East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22 October 2014:
The
first African Mountains Regional Forum has started at Ngurdoto Mountain
Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania. The three-day forum to take place from October 22-24
is to provide an opportunity for different sustainable mountain
development stakeholders to enhance understanding of common conservation
and development issues in the region.
The
forum is organized by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS)
and the Africa Mountain Partnership Champions Committee (AMPCC) in
partnership with
the East African Community (EAC), United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), and other partners.
Participants from African government institutions, academia, civil society, media and the private sector are in attendance.
Dr. Sam Kanyamibwa, the executive director of ARCOS, called the meeting “a celebration of the fragile mountain ecosystem.”
Hon.
Magessa Mulogo, the Arusha Regional Commissioner in a statement
delivered by the District Commissioner Arumeru District, Mr. Deus
Munasa, said Tanzania is
well endowed with mid-range mountains including Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Africa’s highest mountain, which attracts more than 35,000 climbers a
year.
“Mt.
Kilimanjaro is also a home to some 1.5 million people with nearly three
quarters depending on its rich nature resources for water, food and
medicinal herbs,”
he said.
He
added, “Despite all these positive attributes, projections from various
studies suggest that ice on Mount Kilimanjaro is receding and that if
it continues
at the present rate, the majority of the remaining glaciers on the
mountain could vanish with dire consequences for the neighbouring
communities.”
Hon.
Jesca Eriyo, Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sectors),
East African Community, said the East African region has renown
trans-boundary mountainous
ecosystems including Africa’s highest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro at
5,400m at the border of Tanzania and Kenya, the Mt. Elgon, which
bestride Kenya and Uganda; the Virunga shared by Rwanda, Uganda and
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) amongst other national
mountainous areas such as Mt. Kenya, Mt. Rwenzori in Uganda, Mt. Meru
in Tanzania, Mt. Karisimbi in Rwanda.
“These
ecosystems support employment and income for the communities drawing
their livelihoods from the ecosystems and their services,” she said.
Hon.
Eriyo revealed that the EAC, through the Lake Victoria Basin Commission
(LVBC) is implementing a number of projects in the region’s mountain
ecosystems.
One such project is the Mt. Elgon Regional Ecosystem Conservation
Programme (MERECP).
“The
aim of the project is to promote sustainable use of shared natural
resources benefiting livelihoods and mitigating and adapting to
anticipated climate change
impacts in the Mt. Elgon ecosystem by 2015,” said Hon.Eriyo. The MERECP
is funded by the governments of the Royal Kingdom of Norway and Sweden.
Chapter
13 of Agenda 21 recognizes mountains as important sources of water,
energy, minerals, forest and agricultural products and areas of
recreation and “storehouses
of biological diversity, home to endangered species and an essential
part of the global ecosystem.”
Mountains
cover 25 percent of the world’s land surface, and directly support 12
percent of the world’s population living within mountain regions, while
about
40 per cent occupies watershed areas below. Mountains contribute an
estimated 80% of downstream river flow, a main source of hydropower.
Mountain
people, who are among the poorest in the world, are key to maintaining
these mountain ecosystems and the need for action to alleviate poverty
in mountain
regions.
Through
their watershed function, mountains supply more than half of humanity
with water for drinking, irrigation, industry, food and energy
production. The degradation
of mountain ecosystem services has severe consequences for livelihoods
and environments of downstream regions.
Mr.
Robert Wabunoha, the legal officer at United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), noted that despite their importance throughout human
history and their
wealth of resources, mountains have only recently begun to attract the
attention of political decision-makers and planners.
“At
national level, most countries do not have specific policies, laws or
institutions simply because they have not been recognized as unique
ecosystems that
might require special attention,” he said, and added, “this situation
requires Africa’s immediate action and commitment in moving towards
mountain governance and formulation of mountain specific laws, policies
and institutions.
Their
widespread and trans-boundary nature, also calls for regional
cooperation in addressing this issues.” UNEP is supporting the
preparation of the first African
mountain atlas.
Experts
at the forum are proposing policies and actions to protect and maintain
fragile mountain ecosystems. These include promotion of sustainable use
of mountains
in order to ensure their global water supply function and to enhance
their ability to moderate the impacts of climate change and natural
hazards for the benefit of mankind.
They
have also called for support of the concept of payment of ecosystem
services (PES) for the benefit of mountain communities who provide these
valuable ecosystem
services to downstream users.
The African Mountains Regional Forum ends on Friday.
ENDS-
0 comments:
Post a Comment