Engaging Stakeholders to Develop and Mainstream Land Use Planning in Africa Towards Climate-Smart Sustainable Development

Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2023 | 13:15 – 1:30 pm

Venue: Kigali Convention Centre, AD 11

Overview

African conservation landscapes face growing and accelerating threats, from a suite of drivers including rapid population growth, changing resource utilization patterns, economic development, and climate change. Major development corridors across the continent are channeling investment into roads and ports with the potential to uplift millions of Africans out of poverty, at the risk of tremendous environmental cost. Land-use planning skills are crucially needed across Africa to help governments balance development and conservation goals.

Land-use planning is critical for identifying sustainable, climate-smart, win-win development strategies that minimize encroachment on high conservation or ecological value land while meeting multiple land-use objectives. However, knowledge and capacity for land-use planning is insufficient to meet needs across Africa. To meet this challenge, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) developed a land-use planning training course, combining expert presentations with interactive group exercises to provide a comprehensive introduction into the theory and practical starting points of biodiversity sensitive land-use planning. This course has seen the adoption of land-use planning process in Madagascar, Tanzania, and Gabon, with strong governmental involvement.

The session will highlight the pivotal role of engaging a range of land use change stakeholders through sustainable land use planning to safeguard high value natural areas while meeting development ambitions. The session will profile case study impacts, challenges and lessons learned from planning through implementation and stimulate discussion on how to address outstanding challenges and a path forward for land use planning.

Authors

Evelyn Namvua, Communications and Engagement Specialist, Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group; Kendall Jones; David Williams, African Wildlife Foundation; Anne Trainor, Geography, Ph.D., Landscape Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy; Bruno Rajaspera; Hedley Grantham; Ayesha Tulloch; Gautam Surya, Wildlife Conservation Society