Dear BES-Net Partners and Members

March 2021 marks one year for many of us around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began and some of us are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with vaccine delivery commencing in countries. March also marked a number of international commemorations and Women’s History Month. This pandemic has forced us to reckon with many deep-seated inequalities and the gendered burdens we have seen manifest as a result of the pandemic and the lockdowns. Yet, in reconfiguring our relationship with nature in this recovery, we have a chance to also tackle gender inequalities in how resources are owned, managed and allocated. Through our wide network of partners, we have seen many women champions and gender equality champions, from local and indigenous communities, in biodiversity who have been leading the charge for decades, as custodians of the planet! While we recognize the challenges that lie before us, we take this opportunity to raise a toast and celebrate these champions and the many nature-based solutions they have brought to us!

Looking back, we’ve had a busy quarter at BES-Net! The expanded BES-Net team consisting of UNDP, UNEP-WCMC and UNESCO has led to us pooling our strengths together and leveraging each others’ expertise to support countries in building commitment for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem protection. At the 24th meeting of the CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, UNEP-WCMC, in preparation, published an information document on national ecosystem assessments to highlight their initial impact in supporting the CBD and its protocols. We also had the opportunity to kickstart the assessment process for the Dominican Republic, Malawi and Thailand with an inception workshop. A range of unique and specific ecosystem policy issues are being explored in each of these countries and the role of indigenous and local knowledge holders is being emphasized slowly through this process. For more information about the inception workshop.

Our work with the practice sector partners across Francophone Africa through 2020’s virtual Trialogue continues steadily with our recently released report compiling lessons learned and experiences across seven countries. From local farming practices to medical benefits of tree species to channelling the power of youth for pollination and many more, innovative lessons from the region are abundant. Click here to read the report in detail and visit here to check out some of our human-interest stories from Togo and Cameroon.

We have continued to expand our network, bringing two new partners into the fold: the Turtle Island Institute and Life4Pollinators. We welcome partners to engage with us and with each other towards greater collaboration for biodiversity and conservation issues! Interested in a partnership or collaboration? Please reach out to us at alexandra.postrigan@undp.org, and prashanthi.subramaniam@undp.org!

Photo source: UNDP

Conservation lessons from a year of the pandemic

As we mark the first anniversary of the World Health Organization’s formal declaration of a global pandemic arising from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it seemed appropriate to take a renewed look at how the pandemic is affecting biodiversity, ecosystem services and the people dependent upon them.

Initial analysis of the impact of the pandemic on biodiversity was generally, but perhaps anecdotally, positive, claiming improved safety of wildlife in protected and conserved areas with less human pressure as a result of lockdown measures. Now, one year on, it is possible to take a more considered view, as a number of useful reviews are becoming available and the overall picture is becoming a good deal darker.

Following from an early overview of the initial impacts of the pandemic on protected area by Hockings et al. back in June 2020, 150 members of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) global network of conservation practitioners have compiled a truly comprehensive review of the diverse impacts of the pandemic across the many faces of wildlife conservation as a result of tourism’s dramatic downturn.

The SARS-COV-2 pandemic has provided an unwanted “stress test” to the global protected area system and wider natural habitats. This special issue of PARKS provides valuable lessons and recommendations on how to build back better for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The pandemic has brought its own challenges in funding and maintaining conservation work, which usually depends on tourism revenues, as do many local communities. Reduced monitoring of illegal wildlife trade, weakened environmental legislations and loss of income and livelihoods among rangers pose very real threats. 2021 needs to be the year of reversing these trends and investing in a pandemic recovery that also speaks to our conservation goals.

Those wanting a taste of the reviews could start with Marc Hockings’  news article here. Alternatively, the opening editorial introduction and final postscript can be read as a kind of Executive Summary, whilst those still with time of their hands as a result of lockdown restrictions, can digest all 16 articles (200 pages) of the special issue here.

• PANORAMA’s Live Story Slam Event in English: April 6, 2021, 3PM – 4PM UTC
• PANORAMA’s Live Story Slam Event in French: April 14, 2021, 09AM – 10AM UTC
• Registration link: https://whova.com/portal/registration/igys_202010/

After three scientific expeditions, including a bio-monitoring expedition (in 2020 and 2021), CSB researchers came to a general conclusion: no aspect of the forests of the Baboro chiefdom community has been spared from destruction. Baboro is located in the territory of Banalia, north of Kisangani, in the province of Tshopo (Democratic Republic of the Congo). You can learn more by listening to the 2nd issue of the radio magazine “Biodiversité et Nous” (Biodiversity and Us), produced by the Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité (CSB, a close partner of the CEBioS programme).”

Here is the link to the podcast: https://audioblog.arteradio.com/blog/147770/podcast/162026/biodiversite-en-danger-a-baboro-banalia-rdc?fbclid=IwAR0OxGuFmUHio97oeBn11glN-zXw3DfUHN6ymZ3TDlB0bxcQLknrHBusotk

By Dr Ronell R. Klopper from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)

Up-to-date checklists are crucial tools for biodiversity related activities. As part of its mandate, SANBI provides an online checklist of South African plants, with an updated version released in January every year. The 2021 official yearly release of the South African National Plant Checklist (SANPC) is now available online at the following URL: http://opus.sanbi.org/handle/20.500.12143/6880

Along with the SANPC, readers can also find relevant reports, glossaries, reports summarising additions and changes made in the SANPC during certain time periods, as well as references to relevant literature , the SANPC Policy, statistics for the plants occurring in South Africa, as well as the FSA region.

More up-to-date information can still be obtained, on www.posa.sanbi.org together with specimen level data. These resources currently only cover indigenous and naturalised (including invasive) plants occurring in South Africa. For any references, discrepancies, mistakes, or omissions relating to the taxonomic backbone while using these resources, kindly contact Dr Ronell R Klopper on r.klopper@sanbi.org.za.

Handy tip: You can also access OPUS (opus.sanbi.org), then click on Browse in the menu ribbon at the top to open the drop down list; select Communities & Collections; then go to Datasets; click on ‘South African National Plant Checklist: yearly release and official documentation’.

Invitation: Kick-off meeting of the BiodivERsA funded projects on biodiversity and climate change

BiodivERsA is pleased to invite you to the kick-off meeting of the 21 research projects funded through its 2019-2020 Joint Call on “Biodiversity and Climate Change”. This kick-off will be an opportunity to learn more about these academically excellent projects, mobilising a wide range of disciplines, engaging many relevant stakeholders, and addressing various pressing scientific and societal issues.

Please register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwscOGvrjItHNxn07EIsfKHb7__K_6Tg45T%20

South Africa’ biodiversity protocols and guidelines assist specialist studies in EIAs

The development and consequent gazetting of the Terrestrial Plant Species and Terrestrial Animal Species Protocols, as well as a set of guidelines is the culmination of three years of work done by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in collaboration with its national  Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), BirdLife South Africa and various biodiversity species specialists through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded Biodiversity and Land Use Project.

The Protocols were developed in consultation with the respective Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) competent authorities and multiple stakeholder groups at national government level in South Africa. The need for the development of the Protocols arose due to the challenges experienced by competent authorities when it comes to making decisions on EIA applications, as there was no standardized approach or requirement for specialist studies in EIAs in the country. The use of various sets of minimum information requirements when conducting specialist assessments and documentation not containing adequate information are some of the aspects that made it challenging.  In addition, the lack of readily available spatial information on the contemporary location of species of conservation concern to support the decision-making process also contributed to the challenges experienced by competent authorities when dealing with EIA applications.

The Terrestrial Plant and Animal Species Protocols were gazetted for implementation in October 2020, following the gazetting of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity Protocols earlier this year. The Protocols aim to provide the minimum information and assessment requirements for species and ecosystem specialist studies, thereby standardising species-level and ecosystems-level aspects of EIAs and the reporting of potential impacts from proposed developments on species of conservation concern (SCC) and ecosystems. The Protocols describe the type of assessments that should occur for each sensitivity level represented in DEFF’s online Environmental Impact Assessment screening tool for a particular theme.

Furthermore, a Species Environmental Assessment Guideline, a first for South Africa, was developed and finalised in October 2020. The Guideline provides background and context to the requirements set by the respective species Protocols, as well as guidance on sampling and data collection methodologies for the different taxonomic groups represented therein, and represents the most efficient and effective manner in which the Terrestrial Animal and Plant Species Protocols can be complied with.

The Species Environmental Assessment Guideline is intended for specialist studies undertaken for activities that have triggered a listed and specified activity in terms of South Africa’s  National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA), as identified by the EIA Regulations, 2014 (as amended) and Listing Notices 1-3.

For more information on this area of work please contact Abigail Bahindwa on a.bahindwa@sanbi.org.za  or Mthobisi Nzimande on m.nzimande@sanbi.org.za.