AWEI

17 Jun 2022

The theme for Desertification and Drought Day 2022 is “Rising up from draught together.” As the Spanish host for the Day explains: “Drought is not just the absence of rain; it is often fuelled by land degradation and climate change.” This year’s focus on drought allows us to connect the dots between biodiversity conservation, rural livelihoods, climate resilience, and community well-being at the landscape level.

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) connects these dots through promoting sustainable land management (SLM) which they describe as “a holistic approach to preserving the vital functions and services provided by land in a long-term, sustainable productive capacity, by integrating biophysical, socio-cultural and economic needs and values.” The UNCCD 15th Conference of the Parties, held last month in Abidjan, reaffirmed the global support for SLM as a holistic approach by encouraging Parties “to simultaneously address land degradation, promote climate change mitigation/ adaptation, and contribute to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and sustaining livelihoods.”

Africa, with its rich diversity of terrestrial and marine biological resources, has a unique opportunity to promote SLM and combat land degradation through developing its wildlife economy. The wildlife economy enables the utilisation of wild plant and animal resources supported policies and programmes promoting integrated land use planning and integrated landscape management. Though the inclusive and sustainable utilisation of the continent’s wild biodiversity, landscapes can be restored, climate change can be mitigated, and livelihoods can be enhanced. By directly combating land degradation, wildlife economies can help Africa rise up from drought.

Research on wildlife ranching in South Africa, for example, observes that wildlife ranching is not only an “important avenue for biodiversity conservation,” but it may be “able to play a mitigating role in a climate impacted agricultural environment.” The African Wildlife Economy Institute (AWEI) at Stellenbosch University is currently building on this research by exploring opportunities for diversifying wildlife enterprises and their contributions to SLM in two large private landholdings in southern Africa – one managed for tourism and the other for livestock.

In Niger, AWEI’s partner, Sahara Sahel Foods, is promoting a wildlife economy approach to SLM by processing and marketing food products from wild perennial trees. By encouraging local farmers to plant indigenous trees, they aim to “create great gains in the battle against desertification,” “bring consumers in urban areas access to nutritious, healthy and natural foods,” and “reduce national trade deficits caused by heavy food imports.”

In her message for Desertification and Drought Day 2002, Elizabeth Maruma, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, explains that we must connect the dots: “The underlying common drivers of biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation should be considered and addressed together… Nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches are cost-effective, long-lasting and bring multiple benefits for people and nature.” Across the African continent, the development of an inclusive and sustainable wildlife economy can play a key role in combatting land degradation and drought.

Dr Francis Vorhies

AWEI Director

 

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