Background information for the internal strategic review of the Biodiversity Programme
Publication
1996
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A New Dawn for Magarini’s Mangroves: Restructuring, Planning, and Partnership for a Sustainable Future
Magarini Mangrove Forest in Kilifi County, Kenya, is a vital ecosystem that supports biodiversity, protects coastlines, and sustains local livelihoods. However, years of overharvesting, weak governance, and climate change threatened its survival. Community engagement in conservation was low, and the Magarini Mangrove Community Forest Association (CFA) struggled with unclear leadership and limited capacity. With support from the German government through BMZ grant in a three-country consortium project-BENGO, Nature Kenya worked towards responding to capacity gaps identified.
Consultation platforms at communal, regional and national level to facilitate Forest Landscape Restoration in Togo
The Republic of Togo is one of the AFR100 countries, that established an AFR100 National Stakeholder Platform by operationalizing the National Commission on Sustainable Development (CNDD), an AFR100 Regional Stakeholder Platform by operationalizing the Regional Commission on Sustainable Development (CRDD) and by operationalizing several AFR100 stakeholder platforms at communal level by operationalizing the Communaul Commission on Sustainable Development (CCDD). Based on these platforms, Forest Landscape Restoration in Togo is done based on a sound cross-sectoral consultation and a comprehensive decision making process on various levels.
Using Solar Dryers for Value Addition and the Reduction of Post Harvest Loss
The perishability of agricultural products combined with high market volatility and limited infrastructure for handling fresh produce, pose serious challenges for smallholder farmers and result in high post-harvest losses. The Green Innovation Centre – India (GIC) and Science 4 Society (S4S) technologies piloted a women-led entrepreneurship model, tackling this and related challenges. The project enabled women to establish their own processing units centred around solar powered dryers and to integrate into the value chain. Based on the project’s success, in tackling food waste, creating additional employment, increasing rural incomes and enhancing women’s participation in agri-business, the model was extended to other value chains. First to onion and potato – crops, for which India is the world’s second-largest producer and which face some of the highest post-harvest losses. Later, the innovation was expanded to the apple value chain, which holds strategic importance for mountainous states like Himachal Pradesh.
Diversifying Community Livelihoods through Beekeeping for Ecosystem Conservation in Murchison Falls National Park
The COVID-19 pandemic affected conservation and the livelihoods of communities around Murchison Falls National Park, which drove them to poaching and habitat destruction. To address these challenges, EGI trained communities in Pakanyi Sub-County to embrace beekeeping as an alternative livelihood, through a project supported by IUCN Save Our Species co funded by European Union. The project established 106 traditional hives
Through community based trainings, the communities who included poachers, youth, were trained on key skills, including colony management, hive maintenance, product diversification, and proper packaging techniques. These efforts led to an increase in honey production, from 190 litres to 340 litres per harvesting session. The communities also produced value-added products such as bee venom, medicines, and honey wine, With improved packaging, income from honey sales rose from 1.8 million UGX to 3.35 million ( further diversifying their income and this reduced the poaching in the area by 60 percent.
Training approaches and manuals
Small-scale aquaculture and fisheries play a critical role in global food security, livelihoods, and rural development, serving as a vital source of income, nutrition, and employment. The development of tailored training for capacity building and climate resilience ensures that operations can continue to thrive despite shifting environmental conditions. It supports actors along the value chain in minimizing the negative consequences of climate risks, thereby securing food and nutrition security, as well as livelihoods, for future generations. It also helps prevent illegal practices that could harm ecosystems.
Sustainable practices are essential not only for maintaining natural resources and biodiversity but also for increasing production efficiency. Well-designed training concepts translate complex technical information into accessible formats. This enables the standardization of practices across different regions, contributing to improved overall product quality and opening up new market opportunities.
The Investigation Station: An interactive, sensory-based approach to reconnecting zoo visitors with nature
Research shows that people are becoming increasingly disconnected with nature and are, therefore, less likely to adopt pro-environmental behaviours. To inspire Jersey Zoo visitors to take up simple, but effective, conservation actions we developed an ‘Investigation Station’. The staff and volunteer-led station consists of various interactive, sensory-based items and activities to educate visitors about Sumatran orangutans and promote sustainable palm oil use. Each activity also incorporated at least one of the five Nature Connection Pathways (Sensory, Beauty, Emotion, Meaning, Compassion) to, hopefully, reconnect visitors with nature and our orangutans. During the Easter school holidays, alone, the station opened for 56 hours, engaged 2,152 visitors (21.7% of admitted visitors), recruited 12 volunteers to help run it and achieved a mean visitor dwell time of 4m57s.
Affordable Access to Solar Powered Cold Storages
Apple farmers in India face high post-harvest losses and market volatility. While cold storages and processing infrastructure have the potential to significantly reduce the amount of produce going to waste and improve market linkages, it is out of reach for most Indian farmers due to high initial investment costs. To address this, the Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector – India (GIC) and CoolCrop Technologies piloted a ‘Cooling as a Service’ (CaaS) model in 2021 and installed solar-powered cold storages near farms. Farmers only pay a user fee while a service provider handles investment, installation and operations. The model reduces post-harvest loss by up to 30% and improves realised prices by avoiding forced sales during market gluts. Integrating the CaaS model with services like solarised sorting and grading as well as a mobile application that supports shelf-life prediction and market information has further enhanced farmers’ benefits. CaaS also reduces emissions and creates jobs in rural India.
Use of Solar Bio-Fermenters for Nutrition and Soil Health Management
Declining soil health and biodiversity loss, rising input costs, and decreasing fertilizer effectiveness all point to a common potential solution: a transition to more sustainable systems of agriculture, with reduced dependence on chemical-based inputs.
A key enabler in this transition can be the utilisation of biofermenters for producing high quality biological inputs on farm. It helps to restore soil ecosystems, increase farmers’ resilience to climate change, and to reduce dependence on market-sourced inputs. Implementing complementary practices such as intercropping and mulching further enhances these benefits.
However, the manual preparation of biological inputs is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and often unpleasant due to strong odours. To overcome these adoption barriers, the Green Innovation Centres – India piloted a solar-powered bio-fermenter for apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh. The solution reduces labour cost, improves input quality, and supports a broader, farmer-led transition to natural farming.
IUCN guidelines on responsible translocation of displaced organisms
Displaced organisms are individuals and groups of animals, plants, or fungi that have been recovered from legal or illegal trade, driven from their habitats through habitat destruction or human-wildlife conflicts, displaced or incapacitated by catastrophic events (fires, floods, and extreme weather events) or climate change, or captured or collected by humans. The full scale of irresponsibly translocated organisms is difficult to measure as most are unrecorded. Following the steps in this guidance, attempts can be made to maximise the conservation benefit of translocations of displaced organisms.
Guidelines on harvesting threatened species
Societies around the globe harvest wild species, to a greater or lesser extent, for food, building materials, healthcare, medicines, pest control, ornamentation, income, recreation, and cultural and spiritual purposes. While this use of wild species directly contributes to the well-being of billions of people globally, over-exploitation of wild species is one of the key drivers of biodiversity loss. The IUCN Guidelines on harvesting threatened species advise decision-makers on whether, how and what to harvest to ensure the sustainable use of threatened animal, plant and fungal species. Drawing on insights from the IPBES Sustainable Use Assessment, they complement and expand on existing guidance and tools, such as the Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of IUCN Red List Data in Harvesting of Threatened Species and recent CITES guidance on the conduct of Non-Detriment Findings.
Practice guidance for protected and conserved area finance
Protected and conserved areas (PCAs) have been proven to provide enormous value to nature, people and the economy. They are an effective means by which species, habitats and ecosystems can be conserved, restored and sustainably utilised. This Guide provides detailed frameworks, descriptions and insights into the use of conservation finance solutions to achieve PCA outcomes. The guidance presents the case for PCA investment and sustainable finance, describes the role and use of finance and economics to achieve PCA outcomes, and presents guidance on how to conduct strategic and practical financial planning in support of these outcomes.
Women-led Fire Management in Ngao Model Forest
Ngao Model Forest in Lampang, Thailand, faces significant wildfire challenges due to agricultural burning, which affects the environment and local livelihoods. The community, led by a team of women in Ban Pong village, has successfully managed to keep the area fire-free for the past decade through regular patrols, awareness campaigns, and the use of modern technology. Their efforts have not only reduced wildfires but also expanded community forests, created economic opportunities, and empowered women in leadership roles. This initiative highlights the importance of community engagement and sustainable practices in addressing environmental issues while bringing social and economic benefits.
