A separate team has been assigned to fulfill the knowledge management (KM team) and capacity building requirements of the project. The KM team will facilitate the project throughout the implementation and will assist the grantee to develop a best suitable strategy to capture and promote the primary results of the project. They will also support to produce high quality knowledge products, relevant with the work.
Knowledge product/s of the Project:
Posters, case studies, newsletters will be published regarding
lessons/ public perceptions learned on the Forest crimes/ destruction in Sri Lanka. A public website will be launched to map the forest crimes.
Advocate Relevant government organizations. Forest Department (FD), Wildlife Department etc. will advocate to halt 20 major forest destructions. Legal actions will be taken to stop major forest crimes in support of the FD and other regulators. National level forest protection forum will be established and linked with national CBR+ Programme to influence on policies.
Capacity - Building Component
Capacity Needs of the grantee:
Certain skills in project management should be improved, such as systematic documentation of progress and activities, maintaining an adequately elaborative pictorial data base, etc. Also development of digital maps, training of handling of technical tools, software?s and equipment must be improved. The grantee has also requested some scientific training
such as producing documents for publications in scientific forums.
How to address:
All these identified capacity needs will be addressed via workshops, seminars, trainings and by providing on site assistance and guidance either through the KM team or identified technical personnel. Where needed, the
KM team will facilitate the widening of the stakeholder network to address knowledge needs. Subsequently, the effectiveness of the capacity building process will be verified via field s visits, discussions and other suitable means of verification.
Project sustainability
Enthusiasm vigilant groups to continue monitoring has enhanced the sustainability of the activities, while laying a base for the identify communities to continue to contribute towards REDD+ goals
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
Establishment of a Forest crime monitoring and a reporting
mechanism will produce a baseline for the CSOs to engage in future Forest related projects including the REDD+ activities. Also the project will mobilize forest dependent communities, Civil Society Organizations for better engagement in forest governance & advocacy and REDD mechanism in Sri Lanka.
Linkages gef projects
N/A
Planning gef grant
N/A
Planning non gef grant
N/A
Policy Influence
N/A
Replication of project activities
N/A
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
N/A
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
The forest dependent communities will be engaged in forest
governance & advocacy and REDD+ mechanism in Sri Lanka. They
will be actively involved through the 100 forest governance CBO
network.
Notable Community Participation
The goal of this project is to document and initiate actions against forest destructions through engaging the community. The youth of the communities will be encouraged to effectively participate in the planning of REDD+ actions and the REDD+ strategy. Also they will continuously involve in forest crime monitoring and support crime mitigation through the established network of 100 CBOs.
Gender Focus
Throughout the project period, awareness on risks of deforestation and benefits of REDD+ will be raised among both men and women in the communities. Workshops will be organized on forest crimes and climate change for CSOs and Forest dependent communities. The people will be connected for a common goal through the project and empowered.
Project Results
The project created a channel for the flow of information from the local communities who have firsthand experience on forest destruction events to the decision makers and practitioners. Earlier much of this information either did not reach the decision makers or was lost in the communication process.
The introduced system of reporting forest crimes is user friendly and led to a significant increase in the frequency in crime reporting. For example, reported crimes in the period between 2004 -2015 is recorded as 100, where as with the introduction of the new system 175 forest crimes have beenreported from 2015 up to date. Enthusiasm of the vigilant groups to continue monitoring has enhanced the sustainability of the activities, while laying a base for the identified communities to continue to contribute towards REDD+ goals. The project also strengthened the networking of CSOs through facilitating involvement in each other?s conservation related activities.
