Resources

The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) is a capacity building network of networks that promotes dialogue among science, policy and practice for more effective management of biodiversity and ecosystems, contributing to long-term human well-being and sustainable development. BES-Net is hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and implemented through partnerships with the Norwegian Environment Agency, SwedBio at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

The FAO GeoNetwork provides internet access to interactive maps, satellite imagery and related spatial databases maintained by FAO and its partners. Its purpose is to improve access to and integrated use of spatial data and information. Through this website FAO facilitates multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable development and supports decision making in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food security.

This Story Map focuses on seven of Africa’s Great Lakes (Albert, Edward, Kivu, Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa, Tanganyika, Victoria, Turkana) and highlights key biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics designed to stimulate discussions around development and conservation of the lakes and their basins, especially in the face of increasing variability and change in climate.

The Great Lakes of Africa help to sustain the economies of several East African nations. Changes in the condition of these lakes is of great concern. The objective of this research was to examine long-term variations of precipitation in the Great Lakes region. Rainfall over the catchment was assessed for Lakes Albert, Edward, Kivu, Malawi, Tanganyika, Turkana, and Victoria, using gauge data. In most cases over 100 years of record are available. Assessments were also made for the region as a whole. TRMM satellite estimates of precipitation were also used to examine the years since 1998.

In May 2017, the African Great Lakes Conference: Conservation and Development in a Changing Climate was held in Entebbe, Uganda. This conference sought to increase coordination, strengthen capacity, inform policy with science, and promote basin-scale ecosystem management in the region. Because all of the African Great Lakes cross borders, the benefits they offer and the challenges they face are best managed at a basin-wide level.

Despite the efforts conservationists trying to protect and conserve indigenous plant and animal life in Eastern Africa, the destruction of natural habitats is continuing. In many cases this destruction leaves behind degraded sites which require replacement of lost elements of the original ecosystem. Habitat restoration techniques can now be employed to repair damage to the diversity and dynamics of original ecosystem processes that sustain life on earth. The need for habitats restoration is one of the key areas of activities recommended in the Convention on Biological Diversity.

CoBRA is a participatory assessment methodology, largely qualitative, which identifies the locally-specific factors contributing to the resilience of households and communities facing different types of shocks and stresses. CoBRA aims to understand resilience from community and household perspectives. This tool does not use any preconceived components of resilience, but rather helps local populations describe and explain them on their own, based on their past experience, by:

This research project analyzes gender-based violence in cross-border fish trade in the GLR using a human rights perspective. A human rights perspective provides an understanding of the socio-economic conditions facing women fishers in the GLR. Expanding on established research on fishing rights of marginalized people, this analysis highlights human rights issues that have been less documented: gender-based cross-border violence and threats to personal security in the GLR.

Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing has been reported in many publications;_this_research project_provides an overview of the extent of IUU fishing on the African Great Lakes. Stock has been taken of fisheries regulations and legislations in the riparian countries to understand the diversity of the interpretation of illegal fishing operations. A summary has been presented of the regulations governing the target species of the different fisheries.