Maintenance of functional ecological (or green) infrastructure is threatened by habitat conversion, fragmentation and loss, water scarcity, invasive species, climate change, resource extraction, poor policy implementation and societal inequity. Using South Africa as a case study, our transdisciplinary team identified actions likely to be effective in scaling up research and development projects that support implementation of policy about ecological infrastructure by active adaptive management. Based on expert knowledge at three scales, we analysed South Africa's opportunity to active adaptive management and to unlock investments that enhance functional ecological infrastructure. Barriers included lack of trust among actors, limited collaborative governance and integrated planning, including local partnerships; as well as a poor inclusion of evidencebased knowledge based on monitoring of landscape restoration efforts and its social and ecological consequences. Bridges include practicing transdisciplinary knowledge production, enhancing social learning among actors and stakeholders, and advocacy based on improved understanding. We propose a portfolio of place-based actions that could help to facilitate unlocking investments for functional ecological infrastructure by prioritising conservation, management and restoration through integrated cross-scale, collaborative and multisector spatial planning. Understanding the structure and dynamics of social-ecological systems, identifying champions, framing key messages for different audiences, and sharing failures and success stories internationally, are crucial requirements to unlock investments.

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Many everyday decisions by people in urban areas influence wildlife management in urban environments. To date, wildlife conservation managers and facilitators have relied largely on anecdotal information in assessing the capacity of urban communities to contribute to the protection and conservation of wildlife in urban areas. Research conducted by New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2001-2002 investigated how urban residents in NSW relate to living with wildlife. The study revealed that the mainstream community is relatively unengaged with the principles that underpin wildlife conservation initiatives. The research findings can be used to design and evaluate new approaches to urban wildlife management, to engage a wider audience, and to support people to have more positive experiences of wildlife in their own backyard and neighbourhood.