Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
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The first International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress on Protected Areas in Africa (APAC) ended on 23 July 2022 with the adoption of the « Kigali Call to Action ». In this declaration, more than 2,000 delegates present called on governments to give indigenous peoples a prominent place in nature conservation projects and policies.

More than 2,000 delegates from across the African continent and beyond gathered in Kigali, Rwanda from 18-23 July 2022 for the first African congress dedicated to the role of protected areas in the future of the planet. The meeting, held under the theme « For People and Nature », resulted in the adoption of the « Kigali Call to Action ».

In the five-page declaration, participants call for special support for Africa’s indigenous peoples to preserve the wisdom, traditions, scientific and traditional knowledge, and customary approaches that will enable effective conservation of nature, culture, livelihoods and human well-being.

« Protected and conserved areas in Africa have a complex legacy, with conservation success too often at the expense of local communities. One of the main objectives of the first ever IUCN Congress on African Protected Areas is to give a voice to these marginalised communities, highlighting their stewardship of nature and the need for inclusive and just conservation models under African leadership and with global support, » says Dr Bruno Oberle, Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). 

To maintain this goal, participants at the first African Protected Areas Congress (APAC) have built a diverse coalition, including governments and civil society actors such as youth, indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as protected area managers and rangers to strengthen nature protection and conservation.

Increasing funding for conservation

In addition to recognising local communities as key players in environmental policies, the APAC participants called for nature protection to be combined with social justice, and above all for more funding.

« To properly manage a protected area, you need about 1,000 dollars per square kilometre. Currently, in Africa, we have an average of 50 dollars per square kilometre. So today, the continent is mobilising to ensure that its protected areas are financed, » explains Kaddu Sebunya, president of the Africa Wildlife Fundation. To make this recommendation a reality, a pan-African fund for nature conservation was launched at the APAC meeting. Open to all governments and donors, this mechanism aims to finance nature parks with resources other than tourism revenues.

The APAC was held a few months before the 15th United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) in December 2022 in Montreal, which is to adopt a global framework to better protect nature ravaged by human activities by 2050, with a stage in 2030. The COP15 Biodiversity meeting will have to decide on the UN’s call to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.

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Le gouvernement gambien interdit toutes les exportations de bois. La mesure prise le 1er juillet 2022 avec effet immédiat vise à empêcher une fois de plus le trafic illicite des bois rares. En particulier le bois de rose, une espèce protégée et particulièrement menacée de disparition.

L’exportation ou la réexportation de bois est interdite en Gambie, jusqu’à nouvel ordre. Ainsi en a décidé le gouvernement gambien le 1er juillet 2022. « L’interdiction a pour but de légaliser, ou de mieux contrôler les ventes et exportations illégales de bois de rose qui sont en train d’être saisis en ce moment à l’international » explique la ministre gambienne de l’Environnement, Rohey John-Manjang.

Concernant le bois de rose, un rapport de l’organisation non gouvernementale (ONG) Agence d’investigation environnementale (EIA)  publiée en juin 2019 indique qu’au cours de la dernière décennie, 1,6 million d’arbres ont été exportés depuis la Gambie. La Gambie a ainsi perdu près de 100 000 hectares de forêts entre 1998 et 2008. Cette disparition rapide du couvert forestier est surtout préjudiciable aux populations rurales, qui voient leurs moyens de subsistance, menacés.

Une réponse à l’appel lancé par la Cites

L’interdiction de l’exportation du bois adoptée par la Gambie est une réponse à l’appel de la Convention sur le commerce international des espèces menacées d’extinction (Cites) envers seize États africains, dont la Gambie, de suspendre le commerce de bois de rose, une espèce protégée et particulièrement menacée.

L’État gambien a également pris une série de mesures strictes pour la protection des forêts et la lutte contre le trafic de bois. Notamment l’interdiction de l’abattage et de l’importation d’espèces protégées. C’est le cas du Pterocarpuserinaceus connu localement sous le nom de Keno, et le Cordyla Africana, localement connu sous le nom de Wulakonoduto. Par ailleurs, tout bois autorisé à l’importation par le Département des forêts doit être accompagné de documents d’importation complets et dûment certifié, ainsi que des déclarations douanières pour chaque frontière traversée avant d’entrer en Gambie, afin d’éviter sa saisie par l’État à l’arrivée.

L’organisation de protection de la nature Greenpeace Afrique félicite les autorités gambiennes pour leur décision, qui permet de lutter contre l’exploitation illégale des forêts. « La protection des forêts demeure une priorité car elles constituent un trésor de biodiversité et participent à l’équilibre et à la santé de notre planète. Il faut aussi noter que sans les forêts, la terre serait sans doute un désert. », affirme Irène Wabiwa Betoko, cheffe de la campagne forêt chez Greenpeace Afrique.

Boris Ngounou

In its report « Sustainable Use of Wildlife » published on 8 July 2022, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) makes a general observation. Humanity’s survival depends on 50,000 wild species. To stop the disappearance of these species, the IPBES recommends, among other things, the use of ancestral biodiversity conservation techniques.

Released on 8 July 2022 in Born, Germany, the report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) presents indigenous peoples and rural communities as key factors in the preservation of wildlife. The report explores the use of wildlife by indigenous peoples and local communities, and their extensive knowledge, practices and beliefs about these uses.

Indigenous peoples manage fishing, gathering, hunting of terrestrial animals and other wildlife uses on more than 38 million km2 of land, equivalent to about 40% of the world’s conserved terrestrial areas, in 87 countries. « Policies that support secure land rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests, as well as poverty reduction, create the conditions for sustainable wildlife use, » the report says. 

The 50,000 wild species that ensure human survival

Promoting the ecosystem role played by indigenous peoples and rural communities is one response to wildlife loss. In recent decades, global warming and human activity have intensified the biodiversity crisis, directly threatening a wide range of wild species such as plants (including algae), fungi and animals, both terrestrial and marine. Yet the IPBES report reveals that humanity’s survival depends on the survival of 50,000 wild species. They are used for food, energy, materials, medicine, recreation and other human needs.

« With about 50,000 wild species used for different practices, including more than 10,000 wild species harvested directly for food, rural populations in developing countries are the most threatened by unsustainable use, as the lack of complementary alternatives often forces them to further exploit wild species already at risk, » explains Dr Jean-Marc Fromentin (France), who co-chaired the assessment with Dr Marla R. Emery (USA/Norway) and Professor John Donaldson (South Africa).  

The ‘IPCC of biodiversity

Often described as the « IPCC of biodiversity », IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body with 139 member governments. Established in 2012, it provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments of the state of knowledge about the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.

The IPBES assessment report on the sustainable use of wildlife is the result of four years of work by 85 scientists, indigenous and local knowledge holders, and 200 contributing authors, drawing on more than 6,200 sources. The assessment was specifically requested by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The study will inform decisions on wildlife trade at the 19th World Wildlife Conference in Panama in November 2022.

It is also of immediate relevance to the work of the next Convention on Biological Diversity to forge a new global biodiversity framework for the next decade.

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AFRICA: Indigenous peoples depend on 50,000 threatened species (IPBES) 

29 juillet 2022 0 Comments

In its report « Sustainable Use of Wildlife » published on 8 July 2022, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) makes a general observation. Humanity’s survival depends on 50,000 wild species. To stop the disappearance of these species, the IPBES recommends, among other things, the use of ancestral biodiversity conservation techniques.

The Kafue National Park joins the portfolio of African Parks. The nature conservation organization is committed to managing Zambia’s largest national park for a period of 20 years. African Parks’ objectives are to improve the protection of the park’s wildlife and to increase tourist visits. 

The Zambian government is delegating the management of a third protected area to the South African non-governmental organization (NGO), African Parks. This is the Kafue National Park, Zambia’s largest, covering 22,400 square kilometers in the central west of the East African country.

« With this management partnership, the Zambian government is beginning the process of fully restoring Kafue as one of the largest conservation areas in Africa. In addition to investing in Kafue’s unique landscape and biodiversity conservation, we will also enhance Kafue’s contribution to the livelihoods of local communities and the national economy, » promises Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks.

The agreement signed on July 1, 2022 in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, follows the conclusion of a 16-month Priority Support Plan (PSP), initiated in February 2021 by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and African Parks. Funded with $3.6 million from the Dutch Postcode Lottery Dream Fund grant and supported by The Nature Conservancy and the Elephant Crisis Fund, the PSP consisted of providing technical and financial support to Kafue. This included building a new law enforcement center, rehabilitating existing infrastructure, grading 2,000 km of roads, conducting an aerial survey of the entire landscape, and creating 150 permanent jobs.

A 20-year management contract

The management agreement for Kafue National Park provides for a full 20-year mandate. African Parks will be required to implement a holistic management plan, including the continuation of the work defined in the PSP. Priorities for 2022 include work to improve visitor access, development of community facilities and projects, an improved communications network, and operationalization of the wildlife law enforcement center.

The Zambian government first partnered with African Parks in 2003 in the Liuwa Plain National Park in the west of the country and again in 2008 in the Bangweulu Wetlands in the northeast.

Kafue National Park is the 20th park to join the African Parks portfolio. The conservation NGO wants to make it one of the most unique tourist destinations in Africa. The park is one of the world’s most important natural heritage sites and a key water source for the Kavango Zambezi transboundary region. It is also one of the last remaining large areas of the iconic Zambezi ecoregion, home to elephants, large predators, 21 species of antelope and 515 species of birds.

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This is the first statement of its kind issued by the African episcopate. The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM) urges governments to take urgent and ambitious measures to protect biodiversity. In its statement of 21 June 2022, Sceam also denounces the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.

The Roman Catholic Church in Africa is taking a stand against the degradation of biodiversity. In a text dated 21 June 2022, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM) urges African governments to take urgent and ambitious measures to protect biodiversity. According to SCEAM, « climate and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin and for this reason must be addressed together. Similarly, the ecological problem cannot be separated from its social aspect ».

In line with the encyclical Laudato si’ published in 2015 by Pope Francis, the bishops consider that respect for nature and the people who live in it go hand in hand. For this reason, the prelates have joined forces with environmental organisations that are calling for 50% of the earth to be protected by 2030.

The Eacop oil project

To justify the reason for their appeal, the bishops questioned the environmental impact of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project. This is the world’s longest heated pipeline project, which is expected to transport about 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Lake Albert (in western Uganda) to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for export to international markets.

The project is being challenged by the Civil Society Coalition on Oil and Gas (CSCO), a coalition of 61 civil society organisations working on oil and gas issues in Uganda. The coalition says that the construction of EACOP would cause serious environmental and social damage. The extraction of crude oil from Lake Albert could cripple fisheries activities. Furthermore, the risk of an oil spill in Lake Victoria would have disastrous consequences for millions of people (in about eight countries) who depend on the two lakes and their catchment areas for drinking water and agriculture.

The SCEAM declaration was made in Nairobi, Kenya, where 190 delegates from around the world met from 21 to 26 June 2022 to negotiate an agreement, long overdue since 2020, to protect nature undermined by human activities. A preparatory summit for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), which will be held in Canada in December after two years of postponement.

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