News & Events
Insights from the participatory exercises from the 1st series of stakeholders’ workshops in the BIOTRAILS LAAs (handicrafts, gold, aquaculture)
So far, three workshops have taken place within the BIOTRAILS project with stakeholders from the aquaculture, gold, and handicrafts Learning and Action Alliances (LAAs).
These workshops aimed at mapping the main biodiversity-related issues in each value chain, creating causal connections between value chains and climate impacts and discussing potential solution pathways. To do this, the workshops included several sessions dedicated to different participatory exercises with the value chain stakeholders (nexus mapping, leverage points, stakeholders perceptions towards sustainability), the results of which have been collected and presented in dedicated reports that can be found on the BIOTRAILS Learning Platform.
A short summary of the insights gained from these participatory exercises is provided below:
Handicrafts LAA workshop-Brazil (26th October 2023)
-The nexus mapping exercise that was conducted in the handicrafts LAA workshop highlighted social inequality present in the value chain dynamics and the importance of collaborative governance and local community commitment for the preservation of local populations and the tackling of environmental challenges. What is more, the exercise revealed forest fires, droughts, flood risks and ecosystem degradation as areas of greatest concern.
-The leverage points exercise that was conducted in the handicrafts workshop revealed elements relevant to key challenges in the value chain such as access to biodiverse areas and territory, access to markets, demographic and cultural changes and indigenous practices, lack of infrastructure and equipment etc, that helped prioritise a set of solutions to be implemented.
Gold LAA workshop-Ghana (23rd November 2023)
-The nexus mapping exercise that was conducted in the gold LAA workshop highlighted important concerns in the value chain, such as illegal labor and child exploitation, use of rudimentary methods and chemicals in artisanal mining, competition for land that leads to major social tensions, lack of access to finance and technical resources etc.
-The leverage points exercise that was conducted in the gold LAA workshop revealed elements relevant to key challenges in the value chain such as degradation and destruction of land, food insecurity, lack of alternative livelihoods, risks for human health, lack of political will power etc. that contributed to prioritise a set of solutions to be implemented.
-In terms of stakeholders perceptions towards biodiversity protection in the value chain, most stakeholders in the workshop seemed to highlight the importance of increased employment opportunities, reforestation and training of miners, as well as public awareness on environmental issues, better land use planning etc.
Aquaculture LAA workshop- Greece (16th January 2024)
-The nexus mapping exercise that was conducted in the aquaculture LAA workshop highlighted the excessive use of drugs, the occurrence of extreme weather events, the contamination of aquaculture facilities, the competition for land, water and energy resources etc. as key areas of concern in the aquaculture value chain.
-The leverage points exercise that was conducted in the aquaculture workshop revealed a set of prioritized solutions to be implemented for the benefit of biodiversity protection in the value chain, which include the increase of consumer awareness, the improvement of pathogens resistance, new policies for spatial planning, the use of alternative fish feed sources etc.
-In terms of stakeholders perceptions towards biodiversity protection in the value chain, most stakeholders in the workshop seemed to discuss challenges related to the competition for land, water and energy with other resource uses, the adoption of strategies to manage the effects of climate change (storm, flood, increase in sea surface temperature) and the aquaculture fish feed. Other important issues discussed were the technical aquaculture equipment (size of cages, monitoring of fish production volume, etc), the reckless use of pharmaceuticals in the aquaculture production and the cost of production.
To read the full and detailed reports, where the methods used for and conclusions drawn from the participatory exercises are described in detail, click below: