Baseline:
Over the past two decades, Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) have received increasing international attention for their important role in preserving biodiversity and cultural diversity. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines ICCAs as: "natural and/or modified ecosystems, including important biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural values, that are voluntarily protected by indigenous peoples and local communities through customary law or other effective means." Since its establishment in 1992, the UNDP GEF SGP has been making efforts to support indigenous peoples and local communities for their activities that conserve and sustainably use biodiversity on the ground. The UNDP GEF SGP was established in China in 2019. Since then, it has supported 21 ICCAs, among which nine have registered with the ICCA registry system. All these ICCAs are located in areas where biodiversity and cultural diversity are the richest, and the ecological environment is most vulnerable in China. Some of them are Sacred Natural Sites; some of them are overlapped with the government?s protected area but are protected and managed by the local community; some of them are supported and facilitated by NGOs building on their traditional rules; some of them have registered with government?s system and received recognition of labeling. Whatever the types are, these ICCAs are protecting significant biodiversity in China and the globe. To date, there is still a lack of successfully established marine ICCAs in China.
The pilot site locates in Qinzhou City on Sanniang Bay, which is defined as a restricted red-line area of concentrated distribution of Chinese white dolphins in the "Guangxi Marine Ecological Red Line Demarcation Plan? (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of Oceanic Administration, 2018). The target sea area is comprised of the Chinese White Dolphin Nature Reserve in Qinzhou City of Guangxi Province, namely the sea area of Sanniang Bay and the estuary of Dafeng and Nanliu rivers in the Beibu Gulf, east to 108°47?49.20? and west to 108°52?18.37?, north to 21°36?16.56? and south to 21°31?11.72?.
In addition to the Chinese white dolphin, the benthic biodiversity represented by the horseshoe crabs is also extremely rich in this region, which has great ecological and economic value. Benthos, as a group of aquatic species living at the bottom of the water body for their whole life or most of the time, is an important link in the food chain, which provides abundant food sources for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and other species. It is also a group with a large number and an important ecological niche in the coastal wetland ecosystem. The abundant benthic resources also provide a rich source of food and economic income for the locals. However, in the past two decades, the ecological resources and native cultures of Beibu Gulf have faced exploitation and changes under the rapid development of the region. Coastal erosion, siltation, pollution, degradation, reduction of intertidal wetlands, and declining biodiversity are the main challenges facing this region.

Main problems:
Lack of systematic and professional scientific tools to support fishermen's participation in marine ecological conservation: The previous project conducted research on the status of the marine ecosystem and key species (horseshoe crabs) conservation from utilization and the culture, knowledge, and practices of traditional fishing villages. However, there is still a lack of data to support the research on the spawning and foraging habitats of the horseshoe crabs, a Class II protected species. The project intends to collect data on the footstep, activity, spatial and temporal dynamics of the spawning and foraging habitats of the horseshoe crabs in the long term by linking universities, scientists, and public participation in an innovative model to mark and track the horseshoe crabs and promote the sustainable use and management of horseshoe crabs? resources in the future.
Lack of participatory mechanisms to enhance community capacity for marine resource conservation: The community outcomes of the previous project have awakened villagers' awareness of the conservation of their home environment and fisheries resources. However, there is still a need to strengthen the participatory nature of community villagers and improve their capacity to participate in conservation, to achieve conservation and public education while increasing livelihoods.
Lack of attractive public communication and more targeted policy advocacy: In recent years, there have been other peer organizations engaged in marine resource management and sustainable use that have been aware of the current situation and problem in Sanniang Bay. They have stepped into the community one after another to carry out their work. However, because of the limited power and influence of a single party, there is a need to link up various organizations to share insights and exchange what they learned to bring their respective strength into play and to build a platform for community conservation in Beibu Gulf. Together, we advocate and support the role and contribution of fishermen community participation and traditional fishing communities in the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.

Activities:
1. Establish a scientific monitoring mechanism for fishermen to participate in horseshoe crabs? conservation with the support of marine scientists: mark adult horseshoe crabs, then send them back home through campus science activities, providing data support for the development of horseshoe crabs marine reserves and promoting the sustainable use and management of horseshoe crabs resources. Improve ecological culture education for elementary school students: fully utilize the marine library of Sanniang Bay Primary School to increase the number of horseshoe crabs science promotion books. Hold ?Juvenile Horseshoe Crab Rearing Program ?and hold annual horseshoe crabs release activities to start environmental education for children. Through small hands leading big hands, we will increase the number of horseshoe crabs protection from point to point and improve the marine ecological environment of Sanniang Bay village mudflats, and gradually extend the experience of Sanniang Bay village primary school to the surrounding Wulei elementary school and Dahuan elementary school.
2. Increasing community awareness level and action capacity for horseshoe crabs resource protection from community empowerment: train the community guides and B&B operators, combined with the Sanniang Bay Ecological and Cultural Guide Manual (pilot version) to produce a guide atlas for local horseshoe crabs. Provide horseshoe crabs-themed community guide training for women in the village, promote the addition of horseshoe crabs theme rooms in local B&Bs, and increase the awareness and ability of local villagers to participate in conservation. Forming a tourism model that combines life experience and horseshoe crabs protection publicity and education with the Sanniang Bay tourist scenic area.
3. Promote policy advocacy and public media of model cases with marine community reserves as the core topic: Holding policy workshops and horseshoe crabs conservation-themed concerts, uniting local social organizations, experts, scholars, and other community residents to engage with marine resource management and sustainable use. Sharing and summarizing the pilot experience of marine ecological conservation in Sanniang Bay, with the aim of exploring feasible ways to extend the platform to the entire Beibu Gulf Ecological Reserve. Based on the research results of each organization, villagers clearly understand the regulations and policies related to their respective businesses and effectively grasp the space of the organization's business in maintaining the ecological protection of Sanniang Bay. Promote the initiative issues in a legal and law-abiding manner to feed and enhance the level of species protection and sustainable use. Combined with the annual horseshoe crabs enhancement and release activities, the annual theme concert is held to invite public participation and increase social influence through offline and online communication channels.

Anticipated results:
1. scientific monitoring data and science popularization: collect data on horseshoe crabs (including species, size, weight, habitat, etc.) by tagging adult horseshoe crabs, and continue to monitor the number of horseshoe crabs released back home, through innovative models such as fishermen participation and academic crossover. We need to accelerate the identification of the movement pattern and environmental characteristics of horseshoe crabs spawning and foraging habitats in Sanniang Bay to reach the data collection goal of rescuing 2,000 horseshoe crabs and 200 adult horseshoe crabs each year. Moreover, publish a paper on horseshoe crabs. We also set up a " Juvenile Horseshoe Crab Rearing Program? at Sanniang Bay Primary School to learn how to raise horseshoe crabs, observe and record the growth of their hatchling, and finally work with parents to release the grown horseshoe crabs' hatchling into nature, with the goal of promoting conservation efforts down to the community and increasing the participation of villagers in general.
2. Community Conservation Action and Awareness Level: Promote a community guide service with a horseshoe crabs theme and training with no less than five community guide members (80% female). Complete and print a horseshoe crabs-themed guide atlas during the period. Through this guiding service, they can increase their annual income by 400 RMB. The Bed &Breakfast industry shall train ten people, and 2 Bed & Breakfast shall have horseshoe crabs-themed rooms and place horseshoe crabs-related brochures.
3. Policy advocacy and public communication: Organize a workshop on sharing the experience of the Sanniang Bay marine ecosystem and biodiversity pilot, invite no less than eight institutions and representatives of relevant government departments to attend, and invite 12 villagers' representatives (more than 80% female) from 3 villages, namely Sanniang Bay Village, Wulei Village, and Dahuan Village, to attend the meeting. Train local university volunteers and pay close attention to relevant local policy. Combined with the division of functions of the departments, the policy recommendations based on the workshop comments collated for the marine ecological environment of Sanniang Bay should be submitted to three departments of Qinzhou Natural Resources Bureau, Qinzhou Marine Bureau, and Qinzhou Agricultural and Rural Bureau. The recommendations on marine territorial planning and ecological restoration of coastal zones involving horseshoe crabs' habitat should be submitted to the Qinzhou Natural Resources Bureau. Suggestions on the use and protection of sea areas involving horseshoe crabs habitats will be submitted to the Qinzhou Bureau of Oceanography. Suggestions on the conversion of fishermen to other industries and the protection of aquatic plants and species are submitted to the Qinzhou Agricultural and Rural Bureau. Conduct an annual concert on the theme of horseshoe crabs? protection to influence more than 500 people directly and 3,000 people indirectly to increase social influence.