On April 20th, an entrepreneurship workshop was held to promote the "community ideas" initiatives the project has been supporting on the island of Príncipe. In addition to the members of the micro-businesses we support in Abade, Santo António and Praia das Burras, representatives from the recycled glass cooperative (CVR), the honey cooperative, the Facilita Fora Umuen project and Inspira took part. It was a day full of opportunity for knoweldge exchange between the small sustainable businesses on the island of Príncipe and a chance to  reflect together on the creation of plans and implementation of micro-businesses in this context.
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The objective of this activity is linked to the objective of encouraging communities to diversify their sources of income beyond fishing, thus alleviating the pressure on fishing resources and contributing to the conservation of marine ecosystems.

As part of the ongoing consultation process (with fishers, palaiês, government authorities and other stakeholders) that the team has been facilitating with the aim of reflecting on the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), a 1st meeting of the Assembly for the co-management of fisheries on the island of Príncipe was held last week.

This memorable day was attended by the President of the Regional Government and brought together for the first time members of the Regional Assembly, representatives from the Regional Departments of Fisheries, Environment, the Biosphere Reserve, Coast Guard, Port Authority, tour operators, the Association of Guides and representatives from each of the island's fishing communities (chosen by the communities themselves as spokespersons). It was with great satisfaction that we heard the various stakeholders reaffirm their agreement on the importance of implementing Marine Protected Areas in Príncipe as an effective tool for restoring fish stocks and protecting the marine environment. To facilitate reflection and debate, the team presented maps with all the data collected so far (representing the areas of greatest fishing effort, gear types used and abundance of commercially important fish species, etc.). The team also presented a map produced using Marxan software, which brings together all this data and suggests a set of areas of interest for the recovery of marine resources, whilst ensuring the majority of fishing areas of the different coastal communities remains unaffected.
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The discussion culminated with a first list of potential marine areas that the various stakeholders consider to be important to protect. This represents a fundamental step along the way to reaching a consensus on the MPAs to be created, their delimitation and the rules applicable to each one - using a transparent and participatory approach .