Integrating Human Rights, Gender Equality and Conflict Resolution into Marine and Coastal Conservation

Tanzania’s coastal and marine ecosystems are rich in biodiversity but face mounting pressures from unsustainable resource use, weak governance, and social conflict. Community-based conservation actors, including Beach Management Units (BMUs), Village Liaison Committees (VLCs), Marine Parks and Reserves Unit (MPRU) rangers, Honorary Rangers, and Collaborative Management Areas, have historically lacked structured capacity on human rights, gender equality, and conflict-sensitive approaches. Within the IKI-funded “Pwani Yetu” (Our Coast) Project, two rounds of training were conducted between April and September 2025. A total of 147 participants were trained using participatory adult-learning methods, including role plays, conflict mapping, and case studies, across three integrated modules: 1) human rights frameworks in conservation, 2) gender equality and intersectionality, and 3) practical conflict resolution and feedback mechanisms.Participants co-developed locally owned and applicable conflict resolution and feedback systems.

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Wildlife farm management and policy advice to reduce risks to human health from wildlife products in Viet Nam

This initiative was part of the Support Project for the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade which was implemented in Viet Nam by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with the One Health Partnership Secretariat hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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Agave Restoration Initiative: Restoring a Bi-National Agave Corridor for Migratory Bats and People

The Agave Restoration Initiative, led by Bat Conservation International, is the world’s first landscape-scale foraging habitat restoration effort for migratory bats.

To offset agave loss and fragmentation across Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, the initiative is creating a climate-resilient, bi-national agave corridor that supports recovery of three pollinating bats, including the endangered Greater (Mexican) long-nosed bat, and rural livelihoods. The initiative unites 100+ partners (communities, Tribes, private landowners, NGOs, government agencies, researchers, and companies) across 14 states.

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By coordinating across a migratory corridor, the initiative is pioneering a model to transform how we restore keystone plants and corridors for migratory species globally.

Standardising the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) for improved protected area management in Viet Nam

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Carbono Biodiverso: A Local Carbon Protocol Linking Forest Regeneration to Community Economic Development in Mexico

The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Querétaro, Mexico—a 383,567-hectare mosaic of cloud forest, oak woodland and semi-arid scrubland—is home to extraordinary biodiversity and 638 rural communities. With 70% of the land in private hands, meaningful conservation requires the genuine participation and economic empowerment of local landowners. Yet, for decades, those landowners had no financial incentive to protect their forests over more immediately profitable land uses such as cattle ranching, logging, and agriculture.

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By institutionalising collaboration through a contractual framework, the solution improves governance effectiveness, reduces conflicts and enhances the resilience of wetland ecosystems. It provides a replicable model for multi-level and multi-actor governance, applicable across Mediterranean and other regions facing similar challenges.

LIFE TERRACESCAPE: Employing land stewardship to transform terraced landscapes into green infrastructures to better adapt to climate change

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Experiences from piloting the “Site-level assessment of governance and equity (SAGE)” in Viet Nam

The Site-Assessment for Governance and Equity (SAGE) is a methodology for assessing the governance and equity of actions to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services of protected and/or conserved areas (PCAs). SAGE has two objectives: The first is to enable site-level actors to improve the governance and equity of their conservation work. The second is to generate information for actors at higher levels for management oversight, improve governance of a (national) system of PCAs and for national and global-level reporting.

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Handbook for Coastal Wetlands Governance

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LIFE Olivares Vivos: Biodiversity restoration and market valorisation in Mediterranean olive groves

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