Mecanismo Fondo por Empleo para impulsar el turismo comunitario y asegurar ingresos económicos directos a la población local.

One of the main weaknesses of community tourism services is the lack of infrastructure to ensure a comfortable stay. This is due to the fact that there is no financing for this type of work, or that it is carried out without quality criteria.

To solve this problem, the project Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas in a Post-COVID World in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve and Rio Abiseo National Park (Peru), has chosen to develop the Cash-for-Work (CFW) mechanism, also known as the Fund for Jobs.

Through this mechanism, this weakness is transformed into an opportunity to create greater impact, offering temporary jobs to the residents of the 10 communities of both Protected Areas, in works that they themselves determined in their Community Action Plan. These have been financed 100% through the project.

This mechanism has strengthened local economies and, at the same time, has generated a greater sense of belonging.

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Killer in the Kitchen

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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.

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Mobile Intervention Unit for Wild Carnivores

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.

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A major barrier to scaling Push–Pull Technology (PPT) in Ethiopia is the limited availability of affordable, high-quality desmodium and brachiaria seed. Reliance on imported seed significantly increases costs, limiting farmers’ access and slowing adoption. While PPT has proven effective in reducing pest pressure, suppressing striga, improving soil health, and providing high-quality livestock feed, uptake remains constrained by weak local seed supply systems and limited awareness of its broader benefits.

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Water Source Management for Sustainable Pasture Use in Mongolia

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The Zhejiang Tianmu Mountain National Nature Reserve Uses International Certification to Drive Good Governance, Smart Monitoring, and Comprehensive Ecosystem Conservation in Subtropical Mountain Reserves

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