Posts in category: News & Updates

The October 2017 New Digest features ABCG’s latest news and upcoming events, including information about the Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation working group’s Integrated Freshwater Conservation and WASH Community of Practice Meeting that will be on October 31, 2017 in Nairobi. Also, find out about, and participate in other upcoming events whose aim is to foster information exchange and sharing lessons from field activities. Lastly, view presentation slides and listen to the webinar recordings of past ABCG speaker series.

Click here to read the July 2017 digest

Nolubabalo Kwayimani from Conservation International South Africa provides an overview of the “One Health” framework that integrates Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) activities with freshwater conservation, improved livestock farming, and restoration efforts for improved conservation and health outcomes in South Africa’s Mzimvubu Landscape. This project draws on ABCG’s Freshwater Conservation-WASH Integration Guidelines, and monitoring and evaluation framework to measure the added value of integrated freshwater conservation and WASH programming. 

This webinar was the third in a monthly series hosted by ABCG’s Integrated Freshwater Conservation-WASH Community of Practice. The group’s aim is to provide a collaborative platform and space where global health and conservation professionals can share knowledge and expertise while connecting and organizing on how to resolve common issues. Under its Global Health Linkages working group, ABCG brings together health, development and conservation practitioners working in Africa on projects and policies looking to improve biodiversity conservation and human health. By linking freshwater conservation and WASH in field sites in South Africa and Uganda, ABCG members hope to see reduced watershed degradation and pollution, and improved health of freshwater ecosystems.

Resources

In her October 11, 2017 presentation titled , Joanna Elliott, Fauna & Flora International, talks about the current land and wildlife management context and the challenges Ol Pejeta faces, including in helping local people and wildlife to weather extreme drought, and safeguarding its rhino population against a well-armed and organized poaching threat.

Ol Pejeta plays a vital part in the Laikipia ecosystem in northern Kenya, protecting critical migration corridors and diverse wildlife, including black rhino and Grevy’s zebra.

Speaker Bio

Joanna Elliott joined Fauna & Flora International in early 2013 as Senior Director, Conservation Partnerships based in Cambridge. Her recent work has focused on biodiversity-poverty linkages, impact assessment, large scale project design, protected areas systems, and conservation-business partnerships. Joanna is on the Board of Directors of Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya, and Chuilexi Conservancy in Mozambique. She is also a visiting Fellow in Biodiversity and Society at the International Institute for Environment and Development and currently serves on the Darwin Expert Committee for DEFRA and DFID.

With an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the London Business School, Joanna spent her early career in banking and management consultancy before deciding to apply those economics and business skills to the conservation sector, in which she has worked for the past twenty years. She has lived for extensive periods in Indonesia and Kenya, where she worked on long-term assignments for the World Bank, USAID Indonesia, and Kenya Wildlife Service as well as WWF and The Nature Conservancy before joining the African Wildlife Foundation as Vice President for Program Design.

Resources

Click here to view the presentation slides.

In their Sept 14, 2017 presentation titled , Vaneska Litz and Leif Kindberg, Tetra Tech, explore the viability of “the three Cs”: conservation, community and commercial forestry conservation strategy in the face of competing pressure for communities to engage in commercial logging activities in some of the last remaining tracts of the Upper Guinean forest.

They further examine the potential for conflict that could arise from these complex pressures and rights and provide insights into the complexity of these issues that must be properly understood in order to develop viable interventions that will not contribute to instability and conflict in the region.

Featured Speakers

Vaneska Litz is a Senior Associate at Tetra Tech. Since 2008, Ms. Litz has been engaged in Tetra Tech’s land and forestry work in Liberia as a technical expert, Team Leader, COP, DCOP and Project Manager.

Leif Kindberg is an Associate at Tetra Tech. Mr. Kindberg has worked in Liberia, focusing on outreach, education and learning related to forestry and community rights.

Event Resources

Click below to watch the webinar recording from the event.

Click here to view the presentation slides

On August 16, 2017, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) presented the interim results from two pilot studies to integrate Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) guidelines into biodiversity conservation, as well as key findings from a comprehensive literature review on cross-sector linkages between PHE, nutrition, and food security in its presentation titled, Advancing an Integrated Vision that Incorporates Health Outcomes into Biodiversity Conservation.

ABCG’s thematic working group on Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation: PHE provides methodological guidance to advance a vision that incorporates health outcomes into biodiversity conservation and sustainable development by employing PHE guidelines to identify and develop synergies between critical ecosystem services, and human health and well-being. Click here to view the PHE Factsheet.

PHE working group members presented 1) an analysis of existing integrated PHE approaches, their achievements, and lessons learned thus far from pilot sites in Southeastern Cameroon and Western Tanzania. Activities explored interrelationships and interdependencies in PHE, by combining actions to reduce deforestation, improve food and nutrition security and conserve watersheds.

The meeting commenced with opening remarks by Rebecca Goodman, ABCG’s Coordinator. Nathalie Simoneau, Senior Gender and Inclusion Specialist at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), then shared progress on pilot activities in Southeastern Cameroon, followed by reports from Kimberly Holbrook, Manager of External Affairs in the Africa Region at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Alice Macharia, Director of Africa Programs at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) (remotely), on their respective activities in Western Tanzania.

Literature Review

The comprehensive literature review titled, Exploring Cross-Sector Linkages between Population, Health, Environment,Nutrition and Food Security: A Review of Best Practices and Lessons Learned, documents best practices for integrating nutrition and food security interventions into existing PHE projects and presents recommendations for incorporating cross-sector indicators. Key recommendations include:

• Understand gender roles and use and decision-making around resources
• Recognize and respect local knowledge
• Incorporate WASH into nutrition and food security programs to enhance health and nutrition outcomes
• Assess local context to address local priorities
• Incorporate nutrition objectives and indicators into project designs to identify synergies with economic, social and environmental objectives

Pilot Activities

In Lobeke National Park, Cameroon WWF focuses on integrating PHE guidelines into communities by training health and environment scouts, and school clubs and conducting campaigns on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.

Through their efforts, they’ve succeeded in training over 500 women in nutrition, feeding practices and food security. In addition, 30 school clubs developed an action plan on hygiene, sanitation and the environment.

TNC, in collaboration with Pathfinder International, spearheaded the Tuungane project based in the Greater Mahale Ecosystem, Tanzania where they are working to empower communities to create healthier families, forests and fisheries by establishing Model Households as teaching tools and promoting alternative environmentally friendly livelihoods.

TNC has recruited 1,258 Model Households to exemplify the benefits of following PHE guidelines and successfully trained youths to use drama for development techniques to teach less literate populations about PHE. Additionally, 375 smallholder farmers adopted climate smart agricultural techniques.

JGI focuses on the Gombe Masito-Ugalla Corridor and works to raise the profile of PHE in Western Tanzania. They’ve created a PHE network in Tanzania’s western zone to bring together key actors working in the region, such as TNC and the Belgium Technical Corporation. JGI has also carried out educational sessions on PHE for organizations and local leadership.

Overall recommendations from these activities for effective PHE integration:

• Assess receptiveness and understanding of locals prior to commencement of activities
• Gain the support of local authorities and government
• Build trust with locals and identify best methods for trust-building

Next steps

In the final year of ABCG’s current Phase II, the PHE working group will identify and synthesize all lessons learned from pilot studies to share through a workshop with ABCG partners, PHE project stakeholders, decision-makers, etc. End-line surveys must be conducted to determine whether PHE practices were continued by communities and the impact of activities in these regions. Results and best practices from these activities can then be used to inform future PHE projects.

Contact

For more information, please contact Nathalie Simoneau at nathalie.simoneau@wwfus.org

On August 16, 2017, members of ABCG’s thematic working group on Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation: Population, Health and Environment (PHE)  delivered a presentation titled, .

Working group members presented an analysis of existing integrated PHE approaches through a comprehensive literature review, and their achievements and lessons learned thus far from pilot studies in Southeastern Cameroon and Western Tanzania. Activities explored the synergy between human health and biodiversity conservation, by combining actions to reduce deforestation, improve food and nutrition security and conserve watersheds.

The Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation: PHE working group provides methodological guidance to advance a vision that incorporates health outcomes into biodiversity conservation and sustainable development by employing PHE guidelines to identify and develop synergies between critical ecosystem services, and human health and well-being.

Event Resources

Click below to watch the Webinar recording from the event.

Click here to view the presentation slides.

The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) launched its first Community of Practice (CoP) webinar in a series to engage cross-sector participation on integrating freshwater conservation and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) on July 6, 2017. ABCG member organizations presented their progress to date on piloting approaches to reduce watershed degradation and pollution, thereby improving the health of both communities and freshwater ecosystems. More than 25 participants from Africa, Europe and the U.S. participated in the discussion.

Introduction

ABCG’s mission is to advance understanding of critical biodiversity conservation challenges and their solutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past five years, through its thematic working group, Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation, ABCG members have focused on understanding the linkages between global health and biodiversity, particularly the integration of freshwater conservation and WASH efforts in sub-Saharan Africa.

ABCG formed this CoP with the overall aim of establishing integrated learning between Freshwater-WASH practitioners. The CoP will:

• Provide a collaborative platform and space where global health and conservation professionals can share knowledge and expertise, learn, and solve issues together;
• Share practical front line on-the-job experiences and the applicability of implementation and monitoring and evaluation tools;
• Provide a platform for practitioners to share resources; and,
• Enable Freshwater-WASH practitioners to connect and organize around common issues  

Freshwater Conservation and WASH Integration

The Collaborative’s rationale for integrating freshwater and WASH is to:

• Improve ecosystem management and conservation outcomes in tandem with improved human health for communities living in and around areas of key biodiversity; and,
• Combine health interventions with conservation activities, creating synergies and greater conservation and human well-being outcomes than if they were implemented in single-sector approaches.

ABCG members and partners in the development NGO community are helping to translate the vision for integration into tools and approaches, through:

• Researching case studies of integration in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Producing guidelines and a framework to support the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of integrated projects;
• Piloting the application of these tools with two demonstration projects and one existing project; and,
• Creating a CoP for Freshwater Conservation-WASH Practitioners

Next Steps for the Freshwater-WASH CoP

Proposed activities for the 2017-2018 year include:

• Online discussions – A LinkedIn group has been created for the CoP and is accessible here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8586958
• Online events such as webinars
• Face-to-face events in Africa and the US

The most recent Freshwater-WASH CoP webinar titled, An Integrated Vision for Health in Uganda’s Budongo-Bugoma Corridor, was hosted on July 27, 2017, and featured Dr. Peter Apell from The Jane Goodall Institute who shared results on applying the ABCG Freshwater Conservation-WASH Integration Guidelines in Uganda where population growth poses a threat to local watersheds and vulnerable megafauna. Click here for a webinar recording>

For more information, please contact Colleen Sorto, Conservation International at csorto@conservation.org

The July 2017 digest features ABCG’s latest news and recent publications, including the Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation working group’s comprehensive literature review, which documents best practices for integrating nutrition and food security interventions into existing Population, Health and Environment (PHE) projects. Also, find out about, and participate in upcoming events whose aim is to foster information exchange and sharing lessons from field activities. Lastly, view presentation slides and listen to the webinar recordings of past ABCG speaker series.

Dr. Peter Apell from The Jane Goodall Institute provides an overview of his work on integrated Freshwater Conservation and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in northern Uganda. This project is one of the pilot sites currently applying the ABCG Freshwater Conservation-WASH Integration Guidelines in a context where population growth poses a threat to local watersheds and vulnerable megafauna.

This webinar was the second in a monthly series hosted by ABCG’s Freshwater Conservation-WASH Community of Practice under the thematic working group on Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation. The group’s aim is to provide a collaborative platform and space where global health and conservation professionals can share knowledge and expertise while connecting and organizing on how to resolve common issues. ABCG brings together health, development and conservation practitioners working in Africa on projects and policies looking to improve biodiversity conservation and human health. By linking freshwater conservation and WASH in field sites in South Africa and Uganda, ABCG members hope to see reduced watershed degradation and pollution, and improved health of freshwater ecosystems. ABCG is supported by the US Agency for International Development.

Event Resources

Click below to watch the webinar recording from the event.