This project seeks to undertake various community-based natural resource management initiatives with the objective of simultaneously addressing biodiversity and poverty reduction challenges. There are two major components: 1) on-site activities focusing on providing ecologically sustainable livelihoods and building capacity on the ground; and 2) off-site activities focusing on drawing lessons from on-site interventions to shape and drive improved, participatory, and locally beneficial practices and policies. Consequently, the project seeks to make local and policy stakeholders more sensitive to community and conservation imperatives, specifically in terms of livelihoods security and biodiversity conservation. It will improve the capacity of institutions at the local level for addressing sustainable livelihood issues, as well as local concerns for biodiversity conservation. The project also demonstrates the utility of gender-based, community-led approaches to simultaneously addressing biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction challenges through ecologically sustainable livelihoods and improved local-scale policy and practice