Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Protected conservation sites benefit from drive
Namibia and Zambia’s capacity development for managing protected and conservation areas has profited significantly since they became a beneficiary of a trilateral co-operation initiative aimed at strengthening protected and conserved areas as part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) global drive to boost protected areas.
The IUCN says the decision to make Namibia part of the initiative is in accordance with its Green List Certification Standards, with technical support from China. The objective of the project is to ensure that at least 10 protected and conserved areas in Namibia and Zambia profit from capacity development.
The director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Namibia, Bennet Kahuure, said: “The project is very important to Namibia as conserved and protected areas in the country play a valuable role. Germany has committed nearly €5 million [about R103 million] to the project, to be used by Namibia and Zambia with China as the technical partner.”
The IUCN warned as early as 2019 in a report that the negative trends in terms of biodiversity and ecosystems might affect as much as 80% of the international Sustainable Development Goals related to marine and terrestrial biodiversity. It could also have a negative impact on poverty, hunger, health, water quality and quantity.
“Due to land degradation, Africa is annually losing forests and productive lands equivalent to 60% of the area of Germany. Conflicts over land use and the pressure on existing protected areas are also on the increase.
Most of the protected areas in Africa were still far from being effectively conserved. “Therefore, the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas represents a global standard for fair and effective protected area management and certifies best practices for area-based conservation for the 21st century,” the IUCN said.
Phase 1 of the project entailed the implementation of the IUCN Green List assessments, while Phase 2 identified and addressed gaps in the assessments.
Both phases covered the period from September 2020 to March 2023. The objective was to complete full assessments of the performance of at least 10 committed Green List sites in Namibia and Zambia, including site visits, mentoring, review and evaluation by the independent accredited experts.
The project was funded by Germany’s ministry for economic co-operation and development with implementation being coordinated by the IUCN.