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A team from the Madagascar-based nongovernmental organization FANAMBY journeyed to Tanzania for an exchange of ideas and experiences with colleagues there related to participatory forest management. This approach adopted by Tanzania’s Forestry and Beekeeping Division (FBD) strives to ensure that communities value forests as well as reap benefits from their sustainable management and conservation.  This approach has been pioneered in Tanzania by the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG).

The exchange was part of a CEPF-funded FANAMBY project designed to establish community-managed forests through participatory management in Madagascar.
 
The two teams visited several sites, including Mufindi Forest and Lulanda Forest Reserve where communities have entered into participatory forest management agreements with the FBD through TFCG with CEPF support.

The goal of this visit was two-fold:
• To improve mutual understanding between African organizations working in biodiversity conservation,
and
• To exchange knowledge and experiences on topics such as local participation in natural
resources conservation, rural organization, production, marketing and training.

The FANAMBY team visited project sites where TFCG endeavored to protect the biodiversity of the forests through sustainable forest management, while at the same time, securing the livelihoods of the adjacent communities. Improving each of the 15 communities' livelihoods began one household at a time, equipping them with the training, tools, and advice to make a living through alternative income-generating activities, such as beekeeping, pig breeding, and fish farming and turning these basic activities into profitable enterprises. With the success of these endeavors, communities are no longer dependent on selling timber resources such as firewood and charcoal to survive.

In their report, the team from FANAMBY identified some contributing factors to the success of TFCG’s participatory management process. They learned that Tanzania has developed a functional legislative, financial, and societal infrastructure that facilitates the effective management of forests and resources by the communities.

Read Fanamby's full report

Meanwhile, in the Southern Mesoamerica region, CEPF grantee Conservation of the Biosphere of Southeast Nicaragua (COCBIO) also participated in a learning exchange with fellow conservationists.

Through a consolidation grant with the Conservation International Foundation, members of COCBIO traveled to Costa Rica and Panama for a regional networking meeting.

The COCBIO group, which includes and represents members of the indigenous Rama tribe of Nicaragua, met with representatives of two conservation networks in Panama that also represent significant indigenous populations, and discussed approaches to dealing with such threats as hydroelectric projects, mining concessions, economic policies that contradict their beliefs, and land tenure policies. They also exchanged information about their successes in building their networks, and they visited successful conservation projects related to sustainable management of wetlands.

The groups agreed to establish a committee representing all three networks in order to support each other in their continuing conservation efforts.

Despite the span of its work, which includes collaboration with Europe-based NGOs, centers of research, and donors, CEPF is still not well-known among the European conservation communities.

In order to reinforce and strengthen CEPF’s financial and programmatic ties to the European conservation community, CEPF is organizing a day of information and exchanges on the 21 June, 2011 in Brussels, including a workshop with European institutions followed by a reception that will include NGO and government representatives.

For more information, please contact: europe@conservation.org

To read more about this event, please view the article.

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter : europe@conservation.org

The CEPF investment is focusing on six biodiversity conservation corridors with 50 of the highest priority key biodiversity areas. The six corridors are: Southwest Balkans, Algerian Tell and Tunisia, Atlas mountains, Taurus mountains, Cyrenaican Peninsula, and the Orontes Valley and Lebanon Mountains.

View images from this vast and complex region.

* Biological Corridor Framework for the Kingdom of Bhutan, World Wildlife Fund, Inc., English (PDF – 34 KB)  

* Building Capacity of Civil Society for the Conservation of Biodiversity with Special Focus on Livelihood, Sanitation, and Health Development in Kanchanjunga-Singalila Areas of Sikkim State, Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim, English (PDF – 45 KB)

* Civil Society Networks for Site Conservation in the North Bank Landscape, India, Bombay Natural History Society, English (PDF – 54 KB)

* Community-Initiated Red Panda Conservation Project in North-East Region of Sankhuwasabha District in Eastern Nepal, Himalaya, The East Foundation, English (PDF – 40 KB)

* Community Turtle Conservation and Monitoring Network, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, English (PDF – 72 KB) 

* Developing Model Species Recovery Plans in Tonga, Tonga Community Development Trust, English (PDF – 41 KB)  

* Local Stewardship for the Conservation of Red Panda in Eastern Nepal, Red Panda Network-Nepal, English (PDF – 40 KB)

* Restoration of the Wintering Habitat of the Black-Necked Crane in and around Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary, Eastern Bhutan through Community-Based Initiatives, Nature Conservation Committee of Trashiyangtse, English (PDF – 28 KB) 

* Safeguarding Globally Threatened and Lesser Known Species in the Eastern Himalayas: Small Grants for Species Conservation in Nepal and Bhutan, World Wildlife Fund, Inc., English (PDF – 50 KB)

* Sustainable Community-Based Conservation of the Priority Population of Grey-shanked Douc, World Wide Fund for Nature, English (PDF – 31 KB)

Grantee Newsletters, Publications, and Web sites

Publication: Biodiversity Conservation Lessons Learned 3: Capacity Building to Secure Endemic Samoan Swallowtail Butterfly as a Model for Valuing and Conserving Butterflies Distinctive in the Polynesia-Micronesia Hotspot, English, January 2011 (PDF – 965 KB)

The Biodiversity Conservation Lessons Learned Technical Series is a series of 10 reports sharing lessons learned in biodiversity conservation in the Pacific. These are technical reports prepared by a range of partners funded by CEPF and CI. The reports are being produced on an ad hoc basis as projects are completed, with more reports expected to be published every year.

* This technical series is being realized through Ms. Joanne Aitken, a consultant hired by CI-Pacific.

The report, Capacity Building to Secure Endemic Samoan Swallowtail Butterfly as a Model for Valuing and Conserving Butterflies Distinctive in the Polynesia-Micronesia Hotspot, is the third in the series.

  Newsletter:  Boletín informativo de SIMSA,  Sistema de Monitoreo Socioambiental Chocó-Manabí, Español (PDF – 394 KB)

Web portal: Access information on biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats through the collaborative, open-access Western Ghats Portal