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C O N S E R VAT I O N R E P O R T 2 0 1 7

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Conservation Report 2017


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O U R M I S S I O Nis to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science, and which take into account human needs.

Eliza

beth

Tyle

r/FFI


3

Highlights of 2017 4

Our Mission & Aims 6

How we work 7

Assessing the impact of our work 9

Aim 1: To conserve threatened habitats 10 and species

Aim 2: To shape decisions within society to 16 benefit biodiversity

Aim 3: To empower individuals and organisations 24 to lead innovative conservation action

Aim 4: To invest in FFI’s own effectiveness 30

Research and dissemination 32

Lessons learned and looking forward 33

Annex 1. FFI’s priority species 2017 38

Annex 2. Quotes from project reports 40

Contents

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Highlights of 2017

9,897,896 haWe conserved almost 9.9 million

hectares of crucial wildlife habitat (that’s nearly half the size of Great Britain)

Landscapes worked in includeWe protected habitat at

226 sites

in

46 countries

We saw conservation gains for

35 projectshelped to address the illegal trade in wildlife

We worked with

and at least 130 further species measurably benefited from our work

76 priority species

LIMESTONE CAVES

DESERTS & DRYLANDS

WILDFLOWER MEADOWS

FORESTS FRESHWATER MARINE MOUNTAINS GRASSLANDS

priority species104 51sites

AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES


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Over 3,600 The number of people we

built the capacity of

382 The number of organisations we partnered with, including

Local NGOs

Governments

Universities

Businesses

We engaged with

294Organisations we’ve helped to develop their skills, knowledge and resources

20 The number of laws, regulations or strategic

government plans we helped to develop

BUSINESS

55 PROJECTS

COMMUNITIES

99% OF PROJECTS

POLICYMAKERS

47PROJECTS

*

* Relevant field based projects


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Every year, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) collects detailed annual reports from our project managers to help us assess progress towards our mission to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, are based on sound science and take into account human needs.

Our Mission & Aims

To achieve this mission, FFI has four broad aims:

To conserve threatened habitats and species through locally led conservation of threatened habitats, securing threatened species, and extending protection for marine and coastal ecosystems.1.To shape decisions within society to benefit biodiversity by embedding biodiversity into private-sector decision making, enabling governments to make decisions that conserve biodiversity, and encouraging individuals and communities to make decisions that maintain biodiversity.

2.To empower individuals and organisations to lead innovative conservation action by harnessing technology for conservation, supporting the development of conservation leaders, and supporting access to funding and capacity for local-level conservation.

3.To invest in FFI’s own effectiveness by strengthening our systems and processes, fostering a culture of learning and knowledge sharing, attracting and retaining high-calibre staff, and securing diverse and resilient income streams.

4.

This report shows how effective FFI has been in progressing towards each of these four aims over the last year, based on information collected from some 134 projects1 representing 99%2 of our total portfolio.

We have presented the main findings from annual project reports, outlining key activities and impacts and providing insights into our work during the year.

The information here is just a snapshot of our work in 2017; we have parallel processes to track our change over time within and across projects.

Of the 134 projects represented in this report, 89 are field based, while the remaining 45 are cross-cutting or thematic initiatives.

1 A project is defined as a set of activities leading towards a meaningful conservation outcome. A project may encompass multiple sites and/or species and employ multiple conservation approaches. 2 134 out of 136 projects active in 2017 submitted a 2017 annual report.


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How we workWith over 130 projects in 46 countries, FFI’s work is diverse and multifaceted; however, the same basic principles underlie everything we do:

We work with and through partner organisations, from local community organisations and NGOs to small and large businesses and government agencies.

Conservation impact at scale can only be delivered through collaboration. We support our partner organisations in building locally owned and sustainable conservation programmes.

In 2017, we collaborated with 630 organisations. Of these we jointly ran projects with, or provided significant assistance to, 382.

We work in partnership

FFI respects human rights and cultural values, and puts people at the heart of conservation. We see conservation as a social process and work broadly to engage local communities (including indigenous peoples) to find practical solutions to conservation problems.

We believe that conservation success depends on engaging and empowering those who live closest to threatened species and habitats, and we are committed to respecting and promoting human rights within our conservation programmes, as well as supporting governance systems that benefit both people and biodiversity.

By assisting locally based communities to develop sustainable livelihoods and appropriate governance mechanisms alongside biodiversity outcomes, we help to ensure that our work is locally supported and owned and thus more likely to succeed and persist.

In 2017, 99% of projects that could engage with communities did so, building community governance or contributing to sustainable livelihoods.

We take a people-centric approach

FFI recognises the need to root conservation practice in sound science. We seek to apply the best possible information, including up-to-date research, to our practice and also to assess, capture and use FFI and partner lessons to improve practice and help steer future research agendas.

In our projects we aim to underpin conservation decision making with the best available information, be it generated by ourselves or others.

In 2017, over 300 surveys, monitoring programmes or other studies were carried out across 94 different projects.

We are committed to sound science

Robin Loveridge/GTC

NATIONAL NGOS AND CBOS (141)

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (113)

BUSINESSES (37)

INTERNATIONAL NGOS (34)

ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS (28)

OTHER (29)

OUR PRIMARY

PARTNERS IN 2017


8

Jere

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Hold

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We recognise that it can take many years to achieve a significant conservation impact, such as species recovery or habitat improvement. Success is defined at a project by project level and can be determined by a number of factors including, life history traits of critical species or the ability of key habitats to recover, as well as the types of threats faced by biodiversity in a particular context. We use ‘impact chains’ to track progress towards our long-term project goals.

An impact chain describes the path of change that you would expect to see a project progress through on the way to achieving ultimate conservation impacts. There is good evidence that achievement of early steps in the chain predicts future conservation impact. At portfolio level our approach is to use evidence of project outcomes to give an annual snapshot3 of where our current projects are on their journey towards their ultimate conservation goals4.

In the impact chains presented throughout this report, the sites, species or projects represented are only counted once and assigned the highest level of outcome or impact reported by the end of 2017.

Underpinning this approach, each FFI project has a well-developed design logic that articulates how activities are intended to drive change in its own particular circumstances. Work is ongoing at an organisational level to ensure these models of change are as robust as they can be and are used to support each project’s work to monitor its progress towards its ultimate impact.

We have a broad and varied portfolio of projects which in turn means that the rates at which we expect to see change occurring – and the definition of project success – can differ significantly from project to project. Quotes from our project annual reports are used to illustrate how we work across our diverse portfolio to deliver change.

For further information on how FFI works to understand the impact of our work please refer to the document Understanding Conservation Success, available on our website.

Read on to find out how we did in 2017...

Assessing the impact of our work

3 Comparison of Conservation Report impact chains from year to year is constrained by underlying changes in the project composition of the FFI portfolio.

4 We have complementary processes to track project-specific progress over time against their own milestones.

© Albert Saleem

gareev/ACBK

https://www.fauna-flora.org/understanding-conservation-success


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TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGEAs part of our work to deliver habitat conservation, we also work to tackle climate change – a major threat to land and seascapes – through mitigation measures (reducing the severity of climate change, mainly by reducing carbon emissions from forest loss) and adaptation (taking action to reduce the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and people).

In 2017:• We focused directly on climate change

mitigation and forest protection through the development of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) projects in forest landscapes in Indonesia and Liberia.

• A further five projects focused specifically on climate change adaptation at site level and contributed to the development of two climate adaptation plans.

Conserving threatened habitats

Activities

A I M 1 : T O C O N S E R V E T H R E AT E N E D H A B I TAT S A N D S P E C I E S

FFI works to secure key areas of habitat under effective conservation management by ensuring that existing protected areas are more effectively managed and by bringing new areas under protection or sustainable management.

Of the 226 sites where we work, we directly promote habitat conservation activities in 197• We directly supported conservation across over

9.8 million hectares of important habitat, and in doing so influenced conservation5 over a further 24.4 million hectares.

• This included over 300,000 hectares that we helped to bring under conservation management for the first time in 2017 (by supporting the creation of new reserves or community management areas).

• In 2017, across our portfolio of projects, we supported active management and/or protection of threatened habitats by:

» Supporting on-the-ground enforcement or protection in at least 87 sites.

» Supporting over 1,130 rangers. » Helping to produce 48 site-management plans. » Helping to restore habitat at 19 sites. » Helping to carry out invasive species control at

15 sites.

5 Conservation influence manifests itself in different ways, including in areas where we have not directly engaged. For example, in some cases we know that our presence in a specific site influences management and/or land-use decisions for a much larger area.

In addition, if we give a grant for emergency intervention at a World Heritage site through the Rapid Response Facility, we do not consider this a direct conservation engagement, but recognise that emergency assistance has influenced the conservation of that site.

STATE PROTECTED AREAS (96)

PRIVATE PROTECTED AREAS (11)

COMMUNITY PROTECTED AREAS (44)

NON-PROTECTED AREAS (75)

IN 2017 WE

WORKED ACROSS 226

SEPARATE SITES


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How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows the number of FFI sites at each stage of progress towards habitat or biodiversity recovery based on a total of 197 sites where FFI directly works to promote habitat conservation. Thirteen sites are not included as there was insufficient information available about impact in these locations this year. In one site we saw a decline in one habitat type and recovery of another, the impact for this site was split over two impact categories.

Restoring the island of Redonda in the Caribbean“Monitoring through 2017 pointed to a suite of changes that can almost certainly be attributed to removing the rats and goats in the first half of the year, including a conspicuous rise in insect abundance, the reappearance of several species of land birds that have not been recorded on Redonda for many decades (these are believed to have naturally immigrated from neighbouring islands), increase in juvenile lizards (Critically Endangered species), and a striking increase in vegetation, including various grasses and other herbaceous species that had not been spotted on any previous surveys (likely because they were cropped by goats and rats).”

Sites showing evidence

of habitat/biodiversity

recovery

Sites with evidence that habitat is still

in decline

Sites with evidence of reduced threats

Sites with evidence of improved enforcement/protection

8.5 1.535595327

Sites brought under conservation management

Too soon to see results

Saving habitats to protect species in Vietnam“The habitat of western black crested gibbon in both Mu Cang Chai and Muong La was well protected with no significant or major forest destruction or forest fires occurring in 2017, and there were no reports of gibbon hunting or gibbon in the local wildlife trade. Secondary forest around communities was also well protected; no records of cutting timber and collecting firewood from natural forest areas.”

Pioneering conservation in South Sudan“Without the inputs of FFI there would be close to zero practical conservation activity in the former Western Equatoria region. The project fits very well with FFI’s approach of working in places that are overlooked and FFI receives good kudos from local partners for maintaining a presence especially when the political situation is at its most tense. Despite these challenges, following a major ranger training course in March-April 2017 we were able to double patrol effort from May 2017 onward at our main site, which now enables two large patrols to be conducted in the reserve each month; with options to reduce the size of the teams and conduct up to four patrols per month.”

Ivan de Klee/FFI

A snapshot of our workThese quotes, taken from project reports, provide an insight into some of the stories behind these numbers - for more turn to Annex 2.

Dr Fan Pengfei/Dali University/FFI

Jeremy Holden/FFI


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Securing threatened species populations

Activities


In 2017, 47 of our projects focused specifically on species conservation, working to conserve 76 priority species (see Annex 1). A further 132 species were also the subject of targeted interventions within our projects or directly benefited as a result of our conservation work, we call these species secondary species. Among other targeted conservation actions:• At least 1,022,000 tree seedlings were grown or planted, 97,000 of which were

threatened species.• Over 20,000 turtle hatchlings were protected and released.• Action plans were produced for 12 species.In addition we have joined a collaboration that is engaging businesses in identifying and managing risks to wild pollinators.

COMBATTING THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADEFFI also works specifically to address the threats to species from illegal trade, both within our projects and in collaboration with others (including our work with United for Wildlife, a collaboration between a number of conservation NGOs and The Royal Foundation). In 2017, 35 of our projects undertook activities to address illegal wildlife trade. These included actions to reduce supply of legally protected species in trade, influencing decision-makers such as judiciary corporations, policymakers and consumers to reduce threats from illegal wildlife trade and developing organisations and individuals to deliver innovative action to address illegal wildlife trade.

Le Khac Quyet/FFI


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How successful we have beenThese impact chains show the progress towards recovery of FFI’s 76 priority species (top) in 84 target populations where species conservation was the main aim of the project, and the progress of a further 132 secondary species (bottom), which were the subject of targeted interventions or directly benefited from our work, in 163 target populations. Eight priority species populations and 39 secondary species populations are not included on the chain as there was insufficient information available about impact for these populations this year.

Populations showing

evidence of recovery

Populations with evidence of reduced threats

12241524


Populations with evidence of improved enforcement/protection

Target populations still

in decline

1N U M B E R O F P R I O R I T Y S P E C I E S P O P U L AT I O N S

28274128 0N U M B E R O F S E C O N DA R Y S P E C I E S P O P U L AT I O N S

Victor Taykht/Adobe Stock


Jeremy Holden/FFI

Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI

Conserving the rosewood tree in Belize’s Maya Golden Landscape “In 2017, Ya’axché rangers reported zero instances of rosewood trees cut or extracted in the Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve or Golden Stream Corridor Preserve, compared to five in Golden Stream Corridor Preserve and four in Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve between 2013 and the beginning of this project in June 2016.”

Protecting saiga antelope on Kazakhstan’s Ustyurt Plateau“Five rangers were recruited and a full set of equipment bought to facilitate patrols in the Ustyurt region; they have undertaken eight patrols and have already travelled 18,369 km. The Ustyurt saiga population has increased in number this year from 1,900 in the 2016 aerial survey to 2,700 in 2017.”

Saving Sumatra’s tigers “The project period was notable for a dramatic decline in active poaching threat to tigers with threat detection falling to the lowest level since 2008. Only nine active tiger snares were reported in the course of 154 Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit patrols and monitoring transects park-wide. This compares with 53 active snares detected and destroyed in 2016 and 99 in 2015 when trade-driven poaching threat to tigers peaked. Law enforcement in 2017 also resulted in the arrest of two habitual tiger poachers active in this area and long known to the Tiger Protection and Conservation Units.”


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Protecting marine and coastal ecosystems

Activities


In 2011, FFI launched a new initiative specifically to address the growing threat facing marine habitats and species. We work to improve the conservation of the marine environment by safeguarding habitats and species (thus also protecting associated human livelihoods) through effective local management; tackling the wider threats to marine ecosystems through improved policy and practice; and strengthening the ability of local and national organisations (including community-based organisations) to protect their marine environments.

In 2017, 21 of our projects focused on marine and coastal conservation. As part of this:• We worked directly at 33 marine sites, of which 31

were new or established protected areas (state, community, private or other) while two did not yet have a conservation designation.

• We helped to directly conserve over 1.6 million hectares of important marine and coastal habitat, and influenced conservation over a further 4.4 million hectares.

Since the start of the initiative we have:• Established or better protected 53 marine

protected areas. • Formed, or improved the function of 26

management bodies.• Created 66 new no take zones in 8 countries.• Seen signs of recovery in 16 key species groups

and four habitats.• Reduced destructive fishing in 45% of all sites.

© Paul Colley


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How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows the number of FFI’s 33 marine and coastal sites at each stage of progress towards habitat or biodiversity recovery. One site is not included as there was insufficient information available about impact in this location this year. In one site we saw a decline in one habitat type and recovery of another, the impact for this site was split over two impact categories.

Reducing destructive fishing in Nicaragua“Blast fishing is not occurring in the coral corridor, a coastal area comprising the whole department of Rivas, Nicaragua with five key coastal communities, not even sporadically according to most recent data from onboard observers program. It has also been reduced in the communities of Masachapa and Estero Padre Ramos; and although it occurs, is not carried out openly anymore and not as frequently as before the project.”

Sites showing evidence

of habitat/biodiversity

recovery

Sites with evidence that habitat is still

in decline

Sites with evidence of reduced threats

Sites with evidence of improved enforcement/protection

1.5 0.5161310

Sites brought under conservation management


Successful community protection of Myanmar’s Myeik Archipelago“In the three Locally Managed Marine Areas, committee members report a reduced amount of fishing within their areas including fewer trawling boats, which were illegally fishing even before the Locally Managed Marine Area was established. Patrols have been ongoing since the training sessions and fishers are actually being turned away or simply not fishing in the Locally Managed Marine Areas due to community patrols.”

Reducing threats to Scotland’s marine ecosystems“The community groups we are supporting have seen better management for their respective MPA sites as a result of the complete ban on scallop dredging within Wester Ross (and indeed South Arran, which also received a full-site ban on scallop dredging); the increased closures to scallop dredging within the Loch Sunart to Sound of Jura MPA; and the increased closures to trawl fishing grounds within all three of the aforementioned MPAs. In time we hope these changes will improve the status of key species and habitats.”

© CO

AST


Jeremy Holden/FFI

Alam Ram

írez/FFI


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Putting communities at the heart of conservation

Activities

A I M 2 : T O S H A P E D E C I S I O N S W I T H I N S O C I E T Y T O B E N E F I T B I O D I V E R S I T Y

FFI sees conservation as a social process and works to engage with and empower the communities (including indigenous groups) who are local to our projects. In 2017, 99% of relevant field projects engaged with communities, built community governance or contributed to sustainable livelihoods. By working with locally based communities in this way we help to ensure that our work to deliver biodiversity outcomes is locally supported and owned, and thus more likely to succeed and persist. In 2017:• Over 430 communities were engaged with or supported through our projects,

with at least 3,953 community members interviewed or consulted.• At least 30 projects contributed to the development of sustainable livelihoods,

benefiting some 8,969 people directly and more than 4,750 others indirectly.• Sustainable livelihood activities generated income of over US$43,000

within target communities, and over 2,900 community members received livelihoods training.

• We helped more than 240 communities get involved in improving local planning or governance.

• We supported and/or helped to establish at least 117 local community- based organisations.

• We disbursed more than US$86,000 in microcredit funds.• Six projects specifically reported supporting local communities to develop

the rights to tenure over land or resources.

Rob Harris/FFI


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How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows how the 82 projects that engaged and empowered local communities are progressing towards biodiversity improvements linked to changes in local support or behaviour. Twenty projects are not included on the chain as there was insufficient information available about their impact this year.

Empowering women through livelihoods initiatives in Indonesia“In Durian Rambun village, the head of the women’s coffee processing group reported that the activities had resulted in higher social cohesion among women in the village. Moreover, facilitators have observed that women have gained more of a voice in the village by demonstrating successful implementation of sustainable livelihoods initiatives.”

Attributable habitat/

biodiversity recovery

No response from community engagement work

Changes in behaviour/reduction of threats to biodiversity

Improvements in livelihoods, well-being and attitudes

2 01420818

Positive engagement with project activities


Novel approaches to protecting Scotland’s seas“During 2017 we had the opportunity to engage with government and influence policy making and decision making through our relationship with Scottish Natural Heritage. Work was undertaken in 2017 to support the development of an Inshore Participatory Monitoring initiative which, as well as its ecological benefits, also seeks to create a stronger policy influence for communities; enabling them to have a more direct role in decision making around protected sites and inshore waters. This initiative is paving the way for approaches to be developed by government to involve community groups more effectively in information gathering and decision making in marine management. ”

Community support for threatened tree conservation in Tajikistan“In addition to the increased level of support from the communities as a whole, six households have shown a deeper level of support, including more direct involvement with planting pears on their lease plots and with monitoring adult trees for their protection. One household in particular has taken a lead, fencing an area of land and planting out trees within it. At the same time this household has secured more income and has become an example for others to follow.”

Rebecca Drury/FFI


Kerri Whiteside/FFI



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Supporting biodiversity-friendly behaviour

Activities


FFI also works to influence behaviour through targeted awareness raising, education and outreach. In 2017, 68 of our projects supported some form of conservation awareness or outreach activity, reaching at least 433,500 people with conservation messages. As part of this:• At least 189 communities and 25,754

community members were reached through awareness or outreach activities.

• We supported at least 174 community-focused awareness events.

• We reached at least 59 schools and at least 6,635 schoolchildren.

• 32 projects produced awareness materials.

• Project work was featured in 69 radio or TV shows, films or videos.

• There were at least 86 project-level websites or social media pages in use.



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Jeremy Holden/FFI


Karina Berg/FFI

How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows the 68 projects that delivered conservation awareness and outreach as part of their activities and where these projects are in the process of securing more conservation-friendly behaviours. Twenty projects are not included on the chain as there was insufficient information available about their impact this year.

Attributable biodiversity

recovery

No response from awareness

raising work

Changed behaviour/reduced threats to biodiversity

Changed attitudes or increasing support for conservation

0 011171010

Increased awareness or engagement


Improving farming practices by improving knowledge in Nicaragua“As a result of outreach and support provided by FFI and local partners, Ometepe’s farmers are now increasingly aware of the need to protect the island’s forest and support regeneration of forest trees and other species, as part of an integrated approach to reducing their vulnerabilities in the face of a changing climate. They realise the benefits of producing less polluting products and providing healthy food to their families, local businesses and tourists. For this reason, the Network of Agroecological Producers of Ometepe was formed and aims to be a leader in sustainable production on a small scale compatible with conservation. For example, 20 farmers from the network are currently implementing the strategy of climate-smart production, agroforestry or agroforestry systems whose objective has been to ensure the sustainability of the farmers’ plots.”

Changing behaviour through improving knowledge in DRC“During the awareness campaign on hunting law in one village in DRC, two well-known poachers confessed and assured that they would abandon hunting and gave back their 12-bore (artisanal) shotgun and two boxes of 50 cartridges. They recommended increasing the awareness sessions campaign, because most people are poaching because of their ignorance of the law.”


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Embedding biodiversity into private sector decision making

Activities


FFI aims to engage with key business sectors, particularly those posing significant threats to critical ecosystems, to influence them to reduce their impacts and to promote leadership in biodiversity impact management. In 2017:• 55 projects engaged with the private sector in a

variety of ways, from engaging with local business initiatives to influencing corporate decision making.

• 18 projects were working to improve biodiversity management practices in business operations, while 28 projects received financial support from businesses.

• We directly partnered with four multinational businesses, and nine national subsidiaries of these and other multinationals to improve biodiversity management and/or to help them understand local biodiversity values.

• Over the last year we also have worked to ensure that the standards to which businesses are held accountable when financed by large lender institutions are robust and offer appropriate protection to the species and habitats that could be affected.

A FOCUS ON PLASTICSIn 2017 we also continued to engage businesses to prevent direct sources of microplastic pollution. For example:

• We continued to work with major national retailers on preventing the loss of pre-production plastic pellets (‘nurdles’) from their supply chains, and two supermarkets have expressed support for incorporating pellet management best practices in supply chain standards.

• We worked with major multinational businesses involved in the plastic value chain to improve pellet loss prevention measures; three businesses have committed to explore how

they can monitor the implementation of pellet management best practices and auditing supply chains to ensure pellet loss prevention measures are fully applied.

• We continued to work with plastics industry trade bodies to improve the uptake and implementation of pellet management best practices by their member companies. The trade body of plastics manufacturers in Europe published its first progress report on pellet loss prevention, detailing efforts to roll out best practices across its entire membership by the end of the year and referencing FFI as a key stakeholder in this work.

Sarikhani/Adobe Stock


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How successful we have beenThe impact chain below shows the number of companies with whom FFI engaged in 2017 at each stage of progress towards improved biodiversity management and decision making. We focus here on those companies with whom we have engaged strategically over a number of years to help incorporate biodiversity into their internal decision making. Three companies are not represented due to insufficient information being available on impact this year.

Reduced threats to

biodiversity and/or biodiversity

recovery

No response from corporate

engagement

Improved procedures for biodiversity management in place within the business

Commitment to adopt procedures/change behaviour

4 00321

Increased interest in or awareness of biodiversity issues/improved knowledge base


Ensuring best practice in the oil and gas sector in São Tomé and Príncipe“In 2017 we have continued to liaise with the oil and gas sector active on São Tomé and Príncipe. Companies instigated enhanced mitigation measures related to shutdown procedures when humpback whale calves were sighted, as a direct result of lobbying and discussions with FFI. The enhanced mitigation measure was implemented at least once during the seismic survey period.”

Integrating biodiversity into business operations“The company has redesigned the operational footprint of the project and has a significantly smaller footprint to that planned previously. There is also considerable use, at this site, of technological advances that help monitor and manage biodiversity, e.g. radar, infrared camera traps, satellite imagery etc. that is helping real-time management. There is respect for the protected areas in the vicinity of their operations and there has been an increase in the protection status, funding and resource capacity as a result of the interventions recommended and delivered in the Biodiversity Action Plan, Biodiversity Monitoring Plan etc.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI


Jeff Wilson/FFI

Evidence of improved biodiversity management implemented

0


2 2

Enabling governments to make decisions to conserve biodiversity

Activities


In 2017, 47 projects engaged with policy makers in various ways and we contributed to the development of at least 20 laws, regulations or government-level strategic plans with implications for conservation, and worked to influence a further 66 policies. Across our projects, 113 of our 382 primary partners were government agencies.

Time and effort is needed to make policy change, particularly at national level, and in many cases it is very difficult to track the subsequent application of policy or legislation, or to attribute biodiversity gains to specific policy outcomes. However, we recognise that our work to develop, draft and influence laws, regulations and government plans are often crucial to long-term success in other areas of work.



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Saint Lucia Forestry“The Forestry Department is actively implementing the strategic plan and other outputs developed with FFI’s support to improve the management of forests and forest resources, including endangered species, both inside and outside of the protected area system. The plan is being used to guide the monthly work plans of the various units within the department (e.g. Wildlife Unit, Enforcement Unit, Environmental Education Unit) and is helping them to think more logically and strategically about what to do and when. The work plans of every unit are guided by the strategic plan.”

Supporting a ban on plastic microbeads in the UK“Over the course of 2017, FFI worked to input knowledge and evidence to the UK government’s proposal to ban microbeads in rinse-off personal care products and cosmetics. The ban was officially signed into law in December 2017 and FFI’s evidence base and guidelines ensured that the definitions of “microbead” and “plastic” used in the ban’s legislation were much more robust against major loopholes than the industry’s proposed definitions. The adoption of this world-leading microbead ban should significantly reduce the flow of microplastic pollution into UK waters. The legislative framework that FFI helped to shape may also help other governments and NGOs to take similar measures against microbeads. ”

Influencing forest conservation in Brazil“As a result of a presentation carried out in 2017, the Executive Director of Sociedade Chauá, has been invited by the state government coordinator for nurseries to advise on a future training programme. This provides a further opportunity to influence best practice and possible policy changes in restoration at the state level.”

Evan Bowen Jones/FFI


Tanya Cox/FFI

Jeremy Holden/FFI

How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows progress towards policy and legislative change in relevant projects working on developing or influencing 86 laws, regulations, plans or policies. Fifteen pieces of policy work are not included on the chain as there was insufficient information available about their impact this year.

Attributable habitat/

biodiversity recovery

No response from community engagement work

Changed behaviour/reduced threats

Legislation or policy actively applied/enforced

1 0641743

Policies, legislation or decisions changed



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Enabling locally led conservation

Activities

A I M 3 : T O E M P O W E R O R G A N I S AT I O N S A N D I N D I V I D U A L S T O L E A D I N N O VAT I V E C O N S E R VAT I O N A C T I O N

FFI’s approach to delivering effective conservation is to work in partnership, building on our belief that effective long-term conservation solutions lie in local hands. Across our projects we work with a diverse range of people – from government agencies, corporations and NGOs to local community co-operatives and individuals – and we support these partners to develop and access the resources, skills and tools they need to be effective in delivering biodiversity benefits. In 2017, 94 projects undertook some form of capacity building, conservation training or organisational support activity. As part of this:• 294 organisations (across the full breadth of our partner types) received some form of direct capacity

development support, through organisational strengthening (such as assistance with systems or governance), provision of equipment or infrastructure, training and/or mentoring, or technical support.

• At least 3,687 individuals received conservation or operations training. These included partner staff, students, and members of local communities.

• We supported the establishment of 13 new organisations, and supported or established at least 117 community-based organisations.

• We helped at least 20 organisations to source their own funds independently of direct support from FFI. We also channel funding directly into local conservation organisations:• We disbursed over £2.88 million in conservation grants (through Halcyon Land & Sea, Arcadia Marine,

The Fondation Segré Conservation Fund at FFI, FFI Species Fund, Rapid Response Facility and the Global Trees Campaign).

• We influenced the distribution of a further £2.4 million in conservation funding by reviewing over 700 grant applications for Rufford Small Grants Foundation, Prince Bernhard Nature Fund and Whitley Fund for Nature.

Jeff Wilson/FFI


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Developing capacity for conservation in Romania“Prior to the commencement of the Zarand Initiative, there was no organisation in place to address issues facing conservation within this region. As a result of the Zarand Initiative there are now over 30 people – representing two conservation NGOs and two government ministries – directly addressing threats to conservation in this region. The initiative not only represents a significant increase in capacity for conservation within this region, but also for Romania, and this capacity for conservation has been furthered by training courses and workshops being implemented through the Initiative.”

Building community organisations to lead conservation in Pemba“Kukuu community have embraced collaborative management planning and have been exemplary in their forward thinking and planning, far exceeding any project expectations. As such, they are providing a working example of successful co-management incorporating reef management for octopus and have been visited by communities from elsewhere in Pemba and Unguja as well as the mainland.”

Hannah Becker/FFI

Olivia Bailey/FFI

How successful we have beenThis impact chain shows the progress of the 94 projects that carried out capacity-building work towards improved conservation capacity and leadership among the organisations with which they worked. Twelve projects are not included on the chain as there was insufficient information available about their impact this year.

Reduced threats and/or improved

biodiversity outcomes

No response from capacity-building work

Implementation of good or improved biodiversity management

Increased organisational/individual effectiveness/independence

7 01817364

Skills applied and/or organisational systems/governance improved




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Developing conservation leaders and innovators

Activities


Around the world there are many emerging conservation leaders who have the potential to change the landscape of conservation. FFI is committed to supporting these individuals, and in 2017 our work to do this included:• The Conservation Leadership Programme, which provided direct

support to early-career conservationists through opportunities including: 10 internships, 41 travel grants, 19 grants or awards to carry out conservation work, targeted training for 90 individuals and two learning exchanges.

• Supporting the delivery of the Cambridge MPhil in Conservation Leadership, a ground-breaking course that started in 2010. It is unique in that it is delivered by a collaboration between six university departments and nine leading conservation organisations including FFI. To date, 123 students from 65 countries have completed this course. During 2017 the 2016-17 cohort (20 students from 19 countries) completed the course and the 2017-18 cohort (21 students from 18 countries) commenced their studies.

• FFI staff continue to teach on a diverse range of academic and non-academic conservation courses.

• Supporting tertiary-level education to improve conservation skills in focal countries including through the Master’s programme in Biodiversity Conservation at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, which FFI helped to develop in 2005.

Stuart Paterson/FFI


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A snapshot of our workThe example below shows just what an effect our support for emerging conservation leaders has – not only on the individuals themselves, but also on conservation as a whole.

Cyrille Mvele, GabonConservation Leadership Award winner, 2014In 2017, Cyrille’s team reported the results of their project to reduce illegal trade in the critically endangered slender-snouted crocodile in Gabon. He was quick to acknowledge that many aspects of the training he received from the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) had contributed to the team’s success in drastically reducing local commerce in crocodile bushmeat:

“I now know how to go and target the decision makers without being timid. When we first started, I was intimidated by authority figures and I was submissive, especially around elders, because it is culturally important here. But now I have more confidence and practice on how to express my point of view while still showing respect. I have more confidence to speak in public and reach a larger number of people. I loved the interview exercise which allowed me to see my strengths and my weaknesses on screen. By watching myself and practising I am now better at focusing the message that I want to convey.

The media situation is difficult in Gabon and we are still trying to get better and more strategic in how to work with media partners. We came up with the idea to create television specials on local TV, led by students from our (conservation) clubs with participation by myself and our environmental education coordinator, also a member of my CLP project team. Many community members mentioned that they saw their kids on TV and learned a lot during these hour-long specials.

I learned to involve all stakeholders, not just hunters and vendors from villages, but also community leaders, future consumers, religious leaders, law enforcement and restaurant owners.

I do not have a university education or a scientific background. The CLP training helped me to better understand the role of science, what other people are studying around the world, and how we use the information to better protect these endangered species.”

Cyrille M

vele


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Harnessing technology for conservation

Activities


Technology offers exciting new avenues to address conservation threats around the world. In 2017:

• FFI continued to collaborate closely with several United for Wildlife partners, as well as technology partners ARM and Google.org, to lead the development of WILDLABS.NET - the conservation technology network that launched in November 2015. WILDLABS.NET delivers a platform for users around the world to build community, crowd-source ideas and co-develop solutions that will support the uptake of technology tools that both empower users and save wildlife. The WILDLABS.NET community now has over 2,000 members and is a vibrant and dynamic network, with over 20 active online discussion groups and over 450 discussion threads, enabling tech users to crowd-source questions and share ideas for conservation benefit.

• FFI’s in-house analytics team provided bespoke spatial planning to at least 25 projects.

• Individual projects utilised technological solutions to support their own work including the use of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), camera traps, traceability technology and mobile-phone-based monitoring.

ACBK


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A snapshot of our workThe quotes taken from project reports give an insight into what using technology means for conservationists and the biodiversity they are working to protect.

Encouraging innovation in conservation“In 2017, WILDLABS and WWF launched the first Human-Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge. This initiative aimed to mobilise technology developers, engineers, designers and nature lovers to develop new or improved tools to prevent conflict between people and wildlife. We put the call out and our community responded. We received 47 innovative ideas originating from 14 countries to help solve the increasing confrontations between people and wildlife. Community manager Stephanie O’Donnell commented ‘I think the Human-Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge was our most significant achievement in 2017. It signalled the significant move from our work concentrating on establishing a community to actually mobilising this community to deliver new tech for conservation. The impact it had was huge in terms of growing WILDLABS, engaging tech people/sector in conservation and also delivering new tools that are needed by the people actually working in the field.’”

Using technology to enhance primate conservation in Vietnam“The Community Conservation Team undertakes patrols around 16 days per month and gathers data on threats and illegal activity, as well as records of the gibbon (and other wildlife), and undertakes snare removal. Data is analysed to produce SMART reports, which are shared with the park. The data has been very effectively used to design and iterate the patrol routes, and has also been used to update project design and associated donor proposals.”

Using mobile phone technology to monitor chimps in Uganda“We established and operated a mobile-phone-based Chimp Monitoring network/programme to collect information on chimp use of the forest corridors, as an information source for advocacy for their conservation. We later expanded the programme to include all primate species. This network generates information from 60-90 residents every 1.5-2 months on primate sightings or reports in the forest corridor (linkage) areas. Data for October 2016 to August 2017 has been analysed and used to advocate for the diversion of oil pipelines outside of the corridor areas or at least as evidence for the qualification of this linkage area as a critical area.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Smart Parks/W

WF/W

ILDLABS


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Investing in FFI’s effectiveness

Activities

A I M 4 : T O I N V E S T I N F F I ’ S E F F E C T I V E N E S S

FFI recognises the need to invest time and resources in our own systems, staff and processes to ensure that we continue to deliver effective and impactful conservation. The work that we carry out under this aim underpins our conservation work on the ground and the investments that we have made in our own effectiveness have paid dividends in supporting us to deliver this work. In 2017:• We continued to invest in our staff. A total of 20 internal training events were designed and

delivered, with FFI staff supported to attend an additional 25 external events; in total 132 staff received training in at least one topic.

• FFI’s new finance system has directly supported our conservation projects through savings in administration time, more direct access to financial data and improved oversight and project management. Improvements to our systems have also increased FFI’s eligibility to receive conservation funding from certain donor sources resulting in new donations.

• We provided internal support for project planning and development, allowing us to build more robust projects that achieve better conservation outcomes. Evidence of improvements in fundraising success where projects have been supported in this way suggests this support is effective in helping us to achieve these ambitions.

• We redeveloped FFI’s website and database of key contacts to allow us to keep pace with changes in digital technologies, help us build more meaningful relationships with our supporter base, and increase revenue through digital fundraising to support our conservation work around the world. With a fresh new look and wealth of engaging content we have found we are connecting with new audiences, are better positioned to raise awareness about the threats our planet is facing and better able to share our stories of conservation success.


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Oleg Znam

enskiy/Adobe Stock


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Research and disseminationWe take every opportunity to learn from the work that we undertake within our projects, underpinning conservation decision making with the best information available, whether generated through our own work or that of others. Where appropriate we disseminate this information more widely, to allow others to benefit from our experiences. In 2017:• Over 304 surveys or other studies were carried out across 94

different projects.• As a result of our research, 61 articles were published in peer-reviewed

journals and 46 in grey literature.• At least 44 projects were able to describe how their research had been

used to influence wider policy and decision-making processes and 51 projects reported how they had used such information to refine their conservation planning.

• Through our scientific journal Oryx we have helped to disseminate research with 91 peer-reviewed papers. There was a total of 103,560 full-text downloads of Oryx articles and 488,341 views of abstracts online.

Additionally, in 2017, FFI raised awareness of conservation issues and initiatives through our own media channels and publications:• We re-developed and launched FFI’s new mobile-responsive website with fresh

content, engaging visuals, user-friendly navigation and improved functionality to donate.

• We received 755,284 visits to FFI’s website (unique page views).• Recognising the growth in Instagram as a powerful social media platform,

we decided to focus on developing FFI’s Instagram account to showcase our fantastic imagery to inspire and cultivate a new audience. We saw a 78% increase in follower growth. SOCIAL MEDIA TOTAL FOLLOWERS

TWITTER

30,902FACEBOOK

176,414INSTAGRAM

2,870

Jeremy Holden/FFI


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This report summarises the breadth of conservation action we have taken in 2017, based on annual reports sent through by our dedicated and skilled project leaders across our regional and cross-cutting teams. Although space does not allow us to delve into every story from our projects, each report we receive provides an insight into the what makes our projects work, but also the realities and challenges of conservation, be they working in difficult local conditions, maintaining relationships with different partners or working to drive change with policy makers and businesses.

Lessons learned and looking forward

Lessons from our colleagues

STRONG LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT

COLLABORATIVE APPROACH

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT

STRONG PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

BREADTH OF APPROACHES

DEDICATION OF FFI TEAMS AND PARTNERS

LONG-TERM COMMITMENT

INVESTMENTS IN RELATIONSHIPS AND CAPACITY

33

23

22

20

18

16

15

12

13

12

The annual project reports provide important information about the constraints and obstacles we collectively face in delivering our projects, as well as insights into the approaches that have proved most successful in realising conservation gains and the new and innovative solutions that teams are testing.

We asked project managers why they felt their projects had been successful over the last year. Over 100 projects responded, often citing multiple reasons. However, common themes underpinning success from across our portfolio include:


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Challenges in delivery were reported in 94 projects. There was a significant variation in the types and severity of problems encountered – both external issues and factors internal to FFI.

Encouragingly, 67 projects suggested things to do differently in the future to avoid similar issues, showing how we are responding, and adapting, to these challenges.

Over 60% of projects that reported issues in delivery cited external factors. These were extremely varied and specific to the local situation, but broad themes included (unforeseen in each case):• Complications with partnerships or project stakeholders.• Complications with policy environments, government engagements

or political instability.• Complications with donors and management of donor requirements.• Complications with community engagement.• Climate-related issues.

Internal FFI issues were cited as a challenge in 57% of projects that reported problems in delivery. Internal factors were less varied, with two main issues reported:• Changes to staff.• Funding and resource constraints.

Other factors mentioned included the need to revise or improve strategy or planning, and challenges specific to FFI systems and internal communications.

Lessons from our colleagues

Zafer Kizilkaya


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Project staff have identified ways to mitigate both external and internal project difficulties in future. Examples of lessons learnt and suggestions proposed included:• Ensuring project learning better built into enhancing project

planning.• Enhancing communication with and between key project

stakeholders, both internally and externally.• Addressing staffing and resource issues better in future planning.• Strengthening working practices to improve collaboration with

key partners.• Strengthening partner capacity building to maximise project

success.• Seeking additional funding to support project ambitions.• Improving project systems and data management.• Making adjustments to activities to better suit specific project

needs.• Increasing the time invested in building governmental relationships

at different levels.

We also have examples of projects and teams adapting their project (and in some cases their underpinning project logic) to account for better understanding of threats to biodiversity, changed partner relationships and emerging political opportunities, as well as examples where projects are learning from one another to improve the efficacy of their work.

Having insight into problems that our projects face allows us to address key issues, especially internal factors that are within our control, and provides the opportunity to improve our operations and further enable our projects to run effectively to deliver benefits to biodiversity.

Learning from our workThese quotes, taken from project reports, provide an insight into how we respond to – and learn from – the challenges we face in our projects:

Removing invasive species in the Caribbean“The goat capture took a lot longer, and was much more difficult, than originally anticipated by the project’s goat experts. Not one was caught using the methods that had worked successfully to round up goats on other islands. We eventually learned the best tactic for catching goats was to have other captured goats in a pen and extend fencing from these like the spokes in a wheel. Goats more readily approached the corral when other goats were inside and could then be cornered against one of the fence lines and caught by hand.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Collaborating to develop solutions in Cambodia“We struggled getting a DNA lab that could identify purebreds for release; this massively delayed all release activities. Identifying hybrids genetically is fairly difficult and, for crocodiles, not very commonly done. We are now working with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland to develop the ability to test DNA samples in country.”

FFI


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FFI


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“CLP has been an outstanding contributor for my career development...it gave

me the tools that I still use every day on national conservation projects or

when representing my country at global conferences”

“Women have gained

more of a voice in the

village.”

“We put the call out

and our community responded.”

“Now I have more confidence and

practice on how to express my point of view while still showing respect.”

“This report can never hope to do much more than scratch the surface of the amazing work carried out each year by FFI and our many partners, and the beneficial impact of all these projects on people, landscapes and wildlife across the globe. But the evidence of our success – and the hard work it takes to achieve this – is there for all to see in these pages. We are acutely aware of the myriad challenges that we face as conservationists; it is inspiring to witness the determination, resourcefulness and imagination with which we are tackling them, and gratifying to read about the positive results that all our collective efforts are achieving.”

JOANNA ELLIOTTSENIOR DIRECTOR, CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES

If you would like more details about any of the information presented in this report, please contact Katie Lee-Brooks ([email protected])

mailto:katie.lee-brooks%40fauna-flora.org?subject=


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Annex 1: Priority Species 2017

C O M M O N N A M E L AT I N N A M E I U C N S TAT U S

M A M M A L S

Northern white-cheeked gibbon Nomascus leucogenys CR

Grey wolf Canis lupus LC

White rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum NT

Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis CR

Black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis CR

Asian elephant Elephas maximus EN

Elephas maximus sumatranus CR

Eastern gorillaGorilla beringei beringei CR

Gorilla beringei graueri CR

Western hoolock gibbon Hoolock hoolock EN

African forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis VU

Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus EN

Western black crested gibbon Nomascus concolor CR

Cao vit gibbon Nomascus nasutus CR

ChimpanzeePan troglodytes schweinfurthii EN

Pan troglodytes verus CR

TigerPanthera tigris corbetti EN

Panthera tigris sumatrae CR

Snow leopard Panthera uncia VU

Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis CR

Grey-shanked douc langur Pygathrix cinerea CR

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus CR

Myanmar snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus strykeri CR


Saiga antelope Saiga tatarica CR

Delacour’s langur Trachypithecus delacouri CR

Cat Ba langur Trachypithecus poliocephalus CR

Brown bear Ursus arctos LC

B I R D S

Gurney’s pitta Hydrornis gurneyi EN

I N V E R T E B R AT E S

Cave crabs Karstama balicum CR

Cave crabs Karstama emdi CR

Bennett’s superb blind cave beetle Superbotrechus bennetti NE

R E P T I L E S

Antiguan racer Alsophis antiguae CR

Anguilla racer Alsophis rijgersmaei EN

Green turtle Chelonia mydas EN

Siamese crocodile Crocodylus siamensis CR

Leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea VU

Hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata CR

Saint Lucia racer Erythrolamprus ornatus CR

Union Island gecko Gonatodes daudini CR

Saint Lucia fer de lance Bothrops caribbaeus EN

P L A N T S

Yuanbaoshan fir Abies yuanbaoshanensis CR

Ziyuan fir Abies ziyuanensis EN

Grandidier’s baobab Adansonia grandidieri EN


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Priority speciesPriority species are those species where the main focus of the FFI project in which they feature is species conservation. This can be for a particular population of the species, or in some cases, for the entire global population.

IUCN Red List classifications

For more information visit www.iucnredlist.org

Annex 1: Priority Species 2017


Perrier’s baobab Adansonia perrieri EN

Diego’s baobab Adansonia suarezensis EN

- Agonandra excelsa NE

- Anisoptera costata EN

- Butia eriospatha VU

- Castanopsis argentea NE

- Colletia paradoxa NE

- Curitiba prismatica NE

Rosewood Dalbergia stevensonii NE

- Dipterocarpus cinereus CR

- Dipterocarpus retusus EN

- Dryobalanops aromatica NE

- Durio graveolens NE

- Durio oxleyanus NE

- Eusideroxylon zwageri VU

Pencil cedar (aka Barbados cedar) Juniperus barbadensis var. barbadensis CR

- Magnolia citrata LC

- Magnolia grandis CR

Niedzwetzky's apple Malus niedzwetzkyana EN

- Myrcianthes gigantea NE

- Ocotea odorifera VU

Lansan Protium attenuatum (prop. EN) DD

Daralagezian pear Pyrus daralagezi EN


Gergeranian (Herher) pear Pyrus gergerana CR

Korshinsky’s (Bukharam) pear Pyrus korshinskyi CR

- Pyrus tadshikistanica CR

Turkmen’ pear Pyrus turcomanica NE

Voronov's pear Pyrus voronovii CR

- Shorea javanica NE

- Shorea laevis VU

- Shorea pinanga NE

- Tetralix nipensis EN

- Trithrinax acanthocoma NE

- Vatica javanica sbsp. javanica NE

LC NT VU EN CR DDLeast

ConcernNear

Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered

Data Deficient

NENot

Evaluated

http://www.iucnredlist.org


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Annex 2: Project report quotes

Conserving threatened habitats

Protecting Myanmar’s forest wildlife

“Community Conservation Groups have removed over 200 snares from their patrol areas and reported forest crimes to the local authorities, and at least two hunter camps have been destroyed. It seems that their presence in the forest is starting to act as a deterrent to poaching.”

Conserving the remaining Upper Guinean Forest

“The conservation status of Ziama Man and Biosphere Reserve has been improved through the increased awareness and engagement of local communities, the increased awareness of the local and national authorities and the increased motivation of the local rangers. This is evidenced by no further cases of elephant poaching since August 2016 and a drop in the number of new agricultural fields established in the wetlands. Additionally some areas of previous occupation in the wetlands have been abandoned and restored. Due to an increase in surveillance missions (225 days in 2017 compared to less than 100 the year previous), we continue to record direct observations of key species including and elephant, forest buffalo, chimpanzees and pygmy hippos.” Restoring the islands of the Eastern Caribbean

“At 207 hectares Dog Island is the largest island in the Eastern Caribbean to be successfully cleared of invasive alien rats. Some striking changes have already become apparent. Standardised monitoring of the island’s biodiversity has shown a steady improvement in the four years since rats were eradicated, including a 3.8–6.8-fold increase in the density of endemic lizards; a more than three-fold increase in land bird populations; and noteworthy increases in seabirds: 7% increase in laughing gulls, 25% more brown boobies, 64% more masked boobies, 50% more magnificent frigatebirds and sooty terns, over 120% increase in bridled terns, and over 500% increase in red-billed tropicbirds. ”

Saving Indonesia’s forest habitat

“More than 80,000 hectares of forest lands in the project area in Merangin, Sarolangun, Kerinci, Bungo and South Solok District have now been legally designated as Village Forest or Customary Forest. The state production forest now designated as Village Forest can no longer be allocated for conversion to commercial concessions, thus avoiding massive planned deforestation and all the associated negative impacts for biodiversity, habitat and ecosystem services.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Jeremy Holden/FFI



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Securing threatened species populations

Protecting Nicaragua’s eastern Pacific hawksbill turtles

“A total of 164 hawksbill nests were protected during the nesting season, in the project hatcheries and in situ. Overall, 98% of all recorded nests at the two sites were protected. During the 2017 season, 15 new females were identified and tagged and 35 re-migrants recorded. Nesting females are tagged with two types of tags (Inconel and pit tags), in order to monitor inter-nesting intervals and new recruitment of females at these beaches. The overall hatching success rate is 63% and a total of 15,296 hatchlings were released.”

Protection beyond borders for the cao vit gibbon

“Patrol teams from Vietnam and China met regularly at border marker points to share patrolling efforts and information on illegal activities in gibbon habitat/protected areas. This helped reduce human impacts on gibbon habitat and resulted in no records of people accessing gibbon habitat from the China side, into Vietnam, and no records of gunshots (hunting) in 2017.”

Protecting Madagascar’s baobabs

“Communities from Grandidier’s baobab sites in western Madagascar (that were trained by the project from 2012 onwards) have improved the management of over 6,000 hectares of baobab forests through better implementation of their management plan as a result of annual evaluation and mentoring. For example, for the past two years there has been no adult baobab mortality due to human disturbance – an improvement on previous years where mortality was more common.”

Securing the populations of large carnivores in Romania

“Four hunting administrations are being involved in conservation actions for monitoring bears and wolves. This involves supporting the collection of scat samples for genetic surveys, participating in bear den surveys and using remote-sensing cameras for monitoring wildlife. Supporting and training staff of hunting administrations improves the conservation management of large carnivores within the corridor. Such work has increased knowledge of the distribution and ecology of bears and wolves. For example, within two of the hunting administrations we have identified wolf packs with more than six individuals in each pack. This suggests wolf pack size may have increased in these localities, as previous average pack size was estimated to be between two to four individuals. ”

Saving the Siamese crocodile in Cambodia

“Our wardens patrol the crocodile sanctuaries monthly, removing fishing gear, and acting as a deterrent for potential poachers. Our project team and community wardens have reduced poaching and capturing of crocodiles to no reported incidents since 2010. ”

Supporting rhino conservation in Kenya

“There has been continued measurable improvement in the status of black rhinos over the duration of the project (from ca. 50 to 115 animals). Ol Pejeta Conservancy conserves the only Key 1 (> 100 animals continentally important) black rhino population in East Africa, with major expansion potential within Ol Pejeta Conservancy (max. 125) and an adjacent range that is currently being secured for the future. The southern white rhino population has also increased substantially to 30 animals, with very large expansion potential (>200 animals) in future at Ol Pejeta, and neighbouring conservancies on private land. 18 rhino calves (13 black and five white) have been born over the reporting period.”

LIFE Connect Carpathians


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Protecting marine and coastal ecosystems

Community closures support biodiversity benefits in Pemba

“Surveys to compare temporary closed areas and open-access areas have shown the presence of more juvenile fish, more cowries (a good seashell indicator), less invasive sea urchins and some species able to control their proliferation. This is also the perception amongst the community, there is a sense that the closures are also showing some gradual benefits for the overall biodiversity in the closed area.”

Protecting Cambodia’s marine life

“Seagrass surveys in 2017 have shown that there has been an increase in seagrass cover compared to previous survey years in three of four seagrass sites monitored. An increase in habitat extent (compared to previous years) was noted in one site. In addition, from a 2017 analysis of historical data, we can conclude that – across the Koh Rong Archipelago Marine Fisheries Management Area, in both highly protected zones and less protected zones – both average abundance of all reef fish and the average biomass of apex predator reef fish (groupers) increased between 2015 and 2016. ”

Supporting marine conservation through no-take fishing zones in Turkey

“In 2017 there were 58 sightings of sandbar sharks in Boncuk Bay by underwater cameras (0.55 sightings per hour compared to 0.31 in 2016). We are now also recording recovery of fish species (evidenced by increase in fish biomass in water and increased revenues of the fishing cooperative). In addition, sightings of monk seals are becoming more regular; all the suitable cave habitat identified and fitted with a camera trap has resulted in images of monk seals.”

Paul Colley

Zafer Kizilkaya

Hannah Becker/FFI


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Putting communities at the heart of conservation

Dog Island

“The restoration of Dog Island is not FFI’s project, but rather a project led by Anguillians (many of them unpaid) and merely supported by FFI. Invasive species projects on islands typically depend heavily on international technical experts and volunteers, and the rat eradication operation in 2012 did involve 12 FFI staff, consultants and volunteers. However, encouraging and enabling local people to take part – if only for a weekend or however much time they can spare – is an essential investment in building local ownership of the project. As a result of our efforts in 2012 to engage local people in this way, Anguillian volunteers have continued to work hard to safeguard and monitor Dog Island, and to communicate its importance nationwide.”

Engaging across communities to improve governance in Kenya

“Following the invasion of the Sera rhino sanctuary by herders (mainly youths, known as morans) in 2016, the conservancy resolved to raise conservation awareness among morans and engage them in conservancy governance. Over the reporting period, the conservancy formed a committee of 20 morans and co-opted four of them onto its board as representatives to enhance their engagement in conservancy governance. This committee is made up of the morans who played a vital role in solving the encroachment of the rhino sanctuary by holding inter-ethnic moran peace meetings, stock theft meetings and establishing resource utilisation plans between all parties, in collaboration with the conservancy.”

Reducing human-wildlife-conflict in Romania

“Electric fences have been deployed to protect sheep, crops and beehives from damage caused by large carnivores and wild boar. Twelve livestock guarding dogs have been deployed to prevent damage to crops and livestock. Electric fences, where deployed, have successfully prevented damage to crops and attacks on livestock. Demonstrating and providing effective conflict mitigation measures have enabled farmers to change behaviours as they no longer have to spend nights protecting crops and thus have more capacity for working during the day.”

Engaging communities in marine conservation in Myanmar

“Although anecdotal, villages report more cohesion and inclusiveness in decision making as a result of the Locally Managed Marine Area committees being formed. In at least one site, community members note that the mere creation of the Locally Managed Marine Area committee has ensured more inclusion of the community as a whole in decision making.”

Tackling the wildlife trade in St Vincent and the Grenadines

“The wide involvement of community members in developing the species action plan in 2016 has inevitably brought attention to the area and the Union Island gecko and other species. One specific benefit of this is that community members feel more empowered to speak out against any known poaching in the area, as has been indicated by anonymous tips to authorities, resulting in an arrest and charge for illegal wildlife harvesting; this has been the first arrest for wildlife poaching in the Grenadines.”

Karenne Tun


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Supporting biodiversity-friendly behaviour

Changing attitudes towards conservation in Pemba

Various village-level awareness raising meetings involving previously non-supportive groups within the community allowed the project to make significant progress in the overall community support for restarting the closures. These groups are now strongly in favour and involved in the organisation of a new closure to be started in 2018. A local community member, also the Skin Diver leader, stated: “Since the last meeting (November 2017) I really changed my mind. We should be very serious in our conservation, not like the previous closures. Previous closures were good and very productive for the community, but a major problem was security. Rangers who were supporting and defending and protecting the closure were not committed and trustful. We want to make octopus closure a springboard for conservation of our marine resources. This is why we want to also abolish all illegal practices including scuba diving fishing, beach seining, Kigumi fishery and other dredging nets in our waters.”

Mainstreaming conservation into public knowledge in the Eastern Caribbean

“Awareness of Dog Island as an important seabird conservation area is now quite high among Anguilla’s population, thanks to media coverage and public field trips organised by this project, and project signs on the island. It speaks volumes that a visitor to Dog Island immediately contacted the Anguilla National Trust when he saw a rat by his bag on the beach. He already knew the rat was a threat and should not be there, and knew who to tell.”

Campaigns to include threatened tree species in forest restoration in Brazil bear fruit

“During 2017, 14 different local farmers spontaneously visited Chauá’s nursery, specifically requesting and then buying a total of 500 seedlings from rare and threatened trees to plant on their land. This marks a significant change in dynamics from previous years, when Chauá had to work to convince farmers to plant out these species, and indicates the potential of this approach to improve the prospects for threatened trees. After five years of work on these activities, we are now finally starting to see some momentum, with awareness of Chauá’s work and niche steadily growing among the general public.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Hannah BEcker/FFI

Soceidade Chauá


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Enabling governments to make decisions to conserve biodiversity

Establishing a strong base for elephant conservation in Liberia

“2017 saw the National Elephant Action Plan validated, published and endorsed by the president of Liberia. This will hopefully propel government agencies to take elephant conservation more seriously. The Forest Development Authority has taken a more active role in elephant conservation in 2017, with the national elephant coordinator position and with input into the Species Working Group.”

Engaging with the Turkish government to improve marine conservation

“The project has involved frequent and regular meetings with both municipal and central government over several years, by the Mediterranean Conservation Society and occasionally FFI staff. This has included training events and meetings between fishers and government. Monitoring and publications have been tailored to government needs and interests. The Mediterranean Conservation Society is now seen as a trusted and effective partner by government, and is planning to engage with national government more regularly in 2018 to ensure the current relationship is maintained. Government belief in the Mediterranean Conservation Society is still strong and community consultations have now begun in Fethiye Bay to support both designation of No Fishing Zones and improved management of the existing Special Environmental Protected Area there.”

Zafer Kizilkaya


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Preventing the illegal wildlife trade in Kazakhstan

“In July 2017, 29 border enforcement officials were given training on CITES by an expert. In addition, eight new sniffer dogs have been trained by the Dog Training Centre and Makor K9 and were deployed at key border points in August 2017. A total of 43 falcon and two steppe tortoise seizures were made as a direct result of training of dogs and border control officers by this project.”

Enabling locally led conservation

Building local capacity to expand conservation in Myanmar

“The village groups are growing in confidence; one has now made its own application for a second Community Forest area currently without FFI support. We will build on this in 2018 and ensure concerns of village groups regarding, for example, logging and hunting in their areas are represented to the local authorities and that their responses are monitored. ”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

ACBK


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Santiago D’Alessio, supported by CLP in 1999, 2003 and 2005

During 2017 Santiago was working as the Director of Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Environment & Sustainable Development. Reflecting on how his experience with CLP helped him to develop his career, Santiago stated: “CLP has been an outstanding contributor for my career development. First, because being selected and supported by such important institutions gave me strength and energy to work harder. But mainly because the training courses and the network of colleagues that I made through CLP gave me the tools that I still use every day on national conservation projects or when representing my country at global conferences organised by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species or Convention on Biological Diversity.”

Developing conservation leaders and innovators

Roberta Kamille Pennell, Belize, Cambridge MPhil graduate in 2017

“The course really forces you to be critical and pushes you to think and perform. You are pushed to the limits of your capabilities. The information taught is relevant and links together well. There are different perspectives presented and I really appreciate this course because we are not being told how to think but given different points of view and informed of what is available and it is then up to you how to use this information.”

Providence Akayezu, Rwanda, course participant, CLP’s annual Conservation Management & Leadership training workshop in 2016

“The FFI-Conservation Leadership Programme training workshop was great to sharpen my skills in developing a smart project proposal, and find out more about project development phases and activities, and searching and staying in touch with a warm donor. During the workshop, I worked on a proposal to fund work on ‘evaluating the impact of the revenue sharing program on the people’s livelihoods around Nyungwe National Park’. My application was successful, and I was awarded grant of $16,650 during 2017! I would like to deeply thank the trainers for taking their time and provide potential comments and input to my proposal, and my course buddy who was willing to help with the proposal review. Following the workshop, our training cohort has continually kept in contact and is a fantastic source of encouragement and motivation.”

Integrating conservation into the curriculum in Liberia

“In 2017, the project supported the teaching of two conservation biology courses and one protected area management course in the Department of Forestry at the University of Liberia. In total, 288 students, with nearly equal gender representation, were taught as part of this arrangement. There has been a marked increase in the knowledge of the students who participated in the courses at the University of Liberia. For at least 50% of these students, this was their first time participating in a course focused exclusively on biodiversity conservation, considering that most of their curriculum up until this point was heavily biased toward commercial forestry.”

Jeremy Holden/FFI

Kamille Pennell


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www.fauna-flora.org

Zafer Kizilkaya

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