The Disney Conservation Fund supports the study of wildlife, the protection of habitats, the development of community conservation and education programs in critical ecosystems and experiences that connect kids to nature across the globe. Since it was founded in 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has helped protect more than 400 million species and has given more than $45 million to conserve wildlife and wild places through its annual conservation grants program.
African Great Lakes (AGLs) contribute 2.7 million tonnes (~25%) to global inland fisheries production (11.9 mt) annually. This is composed of large species (> 20 cm total length, TL) and small pelagic species (< 20 cm, TL). At the turn of the 20th century, fisheries of the AGLs were dominated by large species (tilapine cichlids, Lates spp, cat fishes, Mormyrids, etc.) and management concentrated on these species.
The Metu district is located in the southwestern part of Ethiopia, where the UNESCO registered biosphere is one of the few remnants of natural forest and home of forest coffee Arabica. Over time, the population increased tremendously and over-used the banks the rivers for agriculture severe deforestation and over grazing has completely changed the environment of the district and the Wuchi wetland lost its water and remained bare.
Lake Turkana is Kenya's largest lake, renowned as the world's largest desert lake, with 90% of the lake's inflow provided by Ethiopia's second largest river system, the Omo Basin. The natural hydrological cycle of the Omo / Turkana ecosystem is being dampened by a cascade of major hydropower developments, and in addition, large-scale irrigation plantations downstream will exploit the regulated river flow, and thereby deplete the natural river inflows to the lake. Local people utilize the lake resources, living in harsh conditions.
Over 800 million people are malnourished and the global population is growing, and at the current trend 9 out of 10 children living in poverty in 2030 will be from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Zero hunger and the SDG Life below water'promote the conservation and sustainable use of aquatic resources for sustainable development.
This project was completed as part of the Conservation Leadership Programme's (CLP) internship program. CLP supports projects that develop the skills of early career conservationists working to conserve the planet's most threatened species and habitats. This project focused on providing an intern with hands-on skills and knowledge on how to use policy as well as advocacy to achieve conservation outcomes at site and national levels. The intern used various approaches as well as advocacy tools to influence policy and action for promoting conservation.