As the World Heritage Convention celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022, over 1100 sites around the world are recognized as World Heritage – places that are so valuable to humanity that there conservation has been deemed our collective responsibility. Yet many of these exceptional places face increasing pressure from diverse types of development projects within and around the sites. Assessing the impacts of such projects is essential to both prevent damage to World Heritage and identify sustainable options. This Guidance and toolkit explains the process for achieving these goals. Offering practical tips and tools including checklists and a glossary, it provides a framework for conducting impact assessments for cultural and natural heritage sites.
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.
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.
This project addresses these challenges by establishing sustainable local seed systems, strengthening partnerships with seed producers, and building farmers’ capacities through training, demonstration sites, and extension support. It also introduces a renewed communication strategy that reframes PPT around tangible farmer benefits, including increased fodder production, reduced crop losses, and income opportunities from forage seed production.
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.
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), a 97,030-hectare no-take protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Philippines, operates through a multisectoral governance and partnership system. The Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board provides shared direction, while the Tubbataha Management Office maintains continuity and carries out day-to-day management. Government agencies, local government, enforcement agencies, research institutions, conservation organizations, the tourism sector and other partners contribute personnel, expertise, financing, technical support and other resources. Tubbataha also engages MPA, government and academic networks to exchange experience and adapt management.
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.
Women fishers and wives of Blue Swimming Crab (BSC) fishermen in Indonesia play important roles in the BSC fishery, yet their contributions and concerns are often overlooked in fisheries management. Limited communication skills and opportunities to express aspirations remain major barriers. Since 2021, Coral Triangle Center (CTC), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Photovoices International (PVI) have supported women in Lampung and Central Java through training on BSC ecology, trade chains, and business canvas development; strengthening public speaking through photography and Training of Trainers; and creating spaces for women to speak and share through photo exhibitions and learning exchanges. By combining knowledge, confidence-building, and structured dialogue spaces, the approach strengthened women’s capacity to engage with decision-makers. As a result, women gained confidence, stronger family support, and government recognition. In 2024, women in Lampung were formally included in the provincial BSC Management Team.
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.
This solution restores floodplain forests and scattered forest ecosystems in Dornod, Zavkhan, Khovd and Sukhbaatar provinces of Mongolia. Between 2022 and 2024, restoration activities were implemented across 1,604 ha using ecosystem based approaches, including assisted natural regeneration, planting of locally adapted tree and shrub species, soil moisture conservation measures, and protection of young seedlings. The solution addresses land and forest degradation, desertification, soil erosion, biodiversity loss and declining water resources. Ecological assessments and GIS based site selection were used to identify suitable restoration areas.
Local governments, communities, researchers and project partners participated in planning, implementation, monitoring and maintenance. Early results show improved ecosystem recovery, strengthened local capacity and participation, enhanced climate resilience and support for long-term landscape sustainability.
This Solution focuses on spring source protection and pasture water access in Mongolia’s dryland pastoral ecosystems, implemented through the ADAPT Project with support from the Government of Mongolia, the Green Climate Fund, and UNDP. It addresses growing water scarcity, spring degradation, pasture deterioration, and climate-related drought affecting herder communities and livestock.
The approach combines ecosystem-based adaptation measures, including fencing and protecting spring sources, regulating water flow, restoring surrounding vegetation, and establishing community based management systems. By preventing livestock trampling and reducing contamination, the Solution supports natural spring recovery and improves water quantity and quality.
Between 2022 and 2025, 88 spring sources were protected across Khovd, Zavkhan, Dornod, and Sukhbaatar provinces. In Dariganga soum of Sukhbaatar province alone, restored springs improved water access for more than 30 herder households and over 30,000 livestock.
Northern Ghana’s savannah woodlands are being degraded by illegal logging, charcoal production and other unsustainable land uses, while many planted seedlings fail to survive. The ABBAT project combined community-based restoration with the RANAS approach to systematic behaviour change. Mixed-methods research identified the factors influencing tree planting, nurturing and protection; these findings shaped campaigns using hands-on demonstrations, public commitments, positive emotions, role models, peer support and barrier planning. Across three districts around Mole National Park, 1,544 farmers planted more than 62,000 seedlings. RANAS campaign communities achieved observed seedling survival rates of 72-74%, compared with 54% under standard training, despite prolonged drought. A community-led RANAS model performed as well as organisation-led delivery, showing that the approach can strengthen local ownership while offering a scalable model for restoration and climate resilience
Climate change and rapid land-use change intensify floods and droughts in the Lower Mekong Basin. Vulnerability is particularly high in transboundary areas, where upstream-downstream interdependencies limit purely national adaptation. In the 9C-9T sub-basin shared by Cambodia (9C) and Thailand (9T) nearly 1.8 million people are affected. Facilitated by Mekong River Commission (MRC) and supported by GIZ, both countries established a Joint Governance Mechanism for Transboundary Assessment, Planning and Action. With a shared vision, the endorsed 9C-9T Flood and Drought Master Plan guides investments towards Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Economic analysis strengthened the case and enabled German funding for two pilots: (1) a constructed wetland in Thailand reducing wastewater flowing to Cambodia, and (2) rural retention ponds in Cambodia for water security and reduced flooding. Local Climate Risk Assessments (CRA) translate basin-scale concepts into site-specific Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) measures now being implemented.
