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Programme: LIFE4BEST

Census and awareness of landowners, users and uses on the protection perimeters of 2 water catchments: Combani and Ourovéni

Written by Erwin on .

Description: The project aimed to restore the quantity and quality of water resources in the Ourovéni watershed, resulting in significant outcomes. Workshops led to the establishment of an action programme, with the Mahoraise Federation of Environmental Associations conducting a shared diagnosis, raising awareness, and developing a management plan. The project achieved specific objectives such as fostering collaboration among local actors, developing a concerted action plan, and building capacity through training sessions. As a result, 27 action sheets were developed, covering infrastructure improvements, training, monitoring, and territorial animation. Efforts are ongoing to sustain momentum, including plans to replicate the project’s methodology on other priority catchments. Additionally, the project facilitated the revitalisation of local environmental associations, strengthened partnerships, and promoted peace-building between rival villages through environmental initiatives. Lessons learned emphasised the importance of ground-level engagement, mobilisation, empowerment, and effective training in awareness-raising techniques.

Duration: 14 months

Reef 3D Structure, pilot study for improving management of the Mayotte Reef BIOdiversity (REBIOMA-3D)

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Description: The project successfully achieved its objectives of modeling six sites and calculating new indicators for these sites, providing valuable insights into the consequences of anthropogenic impacts on coral reefs’ 3D structural complexity. Efforts were also made towards producing a documentary and raising awareness among young people, although the screening was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project identified coral recruitment and hard coral density, offering a nuanced understanding of the health status of the Longoni site and highlighting potential resilience issues at the Rani site. Awareness activities, including educational projects involving students conducting reef monitoring, effectively engaged participants. Key stakeholders, such as the Mayotte National Marine Park (PNMM) and public authorities, were actively involved and expressed interest in project outcomes. Lessons learned emphasised the advantages of photogrammetry for reef assessment but highlighted challenges such as water depth considerations, weather conditions, and GIS processing time. Future projects should focus on optimising data collection protocols and exploring automation for data processing to streamline workflow efficiency.

Duration: 12 months

Conservation of sea turtles from Saziley Point, Mayotte through a participatory approach

Written by Erwin on .

Description: The project successfully raised awareness among various stakeholders about the socio-economic and environmental issues related to sea turtle conservation, aiming for community engagement in conservation efforts. Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, adjustments were made to carry out planned actions, with a focus on engaging school groups during the project’s later stages. Sensitization efforts impacted 1,296 individuals directly, with 466 students sensitized through educational activities and 376 attendees at conferences. Training sessions on respectful observation of sea turtles exceeded the target, with 257 individuals participating in bivouacs and associated activities. Meetings with elected officials from southern municipalities highlighted the importance of collaboration in conservation efforts, emphasising the need for continued support. Visual communication materials, including outdoor exhibitions and animated films, reached a wider audience of over 2,000 people, supplemented by the project’s online presence through social media platforms and newsletters. Collaborations with municipalities and community organisations were essential for effective outreach, underscoring the importance of evolving communication strategies and addressing language barriers to ensure effective engagement with diverse audiences in future projects. Efforts to train environmental mediators within local organisations were identified as valuable for enhancing message dissemination among the community.

Duration: 15 months

Raising awareness on IAS and planting native species

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Description: The project successfully transmitted basic knowledge on invasive alien species (IAS), achieving notable outcomes across various fronts. Efforts to inform residents of the neighborhood resulted in job support, volunteer engagement, and the production of educational publications, albeit slightly below target in some areas. Promotion of indigenous plantation saw engagement with local nurseries, employee training, and distribution of indigenous plants, though not all training modules were completed as planned. Mediation and neighborhood animation initiatives enhanced the scientific and technical knowledge of households, with educational events organised and social media interventions reaching a substantial audience, despite falling short of participation targets. An impact study revealed positive outcomes, including increased awareness of IAS and enthusiasm for endemic flora among the village population, despite some data collection shortcomings. Stakeholders, including the Municipality of Saint-Denis, the National Park of La Réunion, and the International Cooperation Center for Agronomic Research for Development (CIRAD), played crucial roles in supporting and contributing to project activities. Key lessons learned emphasised the importance of effective project management, clear communication, and consideration of stakeholders’ schedules, with improvements in feedback mechanisms and coordination among partners identified for future projects to enhance effectiveness, along with the incorporation of cultural events to foster community engagement.

Duration: 15 months

Raising public and school awareness of invasive alien species in natural and urban environments

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Description: The project aimed to raise awareness about invasive alien species (IAS) among stakeholders, particularly schoolchildren and the general public, with a focus on identifying key species and transmitting essential knowledge about their impact on biodiversity. As a result, significant progress was made across all objectives. Ten invasive alien species were successfully identified, and educational tools, including digital resources, were developed and distributed, effectively increasing awareness about the threat posed by these species. Three key messages on the dangers of IAS were disseminated during interventions, accompanied by informative booklets distributed to schoolchildren, enhancing understanding and fostering engagement in combating IAS. Moreover, CM2 students’ knowledge of the 10 most threatening IAS notably improved through innovative educational tools and classroom interventions. The project also successfully transmitted a comprehensive knowledge base on IAS to school teachers, enabling them to continue educating future generations about these species. Engaging stakeholders such as DEAL, GEIR, Rectorate, CBN-Mascarin, CIRAD, schools, educational personnel, and local authorities facilitated effective collaboration and dissemination of information. Lessons learned highlighted the importance of digital communication methods, better time management, incorporation of gamification and visual appeal in educational materials, and integration of field trips to enrich educational interventions, underscoring the project’s commitment to achieving impactful results in raising awareness about IAS.

Duration: 13 months

Search for previously undescribed microbat species on Réunion Island and analysis of acoustic differentiation

Written by Erwin on .

Description: The project aimed to describe new bat species, with a specific focus on the acoustic types Chiroptera sp1 and Chiroptera sp2. Significant progress was made in achieving several results. Acoustic surveys conducted across various sites on La Réunion Island led to an improved understanding of the distribution of Chiroptera sp1 acoustic type, with a total of 328 confirmed contacts detected across 24 locations. Despite targeted captures in areas with Chiroptera sp1 acoustic detection, capturing bats emitting Chiroptera sp1 or sp2 acoustics remained unachieved due to challenges in detection and safety concerns in certain locations. However, a significant comparative analysis of acoustic emissions provided valuable insights into the acoustic differentiation of various bat taxa on the island. Awareness-raising activities were successfully carried out, reaching a detailed number of individuals, although the specific objective of describing new bat species was not met. Stakeholders such as GCOI, Parc National de La Réunion, Office National des Forêts, Université de La Réunion, SFEPM, hotels, UICN, and ARBRE played crucial roles in facilitating project activities and dissemination of information. Lessons learned emphasised the importance of rigorous selection and close supervision of interns, adaptability to weather and sanitary constraints, effective communication with stakeholders, improvement of project management processes, and streamlining reporting procedures to ensure efficient project implementation.

Duration: 14 months

Seabird Macaronesian Sound

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Description: The project aimed to assess seabird populations, fill knowledge gaps, and update baseline information through passive acoustic monitoring on selected islands in the Azores and Madeira archipelagos. Monitoring efforts covered seven islands in the Azores and one island in Madeira, with expanded sampling areas on two islands. Four target seabird species were detected across multiple islands, with population estimations provided for each species in various colonies. These findings contributed to a better understanding of seabird distribution and abundance, filling knowledge gaps and establishing a baseline for conservation measures. Stakeholder engagement was robust, involving regional government entities, local NGOs, volunteers, and technicians, with training sessions enhancing capacity in methodology implementation and seabird knowledge. Despite challenges such as COVID-19 restrictions and bad weather, the project team adapted strategies, leveraging reduced human interference during night censuses. In hindsight, optimizing sampling points away from human habitation to minimize noise interference during recordings would have been beneficial, highlighting a key lesson learned for future projects.

Duration: 13 months

Conservation of Madeira’s threatened endemic butterflies

Written by Erwin on .

Description: The project aimed to identify key butterfly habitat areas and develop conservation action plans to benefit endemic butterfly species in the Madeira region. It successfully achieved its objectives, meeting most targets outlined and exceeding predicted data collection targets. Data collection efforts provided baseline information, leading to the production of Action Plans and identification of Key Butterfly Areas (KBAs), while establishing monitoring transects surpassed planned targets. Unexpected benefits included partnerships with governmental entities, universities, and NGOs, expanding monitoring efforts across the entire archipelago and engaging volunteers in broader insect monitoring initiatives. Challenges such as COVID-related restrictions and weather conditions affected project timelines and stakeholder engagement, emphasising the importance of early planning, adaptable strategies, and efficient resource utilization for stakeholder outreach. Stakeholders engaged included governmental institutes, NGOs, and educational institutions, contributing to capacity building, research collaboration, and awareness-raising activities. Lessons learned highlighted the need for improved stakeholder engagement strategies, recommending early planning, diverse outreach methods, and better coordination with stakeholders’ schedules. Despite challenges, the project’s success establishes a precedent for similar initiatives in other Macaronesian archipelagos, potentially leading to broader regional collaboration and conservation actions.

Duration: 16 months

Macaronesian rhodolith beds: From factories of carbon sequestration to sensibility to environmental stressors

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Description: The MAC-RODO project successfully achieved its objective of assessing the capacity of rhodolith bottoms to store carbon, contributing to the understanding of Blue Carbon sequestration in the Macaronesia region. Despite initial delays due to the global pandemic, all planned objectives and results were accomplished, with an extension allowing for additional activities enhancing knowledge of rhodolith seabeds. Scientific outputs provided valuable insights into ecological processes in and around rhodolith beds, aiding ecosystem management and conservation efforts. Stakeholder engagement was robust, involving local stakeholders, educational institutions, and international NGOs to raise awareness of rhodolith beds’ ecological importance and threats. The project fostered collaborations between researchers in the Canary Islands and Madeira and served as a catalyst for a national research project, POPCORN, expanding on MAC-RODO’s findings. Lessons learned underscored the importance of multidisciplinary research teams and broader sampling approaches for similar projects, with recommendations to embrace such approaches in future activities. Despite moderate impact in regional media, public events revealed a general lack of knowledge about rhodolith habitats, highlighting the need for continued awareness efforts. MAC-RODO’s outcomes will serve as a baseline for future research projects and inform ecosystem management strategies at an archipelago scale, with the project’s approach and lessons learned guiding future activities in other regions.

Duration: 16 months

Puffinus Life4Best project

Written by Erwin on .

Description: The project successfully increased baseline data collection and assessed the threat status of the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus, LC). Significant results include recording 6,100 hours of Autonomous Recording Unit (ARU) monitoring during the breeding season, confirming species presence in valleys after forest fires, and installing artificial nests to encourage breeding. Despite no immediate evidence of visits, plans are underway to install more nests in the next breeding season. Camera monitoring revealed high densities of rats but no bird activity, prompting plans for a predator control programme. Thermal binoculars identified potential nesting areas, and a trained dog assisted in covering inaccessible breeding areas. The project contributed to filling knowledge gaps in Macaronesia archipelagos regarding breeding biology and species distribution, engaging stakeholders such as the regional government, military, companies, and researchers. An action plan for the Macaronesia region was developed based on project results, with collaborative research efforts involving partners from the University of Barcelona and the University of Oxford. Lessons learned include addressing weather challenges, recognising the importance of tools like thermal or infrared binoculars, and considering future activities such as GPS tracking of birds at sea to improve breeding ground identification.

Duration: 14 months

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