BirdLife Urgent additional funding is needed for key sites like Mont Peko in Cote d'Ivoire, home to some of the world's most valuable biodiversity.

Africa's Protected Areas face funding shortfall

07-02-2005

US$300 million per year is the estimated cost of managing and protecting Africa's 1,200 plus existing Protected Areas. This is the conclusion of a recent global gathering of Protected Area managers and experts. Meeting in Nairobi from 1–2 February 2005, the discussions were organised by BirdLife International and the African Protected Areas Initiative (APAI).

All Africa faces a daunting challenge to reconcile the sustainable management of its natural resources with pressing development needs. But it is widely acknowledged that biodiversity has a direct link to poverty, human health and well-being and a wide range of biological resources provide food, medicine and alternative sources of income for rural communities.

Participants made it clear that Protected Areas in Africa form part of the mosaic of land-use that must be managed for the health of the region, and argued that they are essential ingredients for achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. In this complex landscape, the role of Protected Areas in development is insufficiently recognised and the threats these areas face are compounded by inadequate allocation of financial resources in national budgets.

"Although on paper many of our region’s best wildlife areas appear to be protected, the reality is that they are severely underfunded." —Dr Hazell Thompson, Head of BirdLife’s Africa Secretariat

Most critically, the global benefits that Africa’s Protected Areas provide, in terms of the preservation of biodiversity and the ecosystem functions they support, have not attracted anything like adequate funding from the international community. The global community must increase the level of sustainable longterm funds it provides in support of biodiversity conservation to ensure it meets its fair share of the costs.

There is ample evidence to suggest that, in addition to helping guaranteeing the survival of global biodiversity, the long-term benefits derived from these areas exceeds the costs. In Madagascar, for example, studies have shown that for every one US$ invested in conserving that country’s extraordinarily rich biodiversity, two US$ have been generated for sustainable development.

Dr Hazell Shokellu Thompson, Head of BirdLife International’s Africa Secretariat commented: "Even though $300 million per year seems like a lot of money, the benefits to people and wildlife are worth much, much more. But as well as properly funding existing sites we need to expand the Protected Areas network to truly reflect Africa’s biodiversity for the future of all its citizens."