PEACE - Participatory Engagement for Adaptation and Conservation

The Participatory Engagement for Adaptation and Conservation Efforts (PEACE) project tackles one of todays most urgent environmental challenges: how people and wildlife can live together while protecting biodiversity. The project focuses on the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), a vast and ecologically rich region that connects national parks and communities across Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. As wildlife populations recover and move more freely across borders, encounters between animals and people (especially farmers and herders) are becoming more frequent and sometimes more dangerous. PEACE aims to develop new strategies for managing these interactions and protecting nature that are fair, inclusive, and based on solid scientific evidence. The project combines cutting-edge biological monitoring technology with community participation. Automated monitoring stations equipped with cameras, microphones, and sensors collect real-time data on animal movements, habitat changes, and human-wildlife encounters. Artificial intelligence helps process these data, which are then used to support local decision-making about conservation and land use. A key innovation of PEACE is the use of Citizens Juries, structured meetings where local residents discuss, deliberate, and help shape solutions for balancing livelihoods and wildlife conservation. These meetings include strategic-thinking games and future- thinking workshops that make complex land-use questions easier to tackle. A Transdisciplinary Panel of scientists, policymakers, and civil society representatives ensures that the project remains scientifically sound and politically relevant. By linking automated biodiversity monitoring with fair compensation schemes and emerging biodiversity credit systems, PEACE explores how technology, market tools, and community participation can reinforce each other. The goal is to design conservation approaches that work both for nature and for people. PEACE seeks transformative change by addressing the deeper causes of biodiversity loss, such as land-use pressures and community exclusion, and by promoting gender equality, social justice, and respect for traditional ecological knowledge. Through a strong international partnership, PEACE contributes to the global goals of the Kunming- Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, developing practical and inclusive solutions for protecting biodiversity in shared landscapes.