Governance of ecosystem services : lessons learned from Cameroon, China, Costa Rica and Ecuador

The majority of marginalized households of forest fringe villages of Sundarban are dependent upon firewood for cooking. Burning firewood in traditional cook stove creates enormous indoor air pollution which directly effects women and children. Considering the gravity of the situation we have already installed more than 2500 Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) which is reducing firewood consumption by 30%. A single ICS may save minimum 900 kilograms of firewood annually (3 kilograms /day/family of 04 members x 300 days use/year), thus it reduce 1728 kilograms CO2 emission per annum. In it’s lifetime (10 years) a single ICS reduce 17280 kilograms of CO2 emission. ICS reduce indoor air pollution and improve the health condition of women and children. Due to reduction of cooking time, rural women may involve in other economic and social activities. ICS helps to protect the green covered area too. With minimum investment ICS may provide multiple benefit for rural marginalized community.  

At Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve in Shanghai, reeds are vital to wetland ecology and local culture. Yet as reed uses and crafts faded, fast-growing reeds became a management challenge, requiring regular cutting and disposal.

With support from the UNDP-GEF Flyway Conservation Network Project, Chongming Dongtan NNR and local partners revived reed craft heritage as a practical conservation and community solution. Three locally rooted women, with experience in media, planning, nature education and design, returned to Chongming and helped establish the women-led enterprise Jiang Yi Wei. Through the Reed Artisan Guardian Plan, they worked with artisans and community women to pass on reed craft skills, develop products and courses, and create a village-based studio.

The solution shows how fading heritage can be revived to turn reed management challenges into a women-led green enterprise model that supports cultural transmission, supplementary income and public awareness of migratory bird conservation.

The “Mobile Intervention Unit for Wild Carnivores” project equipped the formal rapid-response team for interventions involving wild carnivores in Serbia, focusing on Brown Bear related interventions. A new vehicle was procured through this project for the transport of 5 team members and the accompanying equipment (tools for safe catching and immobilizing brown bears). Apart from ensuring the main means of rapid deployment of 5 members of the Mobile Intervention Unit for Wild Carnivores anywhere in Serbia, the project also contributed with the establishment of key protocols for intervention procedures and team safety, ensuring compliance with modern best practices. Capacity building done through this project involved a practical training for the members of the Brown Bear Intervention Team and a workshop for stakeholders, involving more than twenty participants, including protected area staff, hunting associations, local self government units and others. 

In Mongolia’s dry rangelands, uneven water access concentrated livestock around a few water points, increasing pressure nearby while remote pasture remained underused. At sites in Uvurkhangai, Dornogovi, Sukhbaatar and Tuv aimags, the Sustainable Land Management for Combating Desertification Project linked water-source development with community participation and pasture-management objectives. The solution established 13 engineering wells, restored eight engineering wells and 52 hand wells, and protected 60 natural springs from livestock trampling. These measures improved livestock water access, enabled use of remote pasture and supported haymaking, windbreak and tree-planting sites. By connecting wells and spring protection with pasture planning, agreed use and community responsibility, the approach offers a replicable model for distributing grazing pressure, supporting pastoral livelihoods and strengthening dryland resilience.

The Zhejiang Tianmu Mountain National Nature Reserve is located in Lin’an District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. Covering a total area of 4,284 hectares, it is one of the national nature reserves featuring subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests located closest to a major metropolitan area,It preserves more than 5,000 ancient trees across 72 species and is home to 119 species of wild flora and fauna under national key protection (including Tianmu ironwood, ancient ginkgo, ancient Chinese fir, Chinese stone pine, South China sika deer, black muntjac, and white-necked long-tailed pheasant).In 2024, the “Regulations on the Zhejiang Tianmu Mountain National Nature Reserve” officially took effect—marking the first time Hangzhou City has enacted legislation specifically for a single mountain; that same year, the “Tianmu Mountain–Qingliang Peak” site was incorporated into the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.This plan uses the application for an IUCN Green Name designation as a catalyst to conduct a systematic “health check” and upgrade the management of the protected area based on globally recognized standards for protected areas. At its core is a “five-in-one” model comprising “legislative authorization—government-led governance—community-based joint protection and management—integrated aerial, terrestrial, and space-based smart monitoring—coordinated law enforcement in accordance with the law,”five-in-one model, driving the reserve toward refined, standardized, and professional management. The plan addresses core challenges including illegal crossings in the core zone, visitor and fire prevention pressures, invasive species, standardization of monitoring, and shortages of professional talent, yielding positive outcomes such as significant conservation achievements, deepened community co-management, and regional green development.

The solution addresses water security and climate resilience in Ecuador by integrating Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into public planning, governance, and finance. Led by the Banco de Desarrollo del Ecuador (BDE) with the GIZ Programme Scaling-up EbA Measures in rural Latin America, the initiative made BDE  a pioneer in water security through public banking. The BDE is currently incorporating EbA criteria into its budget lines, credit instruments, and project evaluation processes.

A key output, the Sustainable Watershed Management Guide, equips local governments with tools to design bankable, low-emission projects combining infrastructure and nature-based solutions. These approaches are institutionalized in local development plans (PDOTs) and coordinated through watershed councils, fostering multi-level governance and community participation.

Together, these innovations form a replicable model connecting finance, planning, and governance to deliver, climate-resilient investments for Ecuador’s most vulnerable territories.