African BirdLife Partners integrate climate change issues into their conservation programmes.

The scientific evidence for climate change and its damaging effects on people, biodiversity and habitats is overwhelming. It is already having multiple impacts on birds and their habitats, including: changes in behaviour and phenology, such as timing of migration; range shifts and contractions; disruption of species and community interactions climate change therefore clearly poses new challenges to traditional approaches to conserving biodiversity through site-based approaches, such as Protected Areas (PAs) and Important Bird Areas (IBAs). The BirdLife Partnership in Africa has become increasingly concerned about this issue and the possible adverse implications for biodiversity and the people dependant on it.

Using the “Conservation in the face of climate change” project, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation-funded project as a launch pad, the Partnership is now gathering the necessary scientific and policy information to help them integrate climate change issues into their conservation programmes. The project aims at developing an Adaptive Management Framework (AMF) for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity across Africa.

The overall goal is to develop a model for improving the resilience of high biodiversity areas or networks in Africa against the projected impacts of climate change and thus ensure they retain their efficacy for protecting biodiversity and providing ecosystem services into the future. Specific outputs will include: a model that is adaptable and modifiable to suit local African conditions linking a network of high-biodiversity sites across the continent; a menu of policy options for dealing with the impacts of climate change and a web-based information exchange facility accessible to all to be used in sharing of the experiences and knowledge from this project and other initiatives.

The matter is now considered urgent, given that climate change is already happening. “We intend to develop a plan and projects on climate change in this year”, said Achilles Byaruhanga, CEO NatureUganda (BirdLife in Uganda). “More importantly we hope to develop adaptation measures to cope with anticipated effects of global warming such as the more frequent and severe floods expected in some areas of Uganda”.

NatureUganda is not alone in this drive to develop the measures necessary to ensure that biodiversity conservation gains made so far are not eroded by climate change. BirdLife Partners in Africa will be implementing the MacArthur Foundation-funded project across Africa, especially in the Albertine Rift where in addition to NatureUganda, the Association Burundaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux (ABO) and the Association pour la Conservation de la Nature au Rwanda (ACNR) will be leading development of a pilot adaptive management framework starting with a workshop planned for May this year. In addition, the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat together with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Durham University are modelling the distribution of birds under different climate change scenarios. This information, some of which will be presented at the May workshop will help conservationists in Africa to plan adaptive measures.

For more information, contact: Mathias.Behangana@birdlife.or.ke or birdlife@birdlife.or.ke