By Joyce Chimbi – j.chimbi@gmail.com
In the face of a snowballing climate crisis and biodiversity loss, experts are calling for a review of the relationship between man and nature for the good of both.
Reports have shown that wildlife populations have declined by 69 per cent since 1970 and that only 37 per cent of rivers that are longer than 1,000km remain free flowing in their natural state. The reports also indicate a decline of 83 per cent among monitored freshwater populations in the last 50 years.
Fred Kwame Kumah, the Vice President of Global Leadership of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) says the survival of wildlife and a healthy ecosystem in Africa hinges on linking Africa’s conservation agenda in meaningful ways to the aspirations and mindsets of the African people
While addressing journalists allied to Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) in Nairobi recently, Mr Kumah spoke of the role of Global Biodiversity Framework in achieving sustainable development, especially in Africa. He said biodiversity was central to human development and well-being and that its loss should concern everyone globally.
In December 2022, as curtains fell on the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 196 nations signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to halt and reverse nature loss. The historic framework consists of global targets to be achieved by 2030 to safeguard and sustainably use biodiversity.
“Undoubtedly, nature and its biodiversity underpin all economic activities and human well-being globally. The total benefit arising from nature is estimated to be at least $125 trillion annually. However, predominant economic models fail to fully quantify and cost benefits and services that biodiversity offers,” Kumah said.
He says the value of nature is such that at least 50,000 wild species are used for different practices, at least 10,000 wild species are harvested for human food and an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s poor are directly dependent on wild species.
“One in five people rely on wild plants, algae and fungi for their food and income. Another 2.4 billion rely on wood fuel for cooking while about 90 per cent of the 120 million people working in capture fisheries are supported by small-scale fishing,” he adds.
Kumah states that survival of an estimated 12 per cent of wild tree species is threatened by unsustainable logging. Several plant groups, notably cacti cycads and orchids, are mostly threatened by unsustainable gathering.
The expert warns that unsustainable hunting is a threat for 1,341 wild mammal species adding that wild tree species account for two thirds of global industrial roundwood. Trade in wild plants, algae and fungi is a billion-dollar industry, even non-extractive use of wild species is big business.
In the period before COVID, tourism based on sighting wild species is one of the main reasons that protected areas globally received eight billion visitors and generated $600 billion every year. Within this context, Kumah emphasises that human survival depends on people understanding the value of nature and preserving it in all its forms and putting nature on a quantifiable ambitious path to recovery.
“Existing economic growth and wealth generation models are based on unsustainable production and consumption patterns that incur and defer significant social and economic costs with detrimental impacts on people and long-term development,” he cautions.
Ken Mwathe, a Policy, Climate and Communications Coordinator at BirdLife International Africa says there is irrefutable evidence that climate action is needed now. In the agriculture sector, there will be shorter growing seasons while net crop revenues are projected to fall by 90 per cent in Africa by 2100.
“Maize crop yield is estimated to drop by 40 per cent by 2050. This will affect food security. Approximately 300 million Africans depend on maize as a main food crop. There will be significant water stress.
Access to water will be a main source of conflict in the next 24 years. Estimates show that 350 million to 600 million Africans will experience water stress by 2050,” Mwathe says.
“In Africa, temperatures are expected to rise by 1.5°C – 3°C if no action is taken. Warming will be higher than global annual mean. In human health, more than 80 million people will be at risk of contracting malaria by 2080 and Africa’s mountains could lose their glaciers in the next two decades,” Mwathe added.
According to Kumah, the increasing gaps in climate and biodiversity financing affirm Africa’s missed opportunity to drive sustainable development by unlocking and growing the biodiversity economy. Globally, the estimated gap for adaptation in developing countries is expected to rise to $340 billion per year by 2030, and up to $565 billion by 2050 while the mitigation gap is at $850 billion per year by 2030.
“Additionally, the biodiversity funding gap is projected to be in the range of $598 billion to $824 billion per year by 2030 and growing to $4.1 trillion by 2050.
As home to a third of global ecosystems, nature essentially presents Africa with an untapped investment and green development opportunity and is a key strategic asset that can be used as bargaining power in the global arena. The global biodiversity conservation and climate agenda cannot succeed without Africa,” says Kumah.
He says this is where the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework comes in as a blueprint agreement with what it takes for Africa and the world to make substantial progress towards reaching the 2030 targets and the goals of this Framework.
