GEO-6 for Youth: Africa
Against this backdrop of a biodiversity-rich continent, it is incumbent on African youth to increasingly anchor livelihoods in the intersection between biodiversity and sustainable development because our shared wealth, health, and well-being is rooted in this intersection (Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity [CBD] 2014).
What is biodiversity?
The term biodiversity is said to have been coined in 1985, as a contraction of the term ‘biological diversity’ (Benn 2010). The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) defines it as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.
The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature in 1992 (CBD 1992). It provides a global legal framework for action on biodiversity and is considered a key instrument for sustainable development whose three main goals are: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
planted for every thirty trees that are cut down (FAO 2011). African youth should therefore play a lead in ensuring restoration and a community- based approach to saving our forests.
In August 2018, the Global Landscape Forum held in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together nearly 100 young minds with an active interest in landscape restoration. They helped to spark a restoration movement and forge action-based pathways (Mumba 2018). This movement which still in its infancy stages, primarily seeks to converge and enhance youth efforts in landscape restoration.
Southern Africa’s Transfrontier Conservation Areas and transborder tourism activities
In Southern Africa, Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) (Figure 8) are regarded as large transboundary regions with specially designated forms of conservation status. They include private and communal land, national parks and game reserves, forest reserves, and wildlife management areas. TFCAs sometimes consent to diverse forms of land use within their boundaries. Principally, the tripartite aims of TFCAs are: biodiversity conservation, socioeconomic development and promotion of peace.
5.3 Youth, landscape restoration, and biodiversity conservation
Despite global efforts to protect the environment, landscape degradation and biodiversity loss is occurring at an alarming rate (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services [IPBES] 2019). Many African countries are experiencing land degradation that is caused by increased agriculture, soil erosion, loss of forest cover and low vegetative cover. This causes critical conservation and developmental challenges (UNEP 2016). Youth are often endowed with dynamism, technological know-how, incessant evolution, initiative, and vibrant consumerism (Nadeson and Barton 2014). They are thus uniquely suited to play a major part in restoring landscapes and conserving biodiversity. Nothing short of a revolution in attitudes will suffice in solving this problem. Behavioural change, adopting a conservation lifestyle, increased investment in sustainable land-use practices, political momentum, and concerted local action, are needed to solve major environmental issues. Moreover, we would need what the captain of a ship would call; all hands on deck.
As a continent endowed and dependent on natural resources, sustainability for Africa should be geared towards restoring landscapes and protecting biodiversity. In most African countries, only one tree is
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The development of TFCAs started in 1999 with the establishment of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (between Botswana and South Africa). Since then, significant strides have been made across the region to establish additional TFCAs. Currently, there are 18 TFCAs across Southern Africa in different stages of development. Transfrontier Conservation Areas provide a platform for coordinating conservation across boundaries and for the development of cross-border tourism. World renowned tourist destinations in the region are located within TFCAs.
Living in protected areas comes with costs in terms of human wildlife-conflict and poaching syndicates. In the Hwange area of the Kavango-Zambezi TFCA (KAZA), organizations such as Painted Dog Conservation embark on anti-poaching awareness campaigns carried out by youths who are educated to educate their communities. The Hwange Lion Research project employs local men and women who are trained to be livestock guardians against dangerous predators. Through its Long Shields Lion Guardian Programme, the project employs 14 Zimbabweans around Hwange and Zambezi National Parks and has since extended to the Chobe Enclave and Boteti regions of Botswana where 6 community guardians are employed.
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