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.

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

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  ABCGs Objectives 

• To promote networking, awareness, information
  sharing and experience among U.S. conservation
  non-governmental organizations working in Africa
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• 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.

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ABCG Member Organizations

• 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)

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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

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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.

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AWF Heartlands

• Samburu
• Maasai Steppe
• Kilimanjaro
• Virunga
• Zambezi
• Limpopo
• Four Corners

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Heartlands
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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

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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.

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Hotspots

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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.

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Tropical Wilderness Areas

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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

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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..

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WCS in Africa

• 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.

• Countries
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Congo Republic
• Democratic Republic of Congo
•  Gabon
•  Ivory Coast
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

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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.

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Ecoregions

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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 Africas
  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.

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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 Africas
• natural resources

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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

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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

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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

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ABCG Collaborates

• Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
• Inter-Agency Planning Group on Environmental
  Funds
• Community Conservation Coalition

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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

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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

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Nairobi Workshop
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Recent ABCG Analysis

• Influence
• Adoption of institutional policies on
• HIV/AIDS
• Incorporation of HIV/AIDS activities into
• conservation programs

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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

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Upcoming ABCG Activities

• Pursue information exchange and idea sharing
  with African partners using FRAME
• Study effective communications methods for
  sharing lessons learned to influence behavior
  change

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• For more information about ABCG, contact
• Nancy GelmanABCG Program Manager
• co/ CI Africa Division1919 M Street,
  NWWashington, DC 20036 USA
• phone [phone]fax (202)
  912-1026email n.gelman_at_conservation.org
• http//www.abcg.org