Can wild and domesticated species coexist in East Africa?
The rapid and large-scale conversion of forests and other natural landscapes for food production and urban development leads to habitat loss and fragmentation, degradation of water catchments, and soil erosion, which in turn leads to a loss of biodiversity and livelihoods.
In this series, we will explore how landowners and managers in East Africa are addressing Global Biodiversity Framework targets by implementing innovative measures to enhance the coexistence of wild and domesticated species.
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Disease risks associated with bushmeat in rural settlements at the Kenya-Tanzania border
Ekta Patel
Saving Crops on a Dime: The Community Way
Damian Bell - Executive Director, Honeyguide, Tanzania
Sam Shaba - CEO, Honeyguide, Tanzania
Uganda's Human Wildlife Management Interventions: a case study of Kibale National Park
Community Conservation Warden, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
Restoring and sustaining ecosystems using livestock in an integrated approach to land management
Richard Vigne and Richard van Aardt
The IPBES Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services highlighted agriculture as a key driver for biodiversity loss:
For terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, land-use change has had the largest relative negative impact on nature since 1970… Agricultural expansion is the most widespread form of land-use change, with over one third of the terrestrial land surface being used for cropping or animal husbandry.
The IPBES Regional Report for Africa confirmed that land use change is a key and accelerating driver:
Unregulated land cover change is detrimental to biodiversity, which in turn is detrimental to Africa’s long-term sustainable development. Further, this unregulated conversion of forest, rangelands and other natural areas, such as wetlands, for food production and urban development is happening at a fast pace following the rapid transformation of African societies. Such conversion leads to habitat loss and fragmentation, degradation of water catchments, and soil erosion leading to loss of biodiversity and livelihoods.
In response, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aims “to take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and planet.” Many aspects of the GBF Targets directly relate to ensuring the coexistence of wild and domesticated species, including the following:
|
GBF Target |
Relevance to coexistence of wild and domesticated species |
|
2 |
degraded ecosystems under effective restoration to enhance biodiversity |
|
3 |
effective area-based conservation measures, ensuring that any sustainable use is fully consistent with conservation outcomes |
|
4 |
maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species, and effectively minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence |
|
5 |
use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal |
|
6 |
eliminate, minimize, reduce or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity |
|
7 |
Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution including by reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals |
|
9 |
ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing benefits for people |
|
10 |
ensure that areas under agriculture are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity including through the application of biodiversity-friendly practices |
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