Development Account Projects
Building national capacities for biodiversity indicators and reporting in Southern and Eastern Africa
Background:
Millennium Development Goal 7 and the 2010 biodiversity target require the definition of targets, policies and strategies at the national level for their implementation. A key requirement for this process is the availability of indicators of biodiversity and environmental resources. A number of indicators have been identified, or are in development, for reporting on the 2010 biodiversity target, some of which are the same as or complementary to indicators for Millennium Development Goal 7, including measurements of sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem goods and services, which form a basis for poverty reduction. In most countries of Southern and the East Africa, however, the capacity for calculating biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators is very limited. Some of the concepts and methods involved in producing the 2010 biodiversity target indicators and assessment of ecosystem services are new and require further promotion for countries to be able to utilize them. This project will assist national governmental, academic and NGO groups to adapt global indicators to national needs and utilize existing indicators in international reporting on biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
The project will be implemented by the UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment, the UNEP Regional Office for Africa, the Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat and the Convention on Biological Diversity national focal points in each country. The UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre will work with UNDP country offices in the region to incorporate their capacity-development experience and networks with national institutions.
Objective:
To strengthen the capacity of Governments in Southern and Eastern Africa to develop and use indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem services in support of national policies, including poverty reduction strategy papers and international reporting on Millennium Development Goal 7, on environmental sustainability, and the 2010 biodiversity target.
Expected accomplishments:
- Increased technical capacity and partnerships of national governmental, academic and NGO groups to develop and use indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem services, focused on policy formulation and monitoring.
- Improved capacity to use indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem services in national and international reporting to demonstrate progress in achieving nationally and internationally adopted targets.
Implementation status:
This project began implementation in 2008. In its first year UNEP will conduct two training and lesson-learning workshops in each of southern and eastern Africa regions on the selection and use of biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators. A third workshop will be held in 2009. The provision of on-line and in-country technical support to national indicator agencies in the calculation and interpretation of indicators and ecosystem service assessment, according to specific needs will also begin in 2008 and continue into 2009. Finally, the assistance of peer-to-peer communication and support between professionals in the calculation and use of indicators, through access to web-based contact information, technical guidance papers, and the production of case studies is crucial and will begin as soon as possible in 2008 and continue into 2009, as will exchange visits by technical staff in Africa working on biodiversity and ecosystem service indicator production and use.
