Guest Speaker:

Dr. Israel R. Orimoloye (PhD)

Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, South Africa

Realizing the decade of action and delivery for SDGs: How can Ecosystem restoration help preventing disasters and reaching green

growth in Africa by 2030?

Vegetation/Forest Restoration and Other Actions to Enhance Disaster Prevention in

African Landscapes

Overview

Introduction

Land and Ecosystem

Degradation in Africa…

Opportunities and

challenges

Way forward towards…

Ecosystem Restoration for

Mitigation of Natural

Disasters

SDGs Target

Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION In many regions of the world including Africa,

ecosystem restoration is considered one of the most

important instruments to neutralise negative effects

of natural disasters.

However, many ecosystems in the continent are

facing severe degradation leading to the decline or

loss in biodiversity and the impairment or disruption

of ecosystem functions and services, thus

threatening Africa’s ability to realize the African

Union Agenda 2063 goals and the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development and its Sustainable

Development Goals (https://www.cbd.int/).

How can ecosystem restoration significantly

reduce disasters and reaching green growth in

Africa by 2030? 2020/10/05 3 Source: https://www.groasis.com/en/planting

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Vegetation/Forest reduce the

damage caused by droughts/heat

waves, landslides and floods etc.

In cleansing the atmosphere

Protect the land by holding

rainwater in the ground so less is

dried up by the sun

Their roots also hold down the soil.

How do the vegetation/forest help in disasters prevention?

Tanaka, 2009

Land and ecosystem degradation is also accelerated by climate change, land use systems

(Orimoloye et al., 2018), rapid population growth, unplanned urbanization, infrastructure and

industrial development, pollution and waste and an increased demand for services (including

water, food and energy supply) (https://undocs.org/AMCEN/SS.VII/3)

Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP), particularly

through its Decisions XI/16, XII/19 and XIII/5 has urged Parties and encouraged other

Governments and relevant organizations, as well as indigenous peoples and local

communities, and relevant stakeholders to promote, support and take actions on ecosystem

restoration inter alia by making use, as appropriate, of the short-term action plan on

ecosystem restoration as a flexible framework according to national circumstances.

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Land and Ecosystem Degradation in Africa: Status, Challenges

and Opportunities

Status and Trends

Africa has rich and diverse ecosystems, including deserts and drylands with

unique flora and fauna; savannah grasslands with the world’s greatest diversity of

ungulates; moist tropical forests; mangrove forests; tropical dry and humid

forests; islands and coastal ecosystems; wetlands around freshwater bodies like

rivers, lakes and estuaries; urban and semi-urban systems and agroecosystems;

and marine ecosystems.

Land and ecosystem degradation has already had a pronounced impact on

ecosystem functions on the African continent and the rates of ecosystem

degradation and biodiversity loss are increasing (UNEPWCMC 2016, IPBES

2018)

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In Africa, ecosystems most affected by degradation

include the following:

Wetlands and rivers

Forest Ecosystems

Marine and coastal areas

African mountains

Savannah grasslands and rangelands

Savannah grasslands and rangelands

African drylands and deserts

Reichet et al., 2001 2020/10/05 7

Opportunities and challenges

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There are several challenges hindering effective land

and ecosystem restoration in Africa.

First, perceptions of human-environment relationships

have a strong influence on the design and

implementation of land and ecosystem management

policies and actions.

Unfortunately, however, land and ecosystem

degradation are still viewed by some as an unintended

consequence of economic development.

Also, there is a lack of credible and easily accessible

information to allow decision makers, practitioners

and other stakeholders to improve their approaches to

land and ecosystem management and use. 2020/10/05 9

Way forward towards

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Way forward towards ecosystem restoration and disasters

prevention in reaching green growth in Africa by 2030?

Maintain or improve the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services;

Maintain or improve productivity, in order to enhance food security;

Increase resilience of the ecosystems and populations dependent on them;

Seek synergies with other social, economic and environmental objectives; and

Reinforce responsible and inclusive governance of ecosystems.

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NASA’s Nasa.arset Image Credit: Alex Zvoleff

Ecosystem Restoration for Mitigation of Natural Disasters

Ecological resilience towards

floods and landslides

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Ecological resilience of

forests towards wind-throw

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Drought-hit Barbados aims for one million trees to mitigate climate impact

Ecological resilience towards

drought

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Ecological resilience of urban

greening towards heat waves

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Conclusion

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In realizing the decade of action and delivery for SDGs and ecosystem restoration in

preventing disasters and reaching green growth in Africa by 2030, strategic plans and

actions must been embraced which will;

Provides a strategic direction for ecosystem restoration in the region, promote

continent-wide awareness raising and political support for restoration efforts;

Help to accelerate and upscale ecosystem restoration commitments and targets;

foster synergetic and integrated action and facilitate effective monitoring of

implementation;

Tracking of progress towards the achievement of ecosystem restoration

commitments and targets at the continental and regional level; and

Facilitate resource mobilisation and leverage private sector investments in

ecosystem restoration.

Conclusion

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References

IPBES (2018): Summary for policymakers of the assessment report on land degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform

on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. R. Scholes, L. Montanarella, A. Brainich, N. Barger, B. ten Brink, M. Cantele, B. Erasmus, J. Fisher, T. Gardner,

T. G. Holland, F. Kohler, J. S. Kotiaho, G. Von Maltitz, G. Nangendo, R. Pandit, J. Parrotta, M. D. Potts, S. Prince, M. Sankaran and L. Willemen (eds.).

IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 44 pages.

Orimoloye, I. R., Mazinyo, S. P., Nel, W., & Kalumba, A. M. (2018). Spatiotemporal monitoring of land surface temperature and estimated radiation using

remote sensing: human health implications for East London, South Africa. Environmental earth sciences, 77(3), 77.

Reich, P. F., Numbem, S. T., Almaraz, R. A., & Eswaran, H. (2001). Land resource stresses and desertification in Africa. Agro-Science, 2(2).

UNEP-WCMC (2016) The State of Biodiversity in Africa: A mid-term review of progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. UNEP-WCMC,

Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Links

https://undocs.org/AMCEN/SS.VII/3

https://www.cbd.int/

NB: Images used in this presentation were retrieved using Google image search

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Thank you for listening

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