The Ethical Conservation Alliance’s (ECA) Sustainable Economies and Local Entrepreneurship Toolkit is a practical guide designed to help practitioners, community partners, and policymakers assess, design, and support community-based enterprises (CBEs) — powerful pathways that align economic opportunity with ecological sustainability to strengthen local agency, build resilience, and support long-term conservation outcomes.
Sustainable Economies and Local Entrepreneurship Drawing on insights from economics, conservation practice, and community development, the toolkit offers a practical framework for understanding and applying the principles of Sustainable Economies and Local Entrepreneurship through community‑based enterprises (CBEs). It emphasizes that sustainable enterprises are not simply mechanisms for generating income, but powerful pathways for strengthening local agency, building resilience, and supporting long‑term conservation outcomes.
The toolkit is designed to help practitioners, community partners, and policymakers assess, design, and support CBEs that align economic opportunity with ecological sustainability. It provides a foundation for understanding how enterprises function within social and ecological systems, recognizing the opportunities and risks of linking livelihoods to conservation, and identifying strategies for developing enterprises that are economically viable, socially equitable, and ecologically sound.
The online video toolkit is intended to be used alongside the accompanying document; using them together will provide a more comprehensive and applied understanding of community‑based enterprise development for conservation.