Conservation International, through its program office in Timor-Leste, is providing training in applied biodiversity science to government counterparts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and community and NGO partners, leading rapid biological surveys of three protected areas (Mt. Maurei, Mt. Legumau, and Mt. Fatumasin), and preparing a protected area management plan in Mt. Maurei. This grant leads into a much larger GEF-funded program to strengthen the protected area network of Timor-Leste.