Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity

Africa’s biodiversity holds an ernomous potential of transforming the continent’s agricultural and industrial systems to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. The unique species of plants and animals as well as ecosystems constitute the continent’s natural wealth. However, this diversity is underutilized and is being lost at alarming rates. Conserving and promoting sustainable use of biodiversity is one of the challenges that African countries have committed themselves to addressing. This is manifested by the number of countries that have ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety as well as such regional treaties as the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature (commonly referred to as the Algiers Convention).

For sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity African countries will need to harness and apply science and technology. This is because conservation and sustainable use are knowledge- intensive activities and cannot be attained without investments in the generation and application of scientific knowledge and technological innovations. The NEPAD framework document and the CBD explicitly recognizes this. For example, the CBD contains specific provisions on the need to strengthen scientific and technological capacities for conservation. It calls on Contracting Parties to invest in research and innovation to generate technologies for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Article 9 of the CBD focuses on strengthening ex situ conservation while Article 12 is on research and training (with emphasis on the need to establish programmes for scientific and technical training). The NEPAD framework commits African countries to establish regional networks of centers of excellence in science for conservation and sustainable use of the continent’s biodiversity. An example of Africa’s rich biodiversity is the Sideroxylon inerme (White Milkwood) growing in Zimbabwe whose barks and roots have medicinal value and are used to cure broken bones and treat fevers, photo below.

Programme Objectives

This programme aims at strengthening Africa’s scientific and technological capacities for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. It focuses on measures that will build a strong conservation science foundation and generate sustainable use technologies.

Its specific objectives are to:

Build a new cadre or generation of conservation scientists and technicians;
Improve the quality of gene-banks and promote the sharing of scientific facilities to conserve germplasm
Add value to Africa biodiversity and generate natural products through bio-prospecting; and
Promote the development and diffusion of a range of sustainable use technologies.

Indicative Projects and Activities

The above goals will be achieved through the development and implementation of specific projects. The first cluster of projects to be further elaborated and implemented include the following:

Project 1: Mobilization and Training of Conservation Scientists

National and regional capacity audits have shown that Africa has inadequate supply of conservation scientists, e.g. taxonomists, to effectively engage in research and related technological innovation. The continent as a whole requires increased numbers of conservation biologists and technicians to be able to ensure that its biodiversity is well conserved and sustainably utilized. Meeting this challenge will require institutions and programmes that are dedicated to training conservation scientists.

This project will be developed to provide financial and technical resources for training in conservation science. It will be organized as an African Conservation Science Training Scheme for fellowship grants that will be made available to a consortium of African universities for MSc and PhD students. Emphasis will be placed on injecting resources into well designed continental training programmes.

The following activities will be undertaken to establish the proposed Scheme:

A comprehensive review of conservation science training programmes and institutions will be conducted to identify the leading universities and related research agencies that would form a net work of centres of excellence in conservation science;
Identified universities and research agencies will develop a specific 5 years modular postgraduate training programme and budget that will be considered and approved by NEPAD and AU;
A Conservation science capacity trust fund will be set up. The trust will be the main source of grants for student fellowships.

Project 2: Strengthening and Networking African Gene Banks

Gene banks play a crucial role in the conservation and use of biodiversity. They are important institutions not just for the preservation of germplasm but for its sustainable use. Gene banks are also expected to be generators and sources of new scientific knowledge and information on ecosystems, species and genes. However, few African countries have national gene banks, and the few national gene banks that exist are not adequately equipped and organized to achieve the continent’s goals. Many of the countries may not be able to establish national banks, and in many cases the creation of stand-alone gene banks may not be cost effective given the common challenges of conservation and shared biodiversity base of the continent.

This project will focus on establishing an African network of regional gene banks—five regional hubs with state-of-the art conservation and research facilities will be developed on the continent. These will be networked to form a hierarchy of scientific and technical competences. A regime of guidelines or a conservation protocol will be developed and adopted by governments to facilitate African scientists and technicians to access and use the hubs.

The following actions will be taken to develop the project:

A comprehensive scientific and technical capacity assessment of existing national and regional gene-banks. The assessment will identify specific needs and ways of establishing a continental network of gene-banks;
An experts’ task team shall be established to develop a detailed project proposal for strengthening and networking African gene banks. The team shall be expected to put emphasis on improving the scientific research base of gene-banks; and
An investment workshop will be organized to build a special trust for the project.

Project 3: Adding Value to Africa’s Biodiversity

Africa’s biodiversity is a potential source of medicinal, food and chemical products. It holds great potential for poverty reduction and the continent’s economic development. However, this potential is not adequately tapped and used. Plants, species and genes as well as the rich indigenous knowledge held by the African people are to a large extent still outside the formal economic structures of many African countries. A good example is the how indigenous knowledge can be applied in the formal economic sector is the Hoodia gordonii, in photograph below. This is a plant that was traditionally chewed by San people who live in the semi dessert of Southern Africa. In 1996 scientists from the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) isolated the hunger surpressing steroid glycoside (P57) and patented it. P57 is now being used in the pharmaceutical industry to make anti-obesity drugs.

The contributions of Africa’s biodiversity to the continent’s economic recovery and sustainable development are not well known. Biodiversity prospecting - the search for wild species, genes and their products—may contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa. A few African countries have invested in biodiversity prospecting. Many do not possess scientific programmes and technical facilities to engage in prospecting. This proposed project will focus on building a continental network for diversity prospecting.

Specific actions will include:

Identifying and networking competent R&D institutions for biodiversity prospecting;
Supporting taxonomic and inventory processes by the network of institutions;
Organizing germplasm collection missions, based on agreed upon guidelines;
Screening samples for chemicals, microrganisms and genes;
Establishing an African bio-innovation hub or park to develop specific products in partnership with industry;
Facilitating contractual relations between members of the proposed network of institutions, and between African countries; and
Conducting or offering training in biodiversity prospecting.