May 2019
NOTES FROM THE FIELD - PROTECTING EAST AFRICA'S BIODIVERSITY

Greetings from Nairobi! 

May 17th marked another international day designed to draw attention to wildlife. Yet this day, World Endangered Species Day, doesn't connote a positive overall message: the world's flora and fauna are in decline, and it's getting worse. But within this depressing trajectory, there are success stories that give us hope about changing the tide of what may seem inevitable. Having worked in support of East Africa biodiversity conservation for over a decade, I can say that one of the most important shifts I see occurring is the rising leadership of local communities, non-governmental organizations and endemic research institutions to advance a sustainable development pathway. Governments of these incredibly important biodiverse countries are being held to account by their citizenry -- informed by science and data -- while building the opportunity for lasting symbiotic partnerships across stakeholders to conserve natural capital.

The protection of critical habitat and corridors is crucial to maintain, and grow, the space for all wildlife. It's the only way to reverse the downward population trends of endangered and threatened species. Take for example the hirola, a critically endangered species found in Kenya, not long ago pushed to the brink of extinction. Today, that small population is growing thanks to the Wildlife Management & Conservation Act, a progressive national policy in Kenya that recognizes conservation as a land use and recognizes the role of local communities to manage and protect their own resources in partnership with national and county government. These kinds of examples bring hope, but fall short of stopping a growing tide of rampant population growth and unchecked and ill-planned agriculture and infrastructure development. We are rolling out our new East Africa regional environment program to address these issues, so that in 20 years, the valuable natural resource base is not gone, and with it, the economic opportunities and critical ecosystem services they provide.

Enjoy reading about the latest global scientific information on the state of biodiversity and our current and new programs designed to protect those resources. This is my last newsletter editorial as I sign-off and say goodbye after an incredible five years managing USAID's environment programs in Kenya and the broader region. My next assignment will take me to Asia, where I've worked before, and where the issues are just as compelling. Yet I'll miss East Africa tremendously...and wish all of you the best as you continue to advance your work for a better future. 

And as always , please share this newsletter with partners in your network. We welcome your feedback.
Juniper Neill
Environment Office Chief
USAID Kenya and East Africa
PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS
PARTNERING TO PROTECT EAST AFRICA'S BIODIVERSITY
The United Nations recently released a report about the devastating downward trajectory of our global biodiversity. You can read it below in our technical resources section. Spoiler alert: the health of ecosystems and all the species that depend on them, including us, are in peril. The good news: we can still do something about it, and we must.

USAID and its partners are working to protect the ecosystems that allow biodiversity to flourish. For the Bongo and the Hirola, it is working. Tusk Trust and Northern Rangeland Trust have some exciting impact to share. See below.
BONGO'S BORN!

Great #conservation news! Camera trap images from the Bongo Surveillance Project (BSP) have shown at least 10 Mountain Bongo antelope calves born over the past 18 months! This is encouraging news...

Read more
www.facebook.com
MORE HIROLA'S SPOTTED!

This #EndangeredSpeciesDay - We want to bring attention to the hirola - one of the most endangered species of antelope in the world. Found on the border between Kenya and Somalia, a 2011 aerial...

Read more
www.facebook.com
NEW WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARY SERIES CELEBRATES AFRICAN CONSERVATION HEROES
A new wildlife documentary series, filmed by Africans for Africans, is shining a light on local heroes and inspiring a future generation of conservationists.

The series, Wildlife Warriors, is supported by USAID, National Geographic Society and Wild Lives Foundation. It premiered April 7 on Citizen TV. The first season takes place in some of Kenya's wildest locations and features never before seen conservationist heroes.

In an essay about why she and her team made Wildlife Warriors, show host and CEO of Wildlife Direct, Paula Kahumbu said:

"I didn't want to replicate what others had done. I wanted to tell the stories of our remarkable young heroes in Kenya - so that the world will know that we are not all poachers, corrupt officials or ignorant environmental polluters. But that we have some of the worlds finest scientists, the most courageous heroes, and that WE are saving OUR wildlife."

Find out more about the crew of Wildlife Warriors and the filming of the first season by reading Dr. Kahumbu's essay on why she and her team made Wildlife Warriors.
USAID is a proud supporter of Dr. Paula Kahumbu's work to develop conservation television content. Through the Wildlife Warriors series, above, and NTV Wild, which USAID previously supported, the story of East Africa's conservation heritage and its heroes are finding an audience.

Local conservation stories increases awareness regarding the economic and intrinsic value of living wildlife, which spurs conservation of East Africa's incredible biodiversity.
USAID, IUCN AND THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY PARTNER TO PROTECT EAST AFRICA'S NATURAL CAPITAL
East African infrastructure is expanding in response to rapid population growth and a rising middle class. That expansion is putting pressure on East Africa’s “natural capital” -- resources that are essential for wildlife and the health and livelihoods of communities, including clean water and fresh air. In East Africa, biodiversity-rich areas are critical to the region’s nature-based tourism industry, which contributes 7.5-10 percent of East Africa’s gross domestic product.

Protecting natural capital across boundaries can be tricky and it requires strong collaboration among public and private sector partners who have quality information on which to base their decisions. USAID Kenya and East Africa have partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the East African Community to develop a program called “Conserving Natural Capital and Enhancing Collaborative Management of Transboundary Resources.” The program will support a learning and policy platform, and provide technical and analytical support to the East African Community to act on their mandate and convene member states to address policy bottlenecks and strengthen regional dialogue on transboundary management of natural capital.

The end goals of the program are to increase awareness of the economic and intrinsic value of living wildlife; improve sustainable management of key transboundary landscapes; and improve regional and bilateral collaboration on enforcement and prosecution of illegal exploitation of natural capital.

You can find out more about individual USAID Kenya and East Africa environment activities by visiting the USAID Kenya Environment page and the USAID East Africa Environment page .
Photo credit: USAID/ Ranelle Sykes
Photo credit: USAID/Mwangi Kirubi
The above photos of natural capital -- vegetation, water, and fresh air -- are essential for wildlife and the health and livelihoods of communities.
TECHNICAL RESOURCES
UN REPORT DETAILS NATURE'S 'UNPRECEDENTED' DECLINE; SPECIES EXTINCTION RATES 'ACCELERATING'
A recently released United Nations report has triggered worldwide concern regarding the health of global biodiversity.

Compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries over the past three years, with inputs from another 310 contributing authors, the Report assesses changes over the past five decades, providing a comprehensive picture of the relationship between economic development pathways and their impacts on nature. It also offers a range of possible scenarios for the coming decades.

The Report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.

Read a summary of the findings by clicking to the right.
UN Report: Nature's Dangerous Decline 'Unprecedented';...

Current global response insufficient; 'Transformative changes' needed to restore and protect nature; Opposition from vested interests can be overcome for public good Most comprehensive assessment of its kind; 1,000,000 species threatened with...

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www.un.org
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
In Synthetic Biology and Its Implications for Biodiversity, USAID partner IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature explores some of the positive and adverse impacts that synthetic biology could have on conservation.
( Note, USAID did not directly support the report.)

Potential positive impacts on conservation:

Engineered gene drives and other synthetic biology applications could complement current efforts to halt biodiversity loss and enhance biodiversity conservation, for instance by eradicating invasive species through engineered gene drive systems or by modifying genes to increase the ability of organisms to resist climate impacts. The engineering of microbes to biosynthesize products sourced from threatened species, such as a medically-valuable molecule found in the blood of horseshoe crabs, are already underway. 

Potential adverse impacts on conservation:

There are concerns that synthetic biology is fraught with uncertainty, and could have detrimental effects. These may stem from the movement of organisms carrying engineered gene drives impacting non-target populations or species, or from changes to ecological roles played by target organisms and broader ecosystem effects.
Synthetic biology and its implications for biodiversity...

Certain synthetic biology applications, depending on how they are designed and targeted, have the potential to enhance or disrupt biodiversity conservation, acting through both direct and indirect pathways.

Read more
www.iucn.org
What is synthetic biology? Though there is an active international discussion on how best to define synthetic biology, it generally refers to technologies that allow humans to make precise alterations to the genes of organisms to make them do things that humans want and that those organisms would not normally do.
OPPORTUNITIES

Further communicatio n expected June 30.
In the meantime, congress organizers are still accepting proposals for "how to address the persistent challenges and threats to our own existence, which have been exacerbated by the destruction of our life supporting systems."  Find out more here . Submit your proposal here .


The 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is taking place in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The best way to stay informed about future steps is to check the CITES website regularly and to subscribe to receive email alerts at:   https://www.cites.org/eng/newsletter/subscriptions . Find out more here .
ENVIRONMENT NEWS ROUNDUP

PARIS, 6 May – Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history – and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Source: United Nations. Read more .


Today is  Endangered Species Day , which is hardly cause for celebration, as ideally no such occasion would exist. This is not an ideal world, however. That was clear earlier this month when the UN’s biodiversity and ecosystem arm IPBES reported that  one million species  worldwide are threatened with extinction. Source: Quartz. Read more


As part of its three-year collaboration with IUCN’s SOS - Save Our Species initiative, which began in 2018, the global apparel company Lacoste will sell limited-edition polo shirts where its crocodile logo temporarily makes way for 10 different threatened species. The number of shirts for each species corresponds to the number of known individuals remaining in the wild. While each species faces specific threats, all are in need of increased funding for conservation action to help ensure their long-term survival.   Source: IUCN. Read more


 The Seychelles magpie-robin is about 9 inches long, with inky blue-black feathers, and white patches along its wings. There may be only 200 or so of these beguiling birds in the world, all in forests of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa. Source: NPR. Read more


This week the UN’s Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services  warned  that a million species face extinction thanks to human activity. The word “biodiversity” is one of the most successful political coinages of modern times.No one talked about “biodiversity” (for “biological diversity”) until it began vanishing. Source: The Guardian. Read more


 “Transformative change” is needed  to prevent over a million species going extinct, according to  a new report on the world’s biodiversity . Based on information gathered over three years from land, freshwater and marine ecosystems, and drawing heavily from the  IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , the report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services warns that Earth’s life-support systems may collapse if humanity doesn’t change the way it values and uses nature.Source: The Conversation. Read more
USAID Kenya and East Africa Environment | www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional/environment