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East African ministers set to adopt regional biodiversity policy

Xinhua, June 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Environment ministers from the seven East African countries are meeting in Nairobi on Friday to adopt a new regional policy on biodiversity.

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said the draft policy is the culmination of a two-year long participatory process coordinated by the IGAD Biodiversity Management Programme (BMP) in the Horn of Africa Region.

"Biodiversity is a key resource that provides us with goods and services that are essential for climate regulation, provision of water, and sustenance of the livelihoods of many millions of people across the Horn of Africa Region," said Dr Debalkew Berhe, the Coordinator of the IGAD BMP.

Berhe said in Nairobi that despite its importance, the rate of degradation and loss of biodiversity is high in the IGAD Region.

"The policy will allow us to harmonise our interventions in the use and management of biodiversity resources in the region, to ensure sustained provision of ecosystem goods and services for current and future generations," he added.

The East Africa's bloc said the policy preparation process started back in 2014, with a set of national policy assessments for each member state, that were then summarized in a synthesis report in 2015.

This report was the subject of consultative workshops with the respective BMP National Focal Points, allowing for the intensive participation of about 120 biodiversity experts from relevant national institutions.

The draft policy has also been informed by interviews with many partners with practical experiences from the ground, including the IGAD Biodiversity Management Programme's three Demonstration Sites.

"Many of the challenges addressed by the policy are evident on the ground in these three sites, making them field laboratories that have inspired the design of the Policy, and are already testing how to implement the Policy in practice, on the ground," IGAD said.

The Horn of Africa region that covers Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

This region has diverse landscapes and ecosystems. Roughly, 80 percent of the region's landmass can be described as dryland, significantly surpassing the continental average of 65 percent dryland. Endit