Overview

African landscapes are being reshaped, not by a single driver, but by a suite of drivers including population growth, changing resource utilization patterns, expanding infrastructure, and climate change. Conservation and land use planning frameworks need to recognize this reality and incorporate the current and forecasted future cumulative impact of these drivers of change to identify more robust and sustainable conservation interventions. To meet this challenge, ABCG developed a scenario-based planning framework that enable spatially-explicit, quantified exploration of tradeoffs or synergies between land use sectors to inform stakeholder-driven plans emphasizing sustainable strategies and policy outcomes.
Beginning in 2013, ABCG members piloted and honed application of this framework in seven landscapes in four countries, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Madagascar and nationally in Gabon. During the current work phase, the task group aims to facilitate mainstreaming framework utilization in planning efforts across Africa by facilitating use by African governments and the conservation/sustainable development community. ABCG members have refined the methodological approach based on lessons learned from prior framework application and developed of a training course to raise stakeholder capacity to apply the framework. Initial training using the coursework will target government and NGO stakeholders who are well-positioned to launch planning processes, contribute to plan implementation or capitalize on findings.