The CA|TS Report 2022: 10 years of Conservation Assured Tiger Standards

In Botswana, 40% of the territory is under some type of legal environmental protection, with 17% classified as protected areas. However, limited funding increased their exposure to habitat loss, ecosystem conversion, and other pressures. Protected area fees had not been updated since 2000 in the country, contributing to this situation.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Botswana, with support from the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revised protected area fees across all national parks and game reserves in the country, except the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Revised fees became effective on April 2022.

In 2023, protected area fees in Botswana generated around USD 7.8 million (BWP 103.9 million) of revenue, compared to USD 4.6 million (BWP 61.3 million) in 2019. This achievement strengthens biodiversity conservation in the country.

Nosy Hara National Park is part of Madagascar’s network of protected areas. A genetic reservoir of marine biodiversity, it is a sustainable fishing site par excellence, for the fishing community living around the park. Mangrove crabs, octopus and reef fish are the most commonly caught species. The Park is renowned for the production of octopus, fish for local, regional and even national consumption.

Overfishing in accessible areas by small-scale fishermen, the failure of nomadic fishermen to comply with fishing closures, and the lack of park staff for surveillance are among the daily challenges faced by park managers.

Co-management through the effective involvement of the local community in the preservation of the park is an approach adopted, particularly by the women’s community of the village of Ankingameloka, who actively participate in the co-monitoring of mangroves, the restoration of the ecosystem and the monitoring of fishermen’s daily catches.

The Essonne Departmental Council manages natural sites with high flora and fauna stakes, several of which are developed and open to the public.
In order to guarantee a quality reception on these sites, the Department has developed, in 2017 with the start-up E Citiz, an original mobile application “Veille nature 91”.
This application, accessible from the stores (Apple, Android), can be downloaded free of charge and used by all users (Department staff, walkers, fishermen, naturalists, etc.) of the Department’s natural areas and hiking trails.
In just 3 clicks, anyone can thus report an anomaly observed on a natural site, and allow the Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels Sensibles to take note of it, almost in real time.
These observations can concern a wide variety of themes such as wild deposits and other incivilities (tags, deliberate damage, etc.), safety issues (threatening trees, dangerous equipment, maintenance faults, etc.), etc….

With 26 case studies from 10 multinational companies, this publication highlights their positive actions, interventions and initiatives contributing to specific conservation and restoration goals. The concrete examples illustrate a pivotal part of their work which have direct impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem on their sites and operations, focused on a variety of additional and proactive biodiversity conservation and restoration actions more commonly within the landscape and seascape. The different case studies seek to present current voluntary practices and initiatives that are above and beyond addressing the negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services onsite. While not exhaustive, these case studies seek to be illustrative of current voluntary practices and demonstrative of some of the kinds of initiatives that are currently being carried out.