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Africa makes progress in conserving IBAs
19-03-2009
The annual planning and review meeting of the Africa Protected Area/IBA Monitoring Project was held in the first week of March 2009, hosted by Association ‘Les Amis des Oiseaux’ (AAO, BirdLife in Tunisia). The preliminary findings of the mid-term evaluation, presented at the meeting, revealed that the project is on course, and that a lot of work has gone into addressing the key deliverables.
The project provides support to eight biodiversity-rich African countries, to meet the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target to achieve a significant reduction of the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Some notable achievements to date include the training of site monitoring teams, and application of accurate, cost-effective and robust methods to monitor biodiversity in Protected Areas (PAs) and Important Bird Areas (IBAs).
“The government of Tunisia believes that establishment of partnerships and collaboration between NGOs and governments is central to achieving conservation of biodiversity goals”, said Mr Ridha Fekih, Director General of the Forest Department in Tunisia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources. “Active participation by the government in major international conventions and clear environmental policy actions help to support projects such as this one, which seeks to reduce biodiversity loss in Africa.”
“Notable results have been achieved through legalising protection of Important Bird Areas in Tunisia”, added Mr Mourad Amari, President of AAO. “AAO has played a significant role in training personnel in charge of the Protected Areas, and regular monitoring is currently taking place in Tunisia’s Important Bird Areas”.
The delegates were drawn from BirdLife Botswana (BirdLife in Botswana), Fondation des Amis de la Nature / Naturama (BirdLife in Burkina Faso), Association Burundaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux (ABO, BirdLife in Burundi), Nature Kenya (BirdLife in Kenya), Nature Uganda (BirdLife in Uganda), Zambian Ornithological Society (BirdLife in Zambia), BirdLife Zimbabwe (BirdLife in Zimbabwe), BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat in Kenya, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK), the European Commission in Brussels and Tunis, and representatives from the Tunisian Protected Area management and biodiversity conservation authorities.
“We are on track towards achieving the project goals” —Paul Buckley, Head of the RSPB’s Global Programmes Unit
“It is evident from the country reports that monitoring of sites is underway, and we are on track towards achieving the project goals”, said Paul Buckley, Head of the RSPB’s Global Programmes Unit. “It is our hope that the project will stimulate monitoring in other African countries and beyond.”
The project-implementing partners are currently analyzing data to produce the 2008 status reports, reflecting the state and trends in biodiversity since the 2001 baseline report on the condition of PAs and IBAs. They are preparing the Fourth National Reports on progress towards the CBD’s 2010 biodiversity target. A significant number have also provided relevant information to the national CBD focal points. These partners would, however, benefit from more training in CBD National Reporting, as capacity in this regard is generally low in Africa.
The project has also put in place a communication and advocacy strategy for safeguarding PAs/IBAs in Africa, which was formulated through a consultative process involving all stakeholders at national level. National and regional awareness raising materials, national monitoring manuals and a Regional Biodiversity Monitoring Toolkit have been produced. A project procedures manual serves as a guide in the implementation of the project, by stipulating the common financial accounting systems in accordance with the EC requirements.
As part of ensuring the sustainability of the project, the Training of Trainers Approach has so far been adopted in two of the regional training activities, specifically biodiversity monitoring and data management.
“The BirdLife Africa Partnership is grateful to the European Commission” —Dr Julius Arinaitwe, Science and Important Bird Areas Conservation Programme Manager at the BirdLife Africa Partnership
Emphasis has also been placed on institutionalizing monitoring within biodiversity managing agencies. There is, however, need to provide extra resources to provide more capacity and awareness within each biodiversity monitoring agency, and to broaden the number of people within these agencies and other institutions who have an active stake in the action, giving them frequent updates and involving more of them in the project management structures.
The project is already making concrete plans to involve senior level conservation managers to deliberate further on advocacy and sustainability of monitoring in Protected Areas.
“The meeting provided an opportunity to strengthen competencies, considered the challenges and offered solutions, while taking into account the needs of each country,” said Ms Thandiwe Chikomo, Regional Project Manager at the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat. “The lessons learnt during the meeting are to be shared not only within the BirdLife Africa Partnership, but also with like-minded institutions.”
Dr Julius Arinaitwe, Science and Important Bird Areas Conservation Programme Manager at the BirdLife Africa Partnership, said: “The BirdLife Africa Partnership is grateful to the European Commission for providing the financial support for a project that provides an important avenue to generate up-to-date information on the condition of some of the most important sites for biodiversity in Africa.”
“The European Commission is pleased to be associated with this regional project”, responded Mr Massimo Mina, First Secretary at the Delegation of the European Commission in Tunisia. “We remain convinced that NGOs, in collaboration with different stakeholders, are the key instruments in addressing conservation and development issues in Africa. Projects such as this one offer a common approach to environmental issues that transcend national and international boundaries.”
“This is one of the well managed projects that the European Commission is funding”, added Mr Michel Van den Bossche of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, Brussels.
The Nature Kenya 2007 National Status Report highlights the effective intervention strategies that have been undertaken by different stakeholders in order to minimize threats to biodiversity. It is anticipated that through this project, more intervention measures can be applied to as many sites as possible in the African continent in order to reduce biodiversity loss. To read more about the report, please click here.
The meeting was held from the 3rd until the 5th of March 2009 at the “Le Belvedere” hotel in Tunis. ‘Instituting Effective Monitoring of Protected Areas/Important Bird Areas to reduce biodiversity loss in Africa’ is funded by the European Commission and being managed by the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) and coordinated by the BirdLife International Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Credits: The Association ‘Les Amis des Oiseaux’, BirdLife Botswana, Fondation des Amis de la Nature / Naturama, Association Burundaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux, Nature Kenya, Nature Uganda, Zambian Ornithological Society, BirdLife Zimbabwe, RSPB