About the Nature Returns project
INNOVATION FOR NATURE CONSERVATION
Nature Returns is a 5-year pilot project aimed at enhancing protected area management through innovative businesses.
Story & challenges
Nature Returns is a legacy project from the MAVA Foundation, where Luís Costa worked until its closure in 2023. He experienced typical hurdles in protected areas’ management: the efficient management of protected areas is a complex process and difficult challenge that includes scientific and technical background, good management planning, financial resources, and acceptance by local communities and users.
Very often, protected area managers lack human resources, struggle to find funding for their management, and feel distant from the local communities in terms of support and governance difficulties in developing and publishing efficient management plans, finding funding for implementing them, and involving local communities to support each other.
Nature Returns aims to turn over these problems by identifying and assessing the main pressures in a site using the Conservation Standards and finding innovative businesses that can help reduce or eliminate these pressures. This is a 5-year experimental project to demonstrate this new approach.
Vision & mission
Nature Returns aims to contribute to the effective management and protection of protected areas across the world. Although not a silver bullet for all their problems, we want to contribute to conservation and funding by creating businesses that contribute to managing protected areas through the involvement of local stakeholders and entrepreneurs brings potential benefits: site managers save resources; entrepreneurs get a source of income; and local communities get environmentally friendly jobs and income which support their own livelihood.
We will be working on five protected areas until 2028 to demonstrate the value and advantages of this approach.
© Jovan Bozingski
© Jovan Bozingski
Project goals
Developing and/or reviewing management plans
Management planning is the baseline process that will bring together the management authorities and their partners to agree on the list of pressures that can be reverted by businesses. Conservation Standards will be used for developing or adapting site’s management plans and for defining the business opportunities.
Incubating businesses for conservation
The project will promote these businesses by making available a training academy and an incubation fund to launch businesses with low-risk investment, stimulating and assisting entrepreneurs to kick off their businesses.
Monitoring the success and impact of the project
A common monitoring programme has been defined and used to measure progress and effectiveness of (a) the project, (b) the implementation of the management plans at site level, and (c) the businesses created or supported by the project.
Dissemination of results and scaling up
Nature Returns is attending key events for nature conservation and protected area management for presenting and discussing our approach. In the end, a toolkit with the final methodology, the results and lessons learned will be published, and a training module developed for the use of any interested party.
Meet the partners
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda is a consultancy company that seeks bringing together nature and environmental conservation with innovative businesses, as well as undertaking planning, monitoring and evaluation services for projects and organisations working on conservation.
EuroNatur
A German-based organisation that promotes sustainable development in rural areas, particularly in regions of Europe that are seldom the focus of media coverage. EuroNatur is working to gain acceptance and awareness of nature conservation as well as to establish long-term relationships and achieve success in the project areas.
Connectology
Lonjsko Polje Nature Park
The Public Institution of the Nature Park Lonjsko Polje manages the protected area and its visitor centres, one of the largest wetland area in the entire Danubian basin, that overlaps with a World Heritage Site.
CZIP
CZIP is the BirdLife partner in Montenegro and their mission is to protect birds and other animal and plant species, their habitats, biodiversity monitoring of Montenegro, citizen education, popularisation of scientific research, as well as cooperation with other organisations.
Montenegro Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism
The Ministry manages the network of protected areas in Montenegro, besides other tasks related to preparation and monitoring of regulations in the field of spatial planning and urbanism, etc.
Principe Foundation
The Foundation is a national NGO that has a strategic plan focused on biodiversity conservation and the social and economic development of the communities of Príncipe Island.
Šar Mountain National Park
The Public Institution National Park Šar Mountain is based in Tetovo, North Macedonia, and takes care of the natural heritage in the park and manages it with its expert and professional staff.
Regional Government of the Azores
The government manages one Nature Park in each of the 9 islands of the archipelago. The Pico Island Nature Park is one of the largest and overlaps with the World Heritage Site of the Landscape.
EuroNatur
A German-based organisation that promotes sustainable development in rural areas, particularly in regions of Europe that are seldom the focus of media coverage. EuroNatur is working to gain acceptance and awareness of nature conservation as well as to establish long-term relationships and achieve success in the project areas.
Connectology
Lonjsko Polje Nature Park
The Public Institution of the Nature Park Lonjsko Polje manages the protected area and its visitor centres, one of the largest wetland area in the entire Danubian basin, that overlaps with a World Heritage Site.
CZIP
CZIP is the BirdLife partner in Montenegro and their mission is to protect birds and other animal and plant species, their habitats, biodiversity monitoring of Montenegro, citizen education, popularisation of scientific research, as well as cooperation with other organisations.
Montenegro Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism
The Ministry manages the network of protected areas in Montenegro, besides other tasks related to preparation and monitoring of regulations in the field of spatial planning and urbanism, etc.
Principe Foundation
The Foundation is a national NGO that has a strategic plan focused on biodiversity conservation and the social and economic development of the communities of Príncipe Island.
Šar Mountain National Park
The Public Institution National Park Šar Mountain is based in Tetovo, North Macedonia, and takes care of the natural heritage in the park and manages it with its expert and professional staff.
Regional Government of the Azores
The government manages one Nature Park in each of the 9 islands of the archipelago. The Pico Island Nature Park is one of the largest and overlaps with the World Heritage Site of the Landscape.
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda is a consultancy company that seeks bringing together nature and environmental conservation with innovative businesses, as well as undertaking planning, monitoring and evaluation services for projects and organisations working on conservation.
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda
Nature Returns Unipessoal Lda is a consultancy company that seeks bringing together nature and environmental conservation with innovative businesses, as well as undertaking planning, monitoring and evaluation services for projects and organisations working on conservation.
EuroNatur
A German-based organisation that promotes sustainable development in rural areas, particularly in regions of Europe that are seldom the focus of media coverage. EuroNatur is working to gain acceptance and awareness of nature conservation as well as to establish long-term relationships and achieve success in the project areas.
Connectology
Lonjsko Polje Nature Park
The Public Institution of the Nature Park Lonjsko Polje manages the protected area and its visitor centres, one of the largest wetland area in the entire Danubian basin, that overlaps with a World Heritage Site.
CZIP
CZIP is the BirdLife partner in Montenegro and their mission is to protect birds and other animal and plant species, their habitats, biodiversity monitoring of Montenegro, citizen education, popularisation of scientific research, as well as cooperation with other organisations.
Montenegro Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism
The Ministry manages the network of protected areas in Montenegro, besides other tasks related to preparation and monitoring of regulations in the field of spatial planning and urbanism, etc.
Principe Foundation
The Foundation is a national NGO that has a strategic plan focused on biodiversity conservation and the social and economic development of the communities of Príncipe Island.
Šar Mountain National Park
The Public Institution National Park Šar Mountain is based in Tetovo, North Macedonia, and takes care of the natural heritage in the park and manages it with its expert and professional staff.
Regional Government of the Azores
The government manages one Nature Park in each of the 9 islands of the archipelago. The Pico Island Nature Park is one of the largest and overlaps with the World Heritage Site of the Landscape.
The team behind the project
Our team brings together experts from across our partner organizations, combining experience in conservation, entrepreneurship and community development.
In the photo from the last partnership meeting of 2023 you may see Isaac Martins (Principe NP), Paulo Andrez (Connectology), Maja Sabljak (Lonjsko Polje NP), Luís Costa (Nature Returns), Damir Culjak (LPNP), Vanda Serpa (Pico Island NP), Vladyslav Saviak (Connectology), Goran Gugic (Ministry of Montenegro), Ksenija Medenica (CZIP), Asiem Sanyal (Fundação Principe), Marko Pecarevic (NR), Stefan Ferger (EuroNatur) and Anela Stavrevska-Panajotova (Shar Mountain NP). Part of the team are also Carla Silva (Government of the Azores), Ana Barjasic (Connectology), Oluwasegun Sunday (FP) and Domenika Gugic (LPNP).