PCLG international is a network for people who work in conservation, development and indigenous/local community rights. We share information and promote exchange on the links between people and conservation, including on issues of governance, equity, and human wellbeing.
The international network shares the latest news, opportunities, and research through our newsletters with a specific focus on Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean and Latin America. Key themes of people and conservation that we include are:
- ‘Community-based’ conservation, forest managament, wildlife management, and natural resource management
- Conflict, including human-wildlife conflict
- Culture, indigeneity, and religion
- Ecosystem services
- Gender
- Governance, justice, equity and human rights
- Human wellbeing and poverty
- Hunting (subsistence, traditional, trophy)
- Incentives, including payments for ecosystem services
- Social impacts of protected and conserved areas
- Wildlife trade (legal and illegal)
The network is coordinated by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
There are three PCLG national groups located in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Each group has a particular interest in the conservation of critically endangered great ape species. PCLG national groups define their own agendas related to conservation and development and are involved in research, communication and advocacy activities. IIED provides technical support to the national groups.
Passionate about the ocean, its ecosystems and marine wildlife, Ocean Sole recycles flipflops that are found littered on beaches and in waterways of Kenya.
Every single Ocean Sole product is handcrafted to protect the oceans and teach the world about the threats of marine debris.
As a bizarre and yet very real phenomenon, thousands and thousands of flipflops are washed up onto the East African coast creating an environmental disaster. Not only spoiling the natural beauty of our beaches and oceans, the rubber soles are swallowed & suffocated on by fish & other animals, they obstruct turtle hatchlings from reaching the sea and are a man-made menace to our fragile ecosystems.
Our creative team of artisans transforms the discarded flipflops into elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinos, dolphins, sharks, turtles and more. These colourful masterpieces come with an important message about marine conservation whilst bringing smiles to people all over the world.
Be a part of the pollution solution and join us on a flipflop safari!
What do we do?
We provide specialised support services and expertise aimed at adding value and filling gaps in existing capacity. Specialising enables us to keep abreast with emerging international best practice, and to continually build our hands-on skills and practical experience. We are continually striving to introduce new approaches and methodologies that respond to rapidly changing realities, and we are always keen to work with our customers to explore new opportunities and directions. Our four main current areas of expertise are outlined below.
Conservation planning
Planning for conservation – whether for an ecosystem or natural landscape, a national park or a community wildlife area – is a vital yet underutilised tool for achieving the delicate balance between preservation and use of an area’s natural resources. We believe that planning provides the means to build stakeholder consensus around the conservation and development goals of an area, and to overcome sometimes divergent and conflicting needs. We also believe that management plans not only provide a vital framework for the long-term management of a conservation area, but can also be used by stakeholders as a yardstick to measure progress. All our plans are developed using participatory planning techniques which allow stakeholders to contribute fully to their development. They have a simple logical structure which keeps technical language to the minimum to ensure the plans are easy to understand and straightforward to implement.
Programme and project design and evaluation
Good programme and project design is the cornerstone for achieving tangible and lasting conservation impacts. Crucially, this requires developing an understanding of the underlying processes that lead to the unsustainable use of natural resources, and how these processes can be influenced and reversed. This provides the basis for developing a “Theory of Change” of how the programme or project can best achieve tangible outcomes and ultimately realise conservation and sustainable development impacts, by identifying and addressing the necessary drivers of change, including factors such as financial sustainability, institutional capacity, socio-economic conditions, and legal and governance systems.
Impactful project design also relies on a good understanding of what can be practically achieved on the ground, not just in theory on paper. To strengthen our understanding of the factors that enable a realistic project intervention, we have also built up strong skills in the evaluation of a wide range of conservation and development projects, both as evaluation team leaders as well as in specialist capacities.
Wildlife law enforcement and trafficking
Illegal killing and trade in African wildlife, especially of iconic species such as elephants and rhinos, has now reached crisis proportions. Illicit wildlife trafficking is now the fourth largest illegal trade internationally after arms and drugs trafficking, and trafficking in human beings. In recent years, tens of thousands of elephants have been killed every year for their tusks. Faced with this unprecedented level of poaching and organised wildlife crime, many conservationists now fear that species such as elephants and rhinos may disappear in the wild within our lifetime.
CDC is assisting international, national and site-level efforts to address this crisis in several ways. Firstly, we are working with key agencies to develop new project initiatives designed to bolster efforts to combat wildlife crime and to strengthen law enforcement efforts at both site and national levels. Secondly, we are assisting in the identification and promotion of wildlife law enforcement best practices, in order to ensure that interventions are based on the best available knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. And thirdly, we are helping to understand the status of law enforcement and wildlife trafficking prevention measures, so that national governments, conservation organisations and donors know how best to focus their resources to stem the tide in wildlife losses.
Conservation and sustainable development governance
Across Africa, there is a growing disparity between the livelihood needs of a rapidly expanding human population and the conservation needs of Africa’s outstanding but increasingly vulnerable biodiversity and habitats. From our experience over the years, we believe that natural resource governance systems are especially important for reconciling conservation and human development needs. This includes aspects such as natural resource institutions and legal frameworks, resource ownership and use rights and responsibilities, and mechanisms for equitably distributing the costs and benefits of conservation. CDC’s work in this area has focussed on developing an understanding of the socio-economic factors at play in unsustainable resource use and biodiversity loss, as a basis for designing more effective natural resource governance mechanisms. We have also provided practical support for the development of natural resource governance approaches that respond to changing socio-economic and environmental circumstances and increasing human development expectations.
In 2005, Richard Leakey outlined to Stony Brook his concept for an institute that could provide the permanent infrastructure to enable year-round research in this remote area of sub-Saharan Africa. The University enthusiastically endorsed the idea of TBI, committing funds for the Stony Brook end of the project. Additional fundraising began in 2006; construction of temporary facilities for a long-term field camp on the east side of Lake Turkana (TBI-Ileret) commenced in 2007; the camp was fully operational by year-end and was the site for the first Kenya-based Human Evolution Workshop in 2008. Construction of the first full field center on the west side of the lake (TBI-Turkwel) was completed in 2012. Construction of permanent facilities at TBI-Ileret commenced in 2012, and is scheduled to be completed in 2016.
Formally, Turkana Basin Institute, Ltd. is the title holder for the fixed assets in Kenya known as TBI-Nairobi, TBI-Turkwel and TBI-Ileret (together known as “TBI Kenya”) and is under an agreement with the Government of Kenya, through the National Museums of Kenya, to serve as a repository for the archaeological and paleontological heritage of the Lake Turkana region.
In 2013, Richard Leakey and Stony Brook University President, Samuel L. Stanley, established the TBI International Advisory Board. Comprised of prominent philanthropists and scientists from around the globe, this group meets twice a year to share ideas and discuss how best to ensure the success and secure the mission of the Institute. This dynamic group has assumed a lead role in TBI’s fundraising efforts through their own generous contributions.
Ecotourism Kenya promotes responsible tourism practices within the tourism industry. This entails encouraging the adoption of best practices in the use of tourism resources, working with local communities and managing wastes and emissions.
The objective of the Society is to generally promote public health, conserve natural resources and protect the environment through the following:
- Ensure that members or organizations working or associated with Waste Management conduct their operations in accordance with good standards of practice and ethics of the Industry.
- Providing expert opinion on waste management to Nigerian public, develop technical guidance and promote competition through the spread of best practice, exchange of knowledge and experience in planning, investigation, collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of all streams of wastes
- Build public consciousness and develop members on Waste Management through industrial training scheme, professional publications, conferences, seminars and exhibitions.
- Promote scientific research and development in matters in or related to waste management with the desired coordination between our country and others.
The Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) is a non – governmental environmental conservation organization established in 1999. ECOTRUST has developed a valued niche in ‘conservation finance’ and pursued relentlessly a clear vision of ‘a healthy environment with prosperous people’ and a mission, ’to conserve natural resources and enhance social welfare by promoting innovative and sustainable environment management in Uganda.’
ECOTRUST’s core values of ‘accountability and transparency in all our dealings,Creating value for our stakeholders, Pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement, Commitment to personal integrity, creating a culture of teamwork’, remain the jealously protected business principles of the organization, guiding all business decisions and entire management ethics.
Objectives;
• Private Land Management
• Management and control of pollution
• Renewable Energy
• Sustainable Land Use.
• Restoration, Conservation and Management
ECOTRUST works with different communities and stakeholders to conserve natural resources and biodiversity. The key strategies include financial intermediation, capacity building and direct involvement in selected conservation activities. During the year 2016, ECOTRUST commissioned a process of developing a strategic plan for the next 5 years. The goal of the strategy is; To build ECOTRUST as an efficient, socially responsible and sustainable organization in the field of conservation and climate change response.
ECOTRUST will aspire to achieve the above goal under 4 Key Results Area aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their respective outputs as shown below;
- Rural Livelihood and Resilience in high climate risk areas built.
- Private Land Trust management in fragile corridors promoted.
- Integrity and functionality of protected natural capital maintained.
- Institutional re-engineering and capitalization of ECOTRUST for long term sustainability enhanced.
Creeds Energy is a professional renewable energy services and solutions provider addressing electricity and energy challenges by improving access to and promoting adoption of clean and energy efficient technologies.
Our company is setting the pace to realize the development of a green economy with low emissions, resource efficiency and social inclusivity.
This is being achieved through the efforts of our knowledge driven team and network of internationally qualified experts within the fields of renewable energy technologies sustainable development and engineering.
We are dedicated to creating sustainable solutions and enriching lives by reducing energy poverty, providing long lasting and consistent solutions for households, businesses and communities.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), is established under the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act No. 8 of 1999 (EMCA) as the principal instrument of Government for the implementation of all policies relating to environment. EMCA 1999 was enacted against a backdrop of 78 sectoral laws dealing with various components of the environment, the deteriorating state of Kenya’s environment, as well as increasing social and economic inequalities, the combined effect of which negatively impacted on the environment. The supreme objective underlying the enactment of EMCA 1999 was to bring harmony in the management of the country’s environment.
The Authority core functions are:
- Coordinating the various environmental management activities being undertaken by the lead agencies.
- Promote the integration of environmental considerations into development policies, plans, programmes and projects, with a view to ensuring the proper management and rational utilization of environmental resources, on sustainable yield basis, for the improvement of the quality of human life in Kenya.
- To take stock of the natural resources in Kenya and their utilization and conservation.
- To establish and review land use guidelines.
- Examine land use patterns to determine their impact on the quality and quantity of natural resources.
- Carry out surveys, which will assist in the proper management and conservation of the environment.
- Advise the Government on legislative and other measures for the management of the environment or the implementation of relevant international conventions, treaties and agreements.
- Advise the Government on regional and international conventions, treaties and agreements to which Kenya should be a party and follow up the implementation of such agreements.
- Undertake and coordinate research, investigation and surveys, collect, collate and disseminate information on the findings of such research, investigations or surveys.
- Mobilize and monitor the use of financial and human resources for environmental management.
- Identify projects and programmes for which environmental audit or environmental monitoring must be conducted under this Act.
- Initiate and evolve procedures and safeguards for the prevention of accidents, which may cause environmental degradation and evolve remedial measures where accidents occur e.g. floods, landslides and oil spills.
- Monitor and assess activities, including activities being carried out by relevant lead agencies, in order to ensure that the environment is not degraded by such activities. Management objectives must be adhered to and adequate early warning on impending environmental emergencies is given.
- Undertake, in cooperation with relevant lead agencies, programmes intended to enhance environmental education and public awareness, about the need for sound environmental management, as well as for enlisting public support and encouraging the effort made by other entities in that regard.
- Publish and disseminate manual codes or guidelines relating to environmental management and prevention or abatement of environmental degradation.
- Render advice and technical support, where possible, to entities engaged in natural resources management and environmental protection, so as to enable them to carry out their responsibilities satisfactorily .
- Prepare and issue an annual report on the State of Environment in Kenya and in this regard, may direct any lead agency to prepare and submit to it a report on the state of the sector of the environment under the administration of that lead agency.
The Population Council conducts research to address critical health and development issues. Our work allows couples to plan their families and chart their futures. We help people avoid HIV infection and access life-saving HIV services. And we empower girls to protect themselves and have a say in their own lives.
We conduct research and programs in more than 50 countries. Our New York headquarters supports a global network of offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
From its beginning, the Council has given voice and visibility to the world’s most vulnerable people. We increase awareness of the problems they face and offer evidence-based solutions.
In the developing world, governments and civil society organizations seek our help to understand and overcome obstacles to health and development. And we work in developed countries, where we use state-of-the-art biomedical science to develop new contraceptives and products to prevent the transmission of HIV.
ADEC Innovations advances sustainable practices around the world, and helps organizations grow and operate responsibly. Seamlessly delivering fully integrated, cost-effective consulting, data management and software solutions, ADEC Innovations helps clients save time, reduce costs, optimize resource use, and drive operational efficiencies in a world where sustainability matters.
We have over 30 years of group experience in data management, software solutions, professional services and workforce solutions. Our products and services cover various industry sectors such as education, health information, environmental services and compliance.
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.5+ million members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world.b
SEED is an award-winning non-profit and public benefit organisation operating from Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats. Our work over the last 14 years has pioneered the Outdoor Classroom to not only grow ecological literacy, but also organic food for school goers, and importantly, also for the communities in which they are situated.
SEED is growing Rockland’s Urban Abundance Centre at Rocklands Primary in Mitchells Plain. The centre has grown out of direct request from community for jobs, skills and food gardens. We are now growing a training centre and enterprise hub that grows the resilience and social cohesion of Mitchells Plain while offering resilience education & demonstration for the broader Cape Town population.
WHO works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.
Our goal is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and well-being.
For universal health coverage, we:
- focus on primary health care to improve access to quality essential services
- work towards sustainable financing and financial protection
- improve access to essential medicines and health products
- train the health workforce and advise on labour policies
- support people’s participation in national health policies
- improve monitoring, data and information.
For health emergencies, we:
- prepare for emergencies by identifying, mitigating and managing risks
- prevent emergencies and support development of tools necessary during outbreaks
- detect and respond to acute health emergencies
- support delivery of essential health services in fragile settings.
For health and well-being we:
- address social determinants
- promote intersectoral approaches for health
- prioritize health in all policies and healthy settings.
Through our work, we address:
- human capital across the life-course
- noncommunicable diseases prevention
- mental health promotion
- climate change in small island developing states
- antimicrobial resistance
- elimination and eradication of high-impact communicable diseases.
The Tree Society of Southern Africa has been in existence since 1946, and is actively involved in promoting the awareness and preservation of our natural heritage.
Much of our emphasis is on Gauteng, which is particularly important, being the smallest province, but with the highest level of urban development. The formation of a large number of Conservancies is important to environmental conservation, and the Society assists them with education, identification and checklisting.
Our members are tree enthusiasts from all walks of life, including professional botanists, who will gladly extend your knowledge. Members with other specialised interests provide background information on the geology, history and fauna of the areas visited.
The Society Newsletter Peltophorum is published twice yearly, containing articles of local interest, reports on outings and a Diary of Events, informing members of forthcoming outings and courses.
GOGLA is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. Established in 2012, GOGLA now represents over 160 members as a neutral, independent, not-for-profit industry association. Our services assist the industry to build sustainable markets and profitable businesses delivering quality, affordable off-grid electricity products and services to as many customers as possible across the developing world.
We believe that with the right support, the off-grid solar market can scale to provide affordable solar power products and services to provide electricity to the 840 million people currently living without energy by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7. Off-grid solar products and services are also a solution for the estimated 1 billion people with weak grid connections.
The off-grid solar industry needs to deliver quality, affordable products and services to households, businesses and communities in challenging developing markets. It’s a sector that requires coordinated support, the right partnerships, resources, and services to help its businesses scale sustainably and at speed in these complex environments.
Mpala facilitates and exemplifies sustainable human-wildlife co-existence and the advancement of human livelihoods and quality of life. We do this through education, outreach, and by developing science-based solutions to guide conservation actions for the benefit of nature and human welfare.
SEI Africa is based in Nairobi, Kenya and is hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre. The centre collaborates with African governments, organizations and networks, acting as a hub for SEI’s engagement across the continent. The centre’s work focuses on four key areas: energy and climate; natural resources and ecosystems; sustainable urbanisation; and health and environment.
From its establishment in August 2008 until June 2013, SEI Africa was based at the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dares Salaam. As of July 2013, it is based in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre. Staff members are active across South, East and West Africa.
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (Habitat), established in 1978, is the lead agency within the UN system for coordinating activities in the field of human settlement development. It also serves as the focal point for monitoring progress on implementation of the Habitat Agenda – the global plan of action adopted at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.
As of 1 January 2002, the UNCHS (Habitat) and its governing body has been elevated to a fully fledged United Nations Human Settlements Programme, to be known as UN-HABITAT. With its new status, UN-HABITAT will be in a better position to help governments and other partners to implement the Habitat Agenda, and to meet the Millennium Declaration’s goal of improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020.
As a small agency with global responsibilities, UN-HABITAT needs to find ways of maximizing its impact; its resources must be focused, and policy principles and approaches must be strategic. These principles are derived from UN-HABITAT’s own experience of what works, and also from experience of its partners. National governments, local authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community organizations and the private sector are UN-HABITAT’s partners.
In addition to its advocacy and monitoring function, UN-HABITAT also plays an important role in providing technical assistance to countries and cities in the areas of urban governance, housing, environmental management, disaster mitigation, post-conflict rehabilitation, urban safety, water management and poverty reduction.
Protecting waterbird populations has been part of Audubon’s mission even before the official establishment of the National Audubon Society. Outrage over the slaughter of millions of waterbirds, particularly egrets and other waders, for the millinery trade led to the foundation, by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896. By 1898, state-level Audubon Societies had been established in Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maine, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas, and California. In 1900, Audubon member Frank M. Chapman launched the first Christmas Bird Count – Audubon’s all-volunteer holiday census of early-winter bird populations – as an alternative to the traditional Christmas “Side Hunt,” in which hunters competed to kill as many birds (and mammals) as possible.
In 1901, state-level Audubon groups joined together in a loose national organization, which helped to establish the first National Wildlife Refuge in the U.S. – Pelican Island, in Florida, in 1903 – and facilitated the hiring of wardens to protect waterbird breeding areas in several states. In 1905, the National Audubon Society was founded, with the protection of gulls, terns, egrets, herons, and other waterbirds high on its conservation priority list.
In 1918, President Wilson signed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which remains to this day one of the strongest laws protecting wild North American birds. Shortly after the passage of the MBTA, Audubon established its first system of waterbird sanctuaries in seven states along the eastern coast of the U.S., and thus initiated the implementation of large-scale, scientifically-based bird conservation efforts.