Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Building Capacity for Conservation & Resource Management in Africa

 An exchange of ideas, opportunities & best practice

Why this conference is needed: 

Conservation organizations and agencies in Africa are faced with a growing diversity of environmental issues. Sustainable solutions to these problems will require actions to be implemented by strong organisations and communities with the skills, knowledge and data to undertake a broad range of technical and process-based activities. There are already a broad range of capacity-related initiatives in Africa that are working to tackle capacity building issues. This meeting will provide an opportunity to review existing regional initiatives, exchange ideas, develop and enhance capacity networks, and formulate effective and lasting solutions to common capacity problems.

A regional approach: in 2013, ERT Conservation organised the first international conference to discuss capacity building for conservation, held in Colombia (South America). It became clear at that meeting that there are a number of key issues that are ‘universal’ across the entire global conservation sector. However, the importance of region-specific approaches was also recognised, and the pan-African conference has been structured to address specific issues affecting sub-Saharan Africa.

CONFERENCE THEMES & CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

Theme 1:  Protected areas
Theme 2:  Community engagement & rights-based governance
Theme 3:  Effective leadership and strong organisations
Theme 4:  Professional e-Learning

The key cross-cutting capacity issues are:
  1. Conservation in politically unstable areas and 'disabling' environments
  2. Solutions to internal organisation and community 'barriers'
  3. Supporting skilled individuals
  4. Effective pooling of resources across the conservation sector
  5. Sustainable resource management within wider economic development 
For more information:  http://www.ert-conservation.co.uk/africa_introduction.php

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