AFRICA BIODIVERSITY COLLABORATIVE GROUP (ABCG): Working Together to Help Conserve Africa's Biodiversity

1. AFRICA BIODIVERSITY COLLABORATIVE GROUP (ABCG): Working Together to Help Conserve Africa's Biodiversity

2. The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) is composed of the Africa program staff from the major U.S.-based international conservation non-governmental organizations with field activities in Africa.

3. ABCG meets regularly to explore emerging conservation issues, share lessons learned, and seek opportunities for collaboration.

4. ABCG’s Mission To tackle complex and changing conservation challenges by catalyzing and strengthening collaboration, and bringing the best resources from across a continuum of conservation organizations to effectively and efficiently work towards conservation in Africa.

5. ABCG’s Objectives  • To promote networking, awareness, information sharing and experience among U.S. conservation non-governmental organizations working in Africa; • To encourage information exchange and idea sharing with African partners; • To identify and analyze critical and/or emerging conservation issues in Africa as priorities for both future NGO action and donor support; and • To synthesize collective lessons from field activities and share them with a broader multi-sector community in the United States and Africa.

6. African Wildlife Foundation (http://www.awf.org) Biodiversity Support Program (http://www.bsponline.org) Conservation International (http://www.conservation.org) IUCN-The World Conservation Union (http://www.iucn.org/ places/usa/index.html) Wildlife Conservation Society (http://www.wcs.org) World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) World Wildlife Fund (http://www.wwfus.org) ABCG Member Organizations

7. Programs of ABCG Member Organizations AWF- Heartlands BSP- Analysis CI- Hotspots & Tropical Wilderness Areas IUCN- USA Multilateral Office WCS- Living Landscapes and Research WRI- Environmental Accountability WWF- Ecoregions

8. AWF Heartlands Heartlands are large African landscapes of exceptional wildlife and natural value extending across state, private and community lands. AWF joins with landholders, governments and others in the Heartlands to conserve wild species, communities and natural processes.

9. AWF Heartlands • Samburu • Maasai Steppe • Kilimanjaro • Virunga • Zambezi • Limpopo • Four Corners

10. Heartlands

11. BSP Analysis in Africa • Armed Conflict and Conservation • Transboundary Natural Resource Management • Protected Areas Conservation Strategy (PARCS): Training Needs Assessment • Principles in Practice • Influencing Behaviors

12. CI Hotspots The key criteria for determining a Hotspot are endemism (the presence of species found nowhere else) and degree of threat. Plant endemism is the primary criterion for Hotspots status because plants support most other forms of life through their ability to harness energy form sunlight. The degree of threat is measured in terms of habitat loss. Hotspots have lost at least 70 percent of their original natural vegetation.

13. Hotspots

14. CI Tropical Wilderness Areas Tropical wilderness areas are the largest remaining tracts of pristine tropical forest on Earth, are more than 70 percent intact, and are typically under less pressure from encroaching human populations than areas like the Hotspots. Tropical Wilderness Areas are of crucial importance to climate regulation and watershed protection. Also, these areas are among the last places where indigenous people can maintain traditional lifestyles.

15. Tropical Wilderness Areas

16. Hotspots in Africa • Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya • Guinean Forests of West Africa • Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands • Cape Floristic Province • Succulent Karoo Tropical Wilderness Areas in Africa • Congo Basin

17. WCS Living Landscapes The Living Landscape Program is based on a simple reality: animals do not recognize park boundaries, particularly wide-ranging species such as elephants, bears and jaguars. While parks are essential for conservation, the larger landscape adjacent to protected areas, "alive" with both humans and animals, is often as important to many species. To protect these "Living Landscapes," WCS has created an approach that involves not only parks and protected areas, but neighboring people, governments and the private sector..

18. Countries: Cameroon Central African Republic Congo Republic Democratic Republic of Congo  Gabon Ivory Coast Kenya Madagascar Nigeria Rwanda Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Regional Africa: Conservation of the forests of the Albertine Rift. Central African Regional Program for the Environment Regional training and inventory program in Central African forests Development of elephant monitoring system in the Congo Basin for CITES. Trinational monitoring: Congo, CAR, Cameroon Development of efficient methods for large mammal surveys Nutritional analyses of food composition for African mammals, birds, and reptiles Central African Republic to Gabon Megatransect. WCS in Africa

19. WWF Ecoregions Ecoregions are the broadest variety of the Earth's most outstanding and diverse terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats--areas where the Earth's biological wealth is most distinctive and rich, where its loss will be most severely felt, and where we must fight the hardest for conservation.

20. Ecoregions

21. WWF-US in Africa • Northwest Congolian Lowland Forests • Forests of the Congo Basin • Zambezian Woodlands and Savannas • Lakes of the Rift Valley • East African Marine Ecosystems, Mangroves, and Coral Reefs • Madagascar Dry Forest and Spiny Desert

22. IUCN – USA Multilateral Office The IUCN Office based in Washington D.C. provides vital linkages for the World Conservation Union and its members to key US-based international organizations, government agencies and a diverse set of environmental NGOs, including the World Bank, the UN System, the Inter-American Development Bank and a variety of foundations.

23. WRI Environmental Accountability Goal is to establish natural resources governance systems in SubSaharan Africa that will lead to socially equitable and environmental sustainable economic development. Three Components: 1. Procedural Rights 2. Decentralization 3. NGO Capacity Building

24. WRI Environmental Accountability Pursue three strategic objectives: 1. Influence the character of ongoing World Bank, United Nations, and other donor-driven environmental reform efforts in Africa; 2. Facilitate the creation of institutions that enable the participation of citizens and civil society in democratic and accountable environmental decision-making; and 3. Develop a new generation of policy analysts and institutions focused on the intersection of social, institutional, and ecological problems

25. WRI Global Forest Watch • Global Forest Watch is an international data and mapping network that combines on-the-ground knowledge with digital technology to provide accurate information about the world's forests • Analysis of Access to Central Africa’s Rainforests identifies relatively undisturbed forest blocks in Central Africa, providing maps that show their size, condition and current levels of protection. Includes the first comprehensive picture of where logging concessions are located throughout the region.

26. ABCG Activities • Host meetings on emerging conservation themes and linkages with key experts • Compile and circulate background materials, bibliographies, presentations, and meeting minutes on emerging conservation themes • Conduct analysis • Network and share information • Raise awareness among U.S.-based decision- makers about the need to conserve Africa’s natural resources

27. ABCG Theme Meetings • Priority Setting and Site-Based Conservation Planning • Transboundary Natural Resource Management • Gaps and Opportunities in the Congo Basin • Wildlife User Rights • Capacity Building • Innovative Actions to Address the Bushmeat Crisis

28. ABCG Theme Meetings (continued) • Implications of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic on Natural Resources and the Conservation Workforce in Africa • Training for African Protected Area and Wildlife Personnel: New Initiatives and Challenges Facing Regional Wildlife Colleges • Conservation and Conflict • Mining and Conservation

29. ABCG Theme Meetings (continued) • Links between Poverty and Conservation in Africa • ABCG and the World Parks Congress • ABCG and CITES • Sustainable Financing for African Conservation • Lessons Learned from “Nature, Wealth and Power”

30. ABCG Collaborates: • Bushmeat Crisis Task Force • Inter-Agency Planning Group on Environmental Funds • Community Conservation Coalition

31. Recent ABCG Analysis HIV/AIDS and Natural Resource Management Linkages • Conducted analysis is East and Southern Africa of coping strategies • Held workshop in Nairobi to discuss institutional impacts, impacts to CBNRM • Presented findings at international meetings • Starting HIV/AIDS & NRM Listserv on FRAME www.frameweb.org

32. Recent ABCG Analysis HIV/AIDS and Natural Resource Management Linkages Key Findings: • Loss of capacity for conservation • Increased pressure on natural resources • Changes in land use • Loss of traditional knowledge

33. Nairobi Workshop

34. Recent ABCG Analysis Influence: • Adoption of institutional policies on HIV/AIDS • Incorporation of HIV/AIDS activities into conservation programs

35. Upcoming ABCG Theme Meetings • Tourism in African Marine Protected Areas • Conservation of Large African Lakes • Security and Conservation in Africa • Human Rights and Conservation in Africa • Impacts of Global Climate Change in Africa • Adaptive Management • Conservation Enterprises

36. Upcoming ABCG Activities • Pursue information exchange and idea sharing with African partnersusing FRAME • Study effective communications methods for sharing lessons learned to influence behavior change

37. For more information about ABCG, contact: Nancy GelmanABCG Program Manager co/ CI Africa Division1919 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20036 USA phone: (202) 912-1444fax: (202) 912-1026email: n.gelman@conservation.org http://www.abcg.org