Communicating Eco-Networks

The participatory process to establish eco-networks has raised expectations among a range of different stakeholders. Governmental departments, districts, municipalities, local entrepreneurs, NGOs and biodiversity and other experts. They all speak a different language. The plan has to comply with existing legislation, policies and strategies. So even with all the bottom-up input, the language in all the reports we have to use is full of biodiversity and official government planning jargon. Overall objectives, measures, interventions, ecosystem services, core areas, corridors, buffer zones etc.

Our communication task is to capture the essence of the eco-network and sustainable development program in simple language. We have to be creative to get the attention of the audience of stakeholders, to trigger their interest and desire to take a next step. The AIDA principle is explained in section 1 of the cepa toolkit. The idea of the eco-network program is to trigger initiatives that improve the living and biodiversity conditions in the eco-networks. We call the program: ‘Naturally investing in our future”. It is a portfolio of opportunities for investment in sustainable development. It contains recommendations for initiatives that can be funded under existing funding schemes. We illustrate the portfolio with a simple graphic. We are now testing the concept.