Biodiversity-the foundation- responsible for our food, our water, our weather, and even the air we breathe is at stake as the state has failed to mainstream them in sectoral policies and plans.
This is contained in a new report prepared by African Wildlife Foundation that was presented during a consultative national workshop on the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
During the May 30 event at Naivasha, Kenya’s National Biodiversity Strategic and Action Plan Framework were reviewed.
AWF’s country director Nancy Githaiga said there is a need for the country to mainstream biodiversity in her key policies and plans.
“Ensuring that biodiversity, and the services it provides, are appropriately and adequately factored into policies and practices that rely on and have an impact on it,” she said.
Githaiga said the move requires a process of integrating considerations pertaining to the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity into legislation, policies and everyday management.
She said corporations of biodiversity and ecosystem service values into accounting frameworks; policy and regulatory frameworks; production practices; and financing mechanisms.
Githaiga said mainstreaming biodiversity into key policies and plans is crucial.
She said that biodiversity objectives remain weakly integrated into government, business and community activities.
“Implementing the CBD (Convention on Biodiversity) will require the integration of biodiversity objectives in national development policy and planning, and routine natural resource use practices. Lack of integration of biodiversity issues in development sectors is a key obstacle to sustainable development,”said.
Githaiga said mainstreaming biodiversity in key policies and plans ensures that there is conservation of species as well as sustainable use of resources.
Other benefits include ecosystem services, economic benefits, sustainable tourism, stakeholder engagement and awareness, policy coherence, long-term sustainability and adherence to international commitments.
Githaiga said there have been a number of useful outcomes from the past national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
She said many biodiversity plans have failed to arouse much political interest and remain on the shelf.
“Momentum has often been lost after national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) have been prepared and gaps are emerging between preparation/adoption and implementation,” she said.
Githaiga said there is a need to align land use policy/land use planning/marine spatial planning, biodiversity and climate change.
She said the preparation of national strategies and plans should be done in a consultative and coordinated manner, which is essential in identifying potential synergies and misalignments in the overarching objectives.
Githaiga said there is a need to ensure strategies and action plans have targets that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound.
“More specific and measurable targets, in particular, will improve the ability to assess the coherence between them. Develop indicators to monitor progress towards the targets to enhance transparency and accountability,” she said.
Githaiga said there is also a need to identify, assess and consider how to address any development impacts associated with national strategies relevant to the land-use nexus.
She said there is a need to monitor and enforce regulations in a consistent and regular manner.
Githaiga said trade-offs may exist between different ecosystem services or policy objective.
She said there is a need for clear restoration objectives and a holistic approach to cost-benefit analyses adding that restoration can generate business and job opportunities in addition to improving biodiversity outcomes and the provision of ecosystem services.
Githaiga said enhancing biodiversity should be a primary consideration for all restoration action
She warned that there is a potential for poorly planned restoration initiatives to harm biodiversity and resilience.
Githaiga said the economic policy instruments must price the true cost costs of degradation through taxes, fees and charges.
She said the value of ecosystem services provided through restoration should be channelled back to the stakeholders instigating the restoration.
Githaiga cited some of the approaches and instruments for mainstreaming biodiversity as ecosystem-based approaches; spatial planning and land-use management, strategic environmental impact assessments, Environmental Impact Assessments and community-based natural resource management.
On Agriculture, Githaiga said there is a need to promote the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices and encourage the use of native crop varieties and livestock breeds.
She said incentives and capacity-building programs should be provided for farmers to adopt biodiversity-friendly practices.
Githaiga said there is a need to implement measures to conserve and restore critical habitats within agricultural landscapes, such as wetlands, riparian zones, and pollinator-friendly habitats.
On forestry, Githaiga said there is a need to strengthen law enforcement and governance to combat illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and other activities that negatively impact biodiversity in forests.
“Develop and implement sustainable forest management plans that consider the ecological requirements of different forest ecosystems and prioritise biodiversity conservation. Prioritise forest landscape restoration to restore degraded forests and promote natural regeneration, contributing to biodiversity conservation,” she said.
Githaiga said there is a need to provide options for offsets where biodiversity is lost.