Overview

ABCG is lucky to have representatives of member, partner and associated organizations share their field work and experiences across sectors in the African landscape.

Below is a selection of past presentations and papers from from field practitioners on a broad variety of conservation projects, programs and initiatives. These do not necessarily fall under the purview of our current themes, but nonetheless contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods development.

Activities & Achievements

For the most recent reports from our brown bag presentation series and other events, click on the “News & Related Resources” content in the right hand column. 

ABCG Annotated list of FY 2013 meetings and events:

1. ABCG Thematic Meeting: Governance and Land Use, 2 October 2012, featuring the work on ABCG’s task team on land use, governance and conflict.
2. ABCG Thematic Meeting: Technology and Practice for Conservation Communications in Africa, featuring speakers from emerging technology fields with conservation application, 5 February 2013
3. ABCG Thematic Meeting: The Role of the African Diaspora in African Nature Conservation, hosted by the Embassy of Republic of Congo, 21 May 2013
4. ABCG Thematic Meeting: Clean Energy Technologies for Cooking and Lighting – Barriers and Breakthroughs September 24^th 2013, which featured the work in this task and highlighted some important approaches for supporting effective clean energy technology adoption.
5. ABCG Coordinator Natalie Bailey gave the following talks during FY13:

• Presentation for Foreign Service Institute (FSI) trainees, West-Central Africa course, 6 November 2012
• Contributed to the “Five-Minute Presentations on KM Tools and Approaches to Facilitate In-Country Learning” at the Global Health Knowledge Management Share Fair: Challenges and Opportunities, 16 April 2013
• “Nature, Faith and Service” Keynote presentation at fundraiser dinner for Mound Ridge Presbyterian Retreat Center, St. Louis, MO, 20 April 2013
• “Developing Broader Solutions for Conflicting Land Use: Lessons from ABCG Approaches” during the ABCG Symposium at the International Congress for Conservation Biology, Baltimore, MD, July 2013

1. In addition, we organized and ran the following brown bags
2. October 3, 2012 — Bioko Island: Where the Wild Things Are… for now, featuring Dr. Shaya Honarvar, Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program.
3. October 4, 2012 — Integrating Traditional Knowledge into the PA Policies Process to Improve Conservation in Eastern DRC, featuring Dominique Bikaba, Strong Roots, DRC
4. October 18, 2012 — The Nexus of Biodiversity Conservation and Law Enforcement: The Case of Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape in DRC, featuring Jef Dupain
5. Integrated Land and Seascape Conservation in Kenya, featuring Charles Oluchina, TNC, 19 October 2012
6. October 31, 2012 — An Innovative Approach for Community Based Natural Resources Management in the Kafue Ecosystem in Western Zambia featuring Patricia Mupeta-Muyamwa, The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Zambia
7. WWF Great Apes Program: Addressing Increasing Biodiversity Threats in Equatorial Africa, featuring David Greer, WWF, 12 November 2012
8. Conservation connections with faith leaders, featuring Martin Palmer (Alliance of Religions and Conservation), Dekila Chungyalpa (WWF-US), Rev. Al Bailey (New Psalmist Baptist Church) and Alice Macharia (JGI), 28 November 2012
9. December 11, 2012—Timber Best Practice Guidelines for Protected Areas Management in Gabon, featuring Caroline Winchester, Duke University
10. Harnessing New Technologies for Ape Conservation: Vaccination, Telemetry and the Web, featuring Peter Walsh, University of Cambridge, 19 December 2012
11. Are African Protected Areas Really Protected? Tracking protected area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD) via PADDDtracker.org, featuring Mike Mascia, WWF-US, 15 January 2013
12. January 29, 2013—Assessing Mangrove Carbon Pools in the Zambezi Delta, Mozambique: A Pilot Baseline Assessment for REDD+ Reporting and Monitoring, featuring Carl Trettin, Ph.D.
13. March 5, 2013—Sustainable Pastoralism: Opportunities for nature conservation, rural and international development, and conflict resolution , featuring Pablo Manzano, Global WISP Coordinator
14. March 7, 2013—Painted Dog: Using Science to Conserve an Endangered Predator, featuring Dr. Greg Rasmussen
15. April 4, 2013—WILD 10 – Bridging Wild Nature Conservation & Human Development Goals, featuring WILD10 Executive Committee Co-Chair Vance Martin
16. April 18, 2013—”Elephants in the Room”: The Need to “Out” Conservation, featuring Mordecai Ogada, Director, Laikipia Wildlife Forum
17. Innovative Cloud and Mapping for Chimpanzee Conservation, featuring Lilian Pintea, JGI, 23 April 2013
18. May 7, 2013—An Evolving Conservation Model for Africa: Enterprise Investments for Livelihoods & Conservation, featuring Daudi Sumba, African Wildlife Foundation
19. May 14, 2013—Miles to Go Before We Sleep: Wildlife Conservation in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, featuring Kelly Stoner, MS student, Yale University
20. Digging In: New Opportunities for Mining and Conservation in Africa, film screening and panel discussion,28 May 2013
21. June 24—A Holistic Approach to Conservation: WILDERNESS and Leadership for Sustainability, featuring Andrew Muir, Wilderness Foundation (WF) in South Africa
22. July 9^th—Diaspora for Nature: Engaging the Ethiopian Diaspora in Conservation, featuring Yemi Tessema Founder, Diaspora for Nature
23. July 18^th—AWF-USAID/Uganda Tourism for Biodiversity Program: Improving community opportunities through wildlife habitat conservation, featuring Kaddu K. Sebunya Chief of Party AWF-USAID/Uganda Tourism for Biodiversity Program
24. July 24^th—Developing Broader Solutions for Conflicting Land and Natural Resource Use in Africa: Lessons from ABCG Approaches, summarized by Natalie Bailey, Coordinator, Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group:
    • July 24^th—Overlapping Land & Resource Rights in Africa, featuring Gaia Larsen, Associate, World Resources Institute.
    • July 24^th—Optimizing Tradeoffs in Woodland Ecosystems: Carbon, Conservation and Communities—A Case study from The Murchison-Semliki landscape, featuring James E.M. Watson and Daniel B. Segan, Wildlife Conservation Society; Andrew J. Plumtpre, Sam Ayebare, Grace Nangendo
    • July 24^th—Reconciling Economic Growth and Forest Protection in the Congo Basin: Managing land use in Central Africa, featuring Kirsten Hund, Sr. Mining Expert, The World Bank
    • July 24^th—High Conservation Value Forest Assessments and Other Tools for Geographic Priority Setting, featuring Rachel Neugarten, Conservation International & Conrad Savy
    • July 24^th—Implementation of Land Policy for Improved Ecosystem Management and Land Tenure in East Africa, featuring Lilian Pintea, Ph.D., Vice President, Conservation Science, Jane Goodall Institute
25. July 30^th—Transboundary Conservation of Endangered African Wild Dogs, featuring Dr. Rosemary Groom, Conservation Biologist & Field Projects Coordinator, African Wildlife Conservation Fund.
26. July 30^th—USAID and ABCG—Freshwater Conservation and WASH Integration Workshop Summary Report; compiled by: Janet Edmond and Colleen Vollberg of Conservation International, and Sarah Davidson of The Nature Conservancy, in collaboration with Helen Petrozzola, Training Resources Group, Inc.
27. August 29^th—Update on the Sangha Tri-National Foundation—Transboundary conservation, crime and financing, featuring Dr. Timothée Fomété, Executive Director, Tri-National Sangha Foundation
28. September 19^th—Right Under our Noses: How Detection Dogs Can Drive Conservation, from Ecological Monitoring to Combating Wildlife Trafficking, featuring Dr. Pete Coppolillo, Executive Director, Working Dogs for Conservation
29. September 24^th— Clean Energy Technology for Cooking and Lighting—Barriers and Breakthroughs: Event Summary, coordinated and summarized by Kamweti Mutu:
    • Energizing Conservation Efforts, featuring Laura Clough, Technical Specialist, GVEP International – East Africa Office
    • It is not just about cooking! Featuring Robert V. Lange, Founder, the ICSEE Maasai Stoves & Solar Project
    • Fostering an Enabling Environment: The Role of Conservation, featuring Brandi Suttles, Sr. Development Associate; Stephanie Valdez Senior Associate of Impact Investing & Market Development,, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstove (GACC)
30. September 26^th—Getting SMART about Stopping Wildlife Poaching, featuring Emma Stokes, Ph.D. Regional Advisor for Conservation Effectiveness Wildlife Conservation Society