biodiversity – Integra LLC

Tag Archive for: biodiversity

Areas of Expertise, Asia, Biodiversity, Environment, Environment & NRM, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Where we work

Integra Evaluates $20 Million USAID Project in “the Serengeti of Asia”

An Integra evaluation team recently concluded a mid-term performance evaluation of USAID’s Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB) Project in northeastern Cambodia, under USAID’s REPLACE IDIQ. The project, aims to mitigate climate change and conserve biodiversity through improved conservation and forest governance. It is implemented through a cooperative agreement with Winrock International and supported by the East West Management Institute, WWF, People and Forests (RECOFTC), and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Read more

February 11, 2015/by actualize

Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Environment, Environmental Compliance, Forestry, Land Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Successful Community-Based Forestry Management

Photo Credit: CARPE

The Congo Basin is a critical tropical forest that supplies vital regional and worldwide ecological services. It is one of the largest tropical rainforests in the world, home to thousands of endemic plant and animal species such as lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and forest elephants. More than eighty million people depend on its abundance of timber and other natural resources for their livelihoods. A paradoxical note is that despite the richness of the Congo Basin, the people near it are some of the poorest in Africa. The forest is constantly cleared to make room for agricultural pursuits and to feed urbanized areas’ hunger for lumber. In addition to deforestation and forest degradation, illegal hunting and commercial bushmeat trade are major threats to biodiversity.

The Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) is a USAID longterm and regional initiative formed in 1995 in association with a consortium of government and NGO partners that concentrates its resources on six principal forested countries in Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. Uganda, Rwanda, Chad, Burundi, Rwanda and Sao Tome Principe are also involved in the initiative. CARPE is intended to be a 20-year process, resulting in complete local guidance. A major objective of CARPE is to protect forest resources by reducing degradation and protecting biodiversity. Modern tools such as Landsat satellite-derived maps, remote sensing, GIS, and geospatial databases are used for planning and monitoring of the forest. With this information, threatened species are under the protection of local communities and logging is controlled.

Prior to the development of CARPE, vast areas of the Congo Basin were unknown. Since then, a number of initiatives and activities have taken place, resulting in an overall evaluation in 2011. In this evaluation, CARPE was deemed extremely successful for introducing large-scale ecosystem management approaches. Tens of thousands of individuals have been trained in a variety of conservation methods and techniques. With empowerment through such training and motivation that educates and organizes local groups to play an active role in forest and biodiversity conservation programs, civil society is being strengthened. This is seen as critical, circumventing the often inefficiently administered and economically weak centralized governments. The tools practiced allow for an understaffed patrol to communicate with a wider audience, limiting the “weak state management of these resources (that) creates a vacuum where local populations are often stripped of benefits as stronger or elite groups including private companies expropriate natural resources at sub-national and local levels.”Where will CARPE head in the coming years? The implementation of land use management plans for micro- and macro- zones, strengthening of government capacity and transparency are key.

February 23, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Environment, Land Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Today is World Day to Combat Desertification

A drawing of a desert with a green tree in the middle

Photo Credit: The Express Tribune

The annual observation of World Day to Combat Desertification is underway amid daunting projections, if immediate mitigation measures are ignored.

Desertification, which is caused by ‘land degradation in dry lands’ (not necessarily the creation of deserts), affects one in three people in some way, and costs the world economy US$42 billion annually. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that almost two billion hectares of land in over 110 countries have been seriously degraded.

Land degradation is heightened by population pressure, intensification of agriculture, water-logging and salinity, among other things. Both water-logging and salinity are caused by poor irrigation and drainage, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and poverty.

But the matter of poverty is two fold, as land degradation pose serious implications for efforts to reduce it and hunger worldwide. The developing world, namely Africa, Asia and Latin America, is home to 90% of those most affected— mostly subsistence farmers. This trend will expand the scarcity of arable lands and water resources, which will increase food insecurity for the most vulnerable. This will also raise political tensions over unequal land distribution across the developing world. A few large landholders own disproportionate hectares of land in predominantly arid countries such as Pakistan.

UNCCD logo for World Day to Combat Dessertification

Despite these impending challenges, too few governments have been proactive in informing their citizens. ICTs may be leveraged to improve basic farm extension services to reduce poor soil management, and other agricultural related causes of land degradation. Also, more states should embark on water resources development, water harvesting, well rehabilitation, wildlife restoration and biodiversity maintenance projects to mitigate land desertification and better prepare farmers and others to sustain their livelihoods. The success of any such effort will rest on the degree to which citizens are engaged –the range of ICTs available should certainly be leveraged.

Visit the UNCCD website to learn more about about the day of events.

June 17, 2011/by actualize