The Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) has been developed through a collaboration of institutions with input generously provided by scientists and practitioners from multiple disciplines. The toolkit provides accessible guidance on low-cost methods for how to evaluate the benefits people receive from nature at particular sites in order to generate information that can be used to influence decision making.
The Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is a specialized technical office of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the African Union Commission (AUC). AU-IBAR 's mandate is to support and coordinate the utilization of livestock, fisheries and wildlife as resources for both human wellbeing and economic development in the Member States of the African Union (AU). Despite sustained efforts and commitment over many decades by AU-IBAR and others, the potential of animal resources in the fight against poverty and the development of Africa is still underutilized.
Africa's continental fisheries and development strategy, The Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa (PFRS), advocates for the sustainable management of aquatic resources for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development. The ecosystem approach to aquaculture (EAA) is a strategy for the integration of aquaculture within the wider ecosystem to ensure sustainable development, equity and resilience of interlinked social-ecological systems.
This document outlines recommendations for financing integrated water resource management (IWRM) in the African Great Lakes.
The price of land on the global market is often far below its real value to society. Thsi means that too much has been and is being extracted from the land, degrading it to a dangerous extent. Worldwide, 52 percent of land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by land and soil degradation, a widespread phenomenon occurring globally. Recent estimates show that ecosystem service losses from land degradation cost $6.3 to 10.6 trillion annually. Everyone on earth suffers indirectly, and for the 1.4 billion rural poor land degradation has a direct impact on livelihoods.
Wetlands are important for the role they play in society providing a range of ecological and socio-economic functions. Ecological and regulating services include erosion prevention, moderation of extremes, sediment traps, climate modification, soil formation, maintenance of water tables in surrounding lands and as centres of biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Socio-economic or provisioning services include food, medicines, water supply, fisheries, dry-season grazing for livestock, nutrient and toxin retention, tourism and so on.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) initiated the development of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) at its 7th Conference of the Parties (COP 7) in Marrakech, Morocco. The NAPA provide a quick process for identifying priority activities that respond to an urgent and immediate needs to adapt to climate change those for which further delay would increase vulnerability and/or costs at a later stage.
The conservation strategy for the Great Lakes Region (GLR) aims to:
There has been renewed interest by development practitioners in Africa in the role of population dynamics in development. This is partly a result of studies conducted to examine the potential of the demographic dividend to accelerate socio-economic development in individual countries and in the continent in general in light of their large youthful population.