthening the evidence and informing policy, coordinated by IIED, IUCN and UN Environment WCMC.

Para reducir la vulnerabilidad al cambio climático de las comunidades en el paisaje de la Reserva de la Biosfera del Volcán de Tacaná, se implementaron medidas de EbA con dos comunidades: La Azteca y Alpujarras. Las comunidades se organizan como ejidos, que es una estructura de tenencia de la tierra en México.

La solución tuvo como objetivo mejorar la resiliencia tanto del bosque nuboso como de la producción agroforestal de café para enfrentar tormentas y lluvias intensas que causan erosión, deslizamientos de tierra y pérdidas de vidas, impactos en fuentes de agua y producción agrícola.

A mediano plazo, esta combinación de medidas mejorará la captación de agua, reducirá la erosión hídrica y se obtendrán productos adicionales para consumo familiar. Además, se tomaron acciones a través de fondos estatales, federales y de proyectos para asegurar la sostenibilidad en el mediano plazo.

La promoción de la participación local, para garantizar el acceso a los recursos naturales en la zona colindate al Parque Nacional de Jaú; sumado a la aplicación de un enfoque de mosaicos de conservación, para consolidar un territorio protegido más extenso; y a la inclusión del Parque en un Programa Estatal de conservación de bosques tropicales, con financiamiento público, privado y de organismos internacionales, han sido factores clave para la conservación de la cuenca del Río Negro del Amazonas.

La Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul cuenta con el eje de “Negocios Sustentables”, cuyo objetivo es promover beneficios económicos a través del uso racional y aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales. En 2015, Calakmul comenzó la promoción de un distintivo para empresas sustentables y posicionar productos y servicios de la región a nivel nacional e internacional. Como resultado, surge el Certificado Sello Colectivo Calakmul, que es un distintivo para empresas con criterios de gobernanza, economía local y corresponsabilidad ambiental con apropiación y conservación del patrimonio biocultural. Asimismo, se desarrolló una propuesta y un mapeo de actores para generar alianzas con otras instituciones y potencializar la iniciativa. En 2019 participan cinco comunidades, siete empresas certificadas y tres en proceso, donde los productos con calidad de exportación son miel, artesanías de madera y meliponicultura, productos de higiene personal y servicios de transportistas y operadores turísticos.

El Bosque Atlántico es considerado uno de los bosques tropicales más biodiversos del planeta (Hotspot de biodiversidad), el segundo más grande toda Sudamérica y la primera Área Importante para las Aves (IBA) del Paraguay con alto endemismo de aves y  especies amenazadas. Actualmente el desarrollo de agricultura extensiva y urbanización redujo su cobertura original a menos del 7% de superficie en Paraguay. San Rafael ha sido ampliamente reconocido como la principal prioridad de conservación del Bosque Atlántico en Paraguay. La solución para su conservación a largo plazo y evitar la pérdida de conectividad con otras áreas importantes del Bosque Atlántico, consiste en un modelo de producción innovador basado en la recuperación de áreas degradadas del Bosque Atlántico en el área de influencia de San Rafael con Ilex paraguariensis – yerba mate con otras especies nativas, fomentando su conservación tanto natural como cultural, así como su viabilidad económica de comunidades rurales e indígenas.  

En México, la mayoría de las pesquerías en pequeña escala que capturan peces carecen de monitoreo pesquero y biológico adecuado. Esto deja vacíos de información y dificulta su manejo. También, complica el reconocimiento de dichas pesquerías ante estándares internacionales, así como la existencia de un beneficio social y económico para las pescadoras y los pescadores. Con el fin de lograr una pesca sostenible de la pesquería de peces (excluyendo a los tiburones y rayas) en México, los actores involucrados en esta pesquería se unieron, bajo un esquema de co-manejo y co-financiamiento, que incorpora la igualdad de género, para establecer un monitoreo pesquero que brinde información para generar mejoras en la pesquería y en su manejo. Esto ha posicionado a las pescadoras y los pescadores como pioneros en sostenibilidad pesquera, siendo un ejemplo para muchas otras personas dedicadas a la pesca.

The solution addresses the challenge of how to identify and ensure that legal fishing vessels pay their license fees to district authorities, which are important as they fund fisheries management and enforcement efforts of local government structures. It uses a color coded small plastic zip-lock cable tie to identify licensed vessels, enabling fisheries officers and local community-based structures to determine if a vessel is legal and has paid the relevant fees for a particular district.

The Upper Gulf of California is home to a variety of marine species, including the endemic Gulf corvina whose use provides a livelihood to more than 9,000 people. Unsustainable resource use has led to the overexploited of this species.
Catch Shares (MCC)is a framework for sustainable fisheries management, resulting in reduced overfishing while improving the economic wellbeing of fisherfolk dependent on healthy marine ecosystems.

Sazani has piloted and expanded an approach to support the development of sustainable livelihoods through education and training in Zanzibar, incl. the delivery of a curriculum to embed Education for Sustainable Development into teacher training and classroom delivery; Provision of training in climate smart appropriate technologies; Supporting climate smart enterprises, incl. jam production using rocket stoves, solar drying as well as bee keeping, mud crab fattening and sustainable agriculture.

The ABALOBI initiative is a transdisciplinary research and social learning endeavour, bringing together stakeholders with traditional fishers taking centre stage. It is a participatory action research project with a strong community development component. ABALOBI, a free app/programme, is aimed at social justice and poverty alleviation in the small-scale fisheries chain, transformation in the way we produce knowledge, stewardship of our marine resources, and building resilience to climate change

In this project, ANDES (Asociación para la Naturaleza y el Desarrollo Sostenible) provided support to communities in the mountainous Cusco Region of Peru for the establishment and management of a Potato Park, where communities can engage with, preserve and benefit from biocultural heritage. Communities active in the Association of Communities of the Potato Park are supported to preserve native and locally-adapted crop species and to capitalise on this through agrobiodiversity-based microenterprises. Communities’ resilience to climate change is bolstered ecologically by maintaining availability of locally-adapted food crops, culturally by reviving traditional knowledge, and socially by providing ecosystem-based livelihood generating activities. This solution is published as part of the project Ecosystem-based Adaptation; strengthening the evidence and informing policy, coordinated by IIED, IUCN and UN Environment WCMC.

To reduce the vulnerability to climate change of communities in the surrounding landscape of the Tacaná Volcano Biosphere Reserve, EbA measures were implemented with two communities: La Azteca and Alpujarras. Communities are organized as ejidos, which is a land-tenure structure in Mexico. 

The solution aimed to improve resilience of both the cloud forest and the agroforestry coffee production in order to face storms and heavy rains causing erosion, landslides and causing loss of lives, impacts to water springs, and agricultural production.

This combination of measures would improve water capture, reduce water erosion, and additional food products will be obtained for family consumption and comertialization. Actions were taken through state, federal and project funds to ensure sustainability in the medium term.

Waterevolution promotes a new marine policy governance that creates a positive circle between maritime cluster companies and marine conservation. Eulabor Institute has developed a comprehensive model based on computational sustainability, an interdisciplinary field that applies techniques from computer and information science, operations research, applied mathematics and statistics to balance environmental, economic and societal needs for a sustainable development.

In late 1970’s, Kenya started witnessing rapid degradation of the community lands bordering the national parks and reserves.  Besides threat to wildlife, this degradation was also a threat to community livelihoods as it led to more poverty and ecological marginalisation. The founding of Ol Kinyei Conservancy was motivated by desire to stem this degradation and the need to conserve wildlife and habitats by partnering with the communities living on those lands and provide them with real and sustainable benefits from wildlife and wilderness areas.  This was the founding principle of Porini model, of protecting indigenous resources to generate income. In this model, you have a low-density ecotourism venture/s whose income goes towards the community as incentive to preserve ecosystem health. It is now widely accepted as a conservation solution beneficial to people and environment and is being used in several other places around Maasai Mara and rest of Kenya.

Environmental protection and development are a pair of eternal contradictions. Seeking balance between protection and sustainable utilization of natural resources is the key to achieve effective protection. In Wudalianchi Geological Park （“the park”）, the new-period basaltic volcanic cones of intracontinental tectonic setting, barrier lakes and lava land form have superb geological scientific value. However, in the past, locals relied heavily on agriculture, fishing and farming, which all had negative impacts on the environment. In order to solve the problem, the government provides support and guidance in accordance with the laws and regulations formulated by it, local residents can choose to engage in different industries or conduct different businesses that have the minimum impact on the environment to ensure a sustainable world that benefits all. In addition, the local government gives priority to provide employment opportunities for local residents to improve their livelihood.

Through an inclusive approach, involving the community in land use planning and natural resource governance, supporting agro-forestry, equitable benefits sharing and poverty reduction, the Ekuri Initiative has addressed problems caused by deforestation and forest degradation, such as exacerbated climate change including drought, fire and flood, as well as food insecurity, illiteracy and poverty in Ekuri community in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Calakmul Biosphere Reserve has the “Sustainable Business” axis, whose objective is to promote economic benefits through the rational use and exploitation of natural resources. In 2015, Calakmul began promoting a label for sustainable companies and positioning the products and services of the region at national and international scales. The result is the Calakmul Collective Seal, which is a distinction for companies with criteria of governance, local economy and environmental co-responsibility with appropriation and conservation of Calakmul’s biocultural heritage. Likewise, a proposal was developed to generate alliances with other institutions and potentiate the initiative. In 2019, five communities are participating, seven certified companies and three in the process. The products with export quality are honey, wood crafts and meliponiculture, personal hygiene products and services of transporters and tour operators.

The Legado das Águas (Water Legacy), the largest private reserve of the Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, with 31,000 hectares, is one of Votorantim Company’s environmental assets. Located in the Vale do Ribeira region in the south of the São Paulo State, the area was acquired in the 1940s and has since been conserved with the objective of guaranteeing, in the long term, the water resource of the Juquiá River water basin.

Today, Legado das Águas is managed by the company Reservas Votorantim LTDA, created to establish and implement a new model of environmental asset management.

In this sense, the Legado das Águas was structured in such a way as to promote actions within four central axes: Institutional Management, Human and Social Capital, Economic Capital and Natural Capital, demonstrating that the sustainable use of the natural resources of private protected areas makes possible the investiment in the maintenance of the area, as well as social and economic benefits.

This solution promotions local participation, to guarantee access to natural resources in the zone adjacent to the Jaú National Park. This coupled with the application of a conservation mosaic approach, to consolidate a more extensive protected territory; and the inclusion of the Park in a State Program for the conservation of tropical forests, with public, private and international funding, have been key factors for the conservation of the Black River basin of the Amazon.

The long-term partnership at Damaraland Camp between Wilderness Safaris (private sector; WS) and the Torra Conservancy (community) in Namibia illustrates that tangible benefits from such joint venture partnerships play an important role in development and poverty reduction, with intangible benefits improving social welfare, biodiversity conservation and local economic development.

In coastal Andhra Pradesh in India, deforestation and aquaculture threaten unprotected mangrove forests and several vulnerable species that inhabit them, primarily fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) and smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata). A feasible strategy to conserve these unprotected mangroves is to provide human communities with alternative and sustainable livelihoods. One idea that can potentially curb deforestation is the sustainable harvest of mangrove mud crabs (Scylla spp.) with crab-culture boxes in naturally occurring water channels among mangroves. This idea is also a low-investment alternative to commercial aquaculture ponds that are more expensive to maintain, pollute natural waters, and are prone to income losses due to soil infertility.

196 Sustainable Livelihood projects were financed by LEEMP-GEF from 2004-2010 in 40 Support Zone Communities (SZCs) of Lake Kainji National Park. Building on this investment, the NPS-Bridging fund Project helped to scale up to 206 projects in 46 communities from 2011 to date.

The projects rely on a system of revolving product assets among members of the group. The assets include cows worth N60,000 (US$167) as well as medication and feeding worth N40,000.00 (US$111). The product assets are given to the 1st beneficiary, who fattens the cows for 6 months to 1 year, then sells them, keeping one and giving another one to a different group member to fatten. This continues until all members of the group have benefitted. The revolving is then repeated.

From 2010 to date all the members of the hunters and youth user group in the SZCs of the park have benefitted, and the scheme is now in the second round.

 The SmartFish Group, a social enterprise, directly incentivizes Mexican artisanal fishing cooperatives to improve their environmental and social performance. SmartFish NGO incubates worthy co-ops to market readiness with responsible seafood, empowering fishers to catch and produce high quality, responsibly caught seafood to overcome the vicious cycle of overfishing. SmartFish Inc. acts as a “good intermediary,” placing their triple impact seafood into prefential markets with transparency and traceability, rewarding them for their responsible practices.

From a zero rating on the MPA Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool, Tambaliza is now pegged as a ‘bright spot’ MPA not only in the municipality of Concepcion but in the whole Northern Iloilo – it is the first legally established MPA with a 200-ha No-take Zone in the province. Tambaliza MPA is proving that bigger MPAs entail more community and stakeholders’ involvement and bigger funding requirements but the local community is up to the challenge of sustaining the management of a protected area through their own contributions. Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA, locally known as CoMSCA) in Tambaliza are currently generating up to $1,500 in a year as Environmental Fund (EF) to support the implementation of the management plan of the protected area. ZSL’s Net-Works (TM) programme is keen on replicating the success of Tambaliza MPA in other sites. 

A surf ecosystem is more than a wave: it’s the geophysical components, the plants and animals, and the human interactions that make a place special. Protecting surf ecosystems in turn protects marine habitats, maintains the integrity of the wave, and safeguards local livelihoods.

World Surfing Reserves (WSR) act as a model for preserving wave breaks and their surrounding areas by recognizing and protecting key environmental, cultural and economic attributes in coastal communities.

WSRs represent a global network of designated surfing reserves that are managed, implemented, and protected by local communities.  Every year, one new World Surfing Reserve is selected from a competitive pool of applicants by an independent council.

The Bahía de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve was designated in 2014 and have implemented multiple projects protecting the ecosystems and waves in the region and is an excellent example of how the World Surfing Reserve can protect the coastline.

TONTOTON connects businesses to environmental impact via a certified plastic credit system. We prevent post consumer non-recyclable plastic we call orphan plastic, from reaching the oceans and create a new market for them.

Together with local communities, we identify the locations with immense environmental leakage. Local waste pickers are then employed to collect these orphan plastics, providing them new sources of income and better working conditions. Majority of our waste pickers are women.

Later, plastic waste collected are coverted into energy by co-processing. Everything is certified by the Ocean-Bound Neutrality standard and audited by a third-party control body. Businesses that support our projects are not only able to neutralize portion of the plastic in their products that they cannot immediately remove from their supply chain. More importantly, they support the social and environmental activities involved towards the creation of the plastic credits.

The Blue Economy concept seeks to promote economic growth, social inclusion, and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the ocean and coastal areas.

To realize this, Non-Governmental Organisations were introduced to the social enterprise concept to enable the creation of sustainable and innovative enterprises/businesses that can positively impact sustainable livelihoods, specifically the most vulnerable. In addition, this was recognized as a further way of examining alternative funding modalities to attend to organisational sustainability and at the same time promote an inclusive or whole of society approach to the growth and development of the Blue Economy and the eco-tourism sub sectors.

The Meloy Fund for Sustainable Community Fisheries is an impact investment fund that incentivizes the development and adoption of sustainable fisheries by investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that support the recovery of coastal fisheries in Indonesia and the Philippines. In doing so, the Fund and its investees pursue a triple bottom line strategy: ensuring positive financial, social, and environmental outcomes.

Companies that impact the coastal fishery need to respond to long-term stresses on their supply chains, uncertain regulatory environments, and shifting consumer tastes. To compete, these SMEs need both capital and a partner to help them transition their business models for sustainability and financial success. In this way, the Meloy Fund brings a comprehensive partnership that transforms the businesses in which we invest, sustains the natural resources on which they depend and ensures that a portion of business returns benefit local fishers.

The Whale Heritage Site (WHS) program is a replicable model that recognises locations that demonstrate the importance of whales, dolphins and ocean habitats through culture, education, protection & conservation solutions.

The Bluff is the first WHS in a developing country – a flagship for other communities in the region. Its journey from whaling mecca to a beacon of hope for marine conservation and sustainability is profound.

The WHS program empowers coastal communities to champion cetaceans and biodiversity. It showcases their relationship with the ocean by encouraging coexistence; celebrating cetaceans in culture, arts and events; working towards environmental sustainability; and developing research and education programs. 

The Bluff has seen sustainable practices and livelihoods continually improve. Increased investment in eco-tourism has transformed The Bluff to a place where whales thrive and the local community benefits. 

Nieuwoudtville is primarily a sheep and tea farming area but is also the worlds ‘bulb’ capital, experiencing a seasonable tourism industry based on the spectacular annual wildflower display. Poor management of indigenous rangelands and climate change have made farming largely non-viable forcing farmers to diversify their income streams to remain financially viable.

Through our unique conservation exchange, we provide expertise and resources to build multi-purpose trails on farms in return for landowners signing commitments to join the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme (BSP) – a voluntary but legal process to declare private properties as part of the national protected area estate.

This obligation is underpinned by management plans that result in improved range management and include activities such as correct stocking rates, habitat rest, erosion control and alien plant removal which all lead to improved resilience. In this way we demonstrate that conservation can have tangible benefits to farmers.

The lowland hilly ranges in Nepal are geologically young and tectonically active, posing a huge issues of geo-disasters such as landslides, soil erosion and environmental degradation. The area is also home to tribal communities who along with living at risk of environmental hazards experience a range of livelihood challenges shaped by historic socio-economical marginalization.

In order to mitigate natural disasters such as floods and landslides which are frequent in the hilly terrains, this nature-based solution aims to plant Broom Grass and  Bamboo on degraded lands and landslide prone areas, to save the households at risk communities while also addressing their economic issue by training them on social enterprise and finding the market for the produced goods from, those planted cash crop.

Broom grass and bamboo are able to mitigate landslide and  pose a huge financial potential as their byproducts such as brooms, bio fuel, papers and handicraft are in huge demand in global market.

At Yayasan Planet Indonesia we are dedicated to conserving Earth’s at-risk ecosystems. In Indonesia, we have pioneered a model of community-based conservation through our ‘Conservation Cooperative’ model that addresses the underlying drivers causing climate change vulnerability in our partner communities. We create village-led partnerships to support ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) by instituting community governance structures (Conservation Cooperatives) that enable access to financial and non-financial services that catalyze community-based adaptation. Using our award-winning approach, we establish ‘Conservation Cooperatives’ (CC) to develop pathways for vulnerable rural communities to overcome the barriers to climate change adaptation. Simultaneously our CC approach builds EbA by securing the well-being benefits (e.g. livelihood, health) that humans derive from ecosystem services (e.g. forests, land, fisheries, etc.), and facilitates how these benefits can be utilized to promote climate change adaptation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the tourism industry in the Galapagos, putting thousands out of a job and threatening conservation efforts based on tourism income. In particular, naturalists guides, fishermen, and farmers were hit the hardest affecting the core of the island economy. This lack of income could also be detrimental to sensitive ecosystems by lifting adequate control and increasing fishing quotas as measures to mitigate this economic collapse. The Galapagos Barcode project’s main goal is to directly employ naturalist guides (women and men equally) currently without income, to catalog the biodiversity of the Galapagos using DNA sequencing technology. By providing infrastructure and scientific training (cash for training), it will build local capacity and resilience, with implications for wildlife and ecosystem conservation, and socio-economic growth.

Sericulture is the art of silk production by rearing caterpillars (larvae) and undertaking a post cocoon activity leading to production of silk yarn. The caterpillars, usually the domesticated species of silkworm (Bombyx mori) feeds on mulberry (Morus alba) or castor (Ricinus communis) plants. Hence, the activity also includes cultivation of these plants as a feed, rearing and reeling of the cocoons. We used Sericulture as a solution to provide alternative income generating activity for marginalized women headed households who used to sustain their livelihoods with the sales of firewood extracted from Nech Sar National Park. Their relationship with the national park is harmonized. They serve as ambassadors for conservation advocacy and education.