PROGRAM ROADMAP
The long-term goal of the program is to create a natural conservation area. This requires the creation of a stable local economy and society not based on destroying the environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing, dynamic entities. This means the consequences of protecting them are changing too. The key to sustainable treatment of the environment is to first create the conditions for sustainability within the communities, namely by supporting projects for the local population and community representatives. The way to do this is to create alternative, sustainable sources of income through information and organization.
The local indigenous population will be provided with support and education in their current transition process, helping create the conditions for establishing a protected region. The goal is to create visible and sustainable benefits for the whole community. Growing infrastructure, like roads, electricity, and mobile phone networks – and quickly growing tourism – should not represent a danger to natural conservation, but rather an opportunity - if well managed. It must be utilized. The creation of an exemplary ecotourism business is one of the main goals of the project.
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Financial independence and economic sustainability will be the focus of the campaign right from the start. The transition process and economic considerations are an integral part of the program and will be a priority in all projects and initiatives. Adaptive management and community integration into all phases of the project will ensure good flexibility. Mechanisms to monitor and assess the project and test market receptivity to specific products will allow for constant adaptation and help illuminate and facilitate necessary compromises between natural conservation and development. Our program has three phases.
Phase 1
Initiation
Firstly, the launch phase is the most important, resource-intensive phase in the program, during which the necessary funds will be acquired and core personnel identified and trained. During this first four-year phase, we will create the necessary infrastructure, a building for community work and training, administrative facilities and workshops.
This stage focuses heavily on testing and improving sustainable agricultural methods. A sensitivity for the heterogeneity and complexity of the community is especially important in this phase.
Project participants shouldn’t merely see themselves as paid employees, but rather as part of a regional transition. The project should be perceived as an opportunity for social change, education, and cultural and economic opportunities. The first phase ends with a mid-term review.
This review will consider all facets of the project, from personnel management to economic efficiency and developments in the communities and the natural conservation program.
Phase 2
Implementation and Build-up
The second phase commences with the improvements and activities identified from the key learnings from the mid-term review. These findings will determine how we proceed in the second phase - what measures have proven useful? which initiatives should be expanded? which approaches to maintaining biodiversity and community development have been most successful? Production in the workshops and on the farm will be optimized and readied for the market. Profit distribution models will be developed and established.
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The methods in agriculture are optimized and can be put on the market, production will be expanded. This creates new jobs. The core team is familiar with the processes and can train new staff and lead their own teams. A committee for project management is recruited from the core team, which receives in- tensive training during this phase, preparing them to run regular operations independently in the third phase.
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In cooperation with TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority), courses and apprenticeships are being developed in the areas of tourism, agriculture and handicrafts. This guarantees training standards and participants and apprentices receive accredited diplomas. Many former poachers, illegal woodcutters, and others should have found work by this point as rangers, forestry workers, or farmers, or be involved as partners. Children and young people will be offered training and educational opportunities.
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The projects will be structured and personnel sufficiently trained such that it can be opened up to visitors. The necessary structures for sustainable tourism will then have been created.
Phase 3
Sustainability
During the third phase, we will initiate a protected area on the community level. By this time, the program should have established itself as an economic and cultural benefit for the community, which will lay the groundwork of support for nature conservation projects. During this last project phase, the project reaches its break-even point. Training sessions, community projects, and natural conservation projects, as well as salaries, maintenance and operational costs will be covered by income from agriculture, eco- tourism, construction projects and artisanal products by this point.
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At best, external financing in this stage is only necessary for scientific consultation on habitat protection and for the administrative operations needed to establish the nature conservation area.