THE global launch of a $104 million initiative signals an ambitious effort by a range of partners to safeguard dry lands in the context of climate change, fragile ecosystems, biodiversity loss, and deforestation in 11 African and Central Asian countries.

Biodiversity is plummeting, but restoring rivers could quickly reverse this disastrous trend.

The importance of protecting biodiversity is not lost on Tanzanians. Our country is well known for its incredible beauty and diverse ecosystems: home to an incredible 24 percent of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

Early this year the world commemorated the International Day of Forests, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) joining Uganda to reiterate their commitment to restoring forests and degraded lands, as well as calling for action to reduce deforestation.

Background
The call for forest restoration and better management of the ecosystem was made during a high level national dialogue organised jointly by FAO, the European Union, Sweden and the Ministry of Water and Environment.

SPICE farmers in Ulugulu Mountains are earning windfall profits thanks to a project which has
introduced them to modern agriculture practices and use of hybrid seeds

A recent report by Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania said over 1,500 farmers from the Uluguru Mountains catchment area and 172 model farmers from other regions backed by 31 agriculture extension officers are benefited directly from the Uluguru Spice Project.

• Botum Sakor National Park in southern Cambodia has lost at least 30,000 hectares of forest over the past three decades.
• Decades of environmental degradation go back to the late 1990s when the Cambodian government began handing out economic land concessions for the development of commercial plantations and tourist infrastructure.
• NGOs in Cambodia are said to be unwilling to speak out against the destruction of Botum Sakor because they are afraid they will not be allowed to operate in the country if they do.

Patches of forest cleared and tended by Indigenous communities but lost to time still show more food bounty for humans and animals than surrounding forests.

MESSAGE FROM AN INDIGENOUS LEADER AT THE BIDEN CLIMATE SUMMIT

The Congo Basin’s forests and peatlands are a major component of Earth’s life-support systems, and it is a key supplier of vital minerals needed to build a low carbon economy. The case for the people of the Congo to benefit from not exploiting these resources is irrefutable.

Few people, if asked to name the most strategic countries in the world, would place the Democratic Republic of Congo at the top of the list. But the natural resources of the DRC will be critical to the existential battle to save the planet.

PARIS (AFP) — Governments worldwide are using the Covid-19 pandemic to push through destructive development projects and roll back protections of indigenous groups, according to a global report on deforestation and rule of law released Thursday.

In their quest to bolster economies battered by the pandemic, governments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere have set aside social and environmental safeguards in favor of destructive development projects that are harming Indigenous communities and the forests they care for, according to a report released today by Forest Peoples Programme.