Wings Over Wetlands Project Team Meeting 8-12 March 2010 Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Abdoulaye Ndiaye Gabin AGBLONON Wetlands International Africa

Transcription

1 Wings Over Wetlands Project Team Meeting 8-12 March 2010 Wakkerstroom, South Africa Abdoulaye Ndiaye Gabin AGBLONON Wetlands International Africa

2 Subject related to WOW Regional Centre for Western and Central Africa associated demonstration projects: - Saloum-Niumi (Senegal & The Gambia) - Banc D Arguin (Mauritania), - Namga-Kokorou (Niger)

3 Presentation Outline Reminder of the West and Central Africa Hub What exactly are our 3 components in the subregional context? Critical Site Network development Capacity building in the WOW context Processes undertaken to date, existing outputs Expected final outputs Demonstration projects Some practical considerations Questions

4 Countries within the Regional centre CENTRAL AFRICA Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe WEST AFRICA Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d Ivoire,The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

5 Key steps

6 Critical Site Network: Capacity and knowledge Development Fill gaps in site network understanding Gap identification (consultation); Gap-filling (survey, inventory and census work) Sub-regional focus. Enhance technical capacity Harmonise IWC and IBA personnel networks and protocols; Train data gatherers (existing and new); Develop resources to assist data gathering (manuals, guides). Sub-regional focus Develop site / species knowledge base Compile existing ecological knowledge; Seed funding to stimulate filling of knowledge gaps.

7 Critical Site Network: Regional workshop Ghana Fill the gaps in knowledge about the existing network of sites in West Africa; Identify new sites important for waterbirds Expand and reinforce the network

8 The sources of information used to start the cleaning operation and the georeferencing process, were: information collected from the national coordinators which participated at the WOW-workshop (10-13 December 2008) in Ghana. information from site reports and manuals on bird observation in West and Central Africa which were available at the office of WI in Dakar. by searching on the internet. The internet sites used frequently to find geographical information were : Wikipedia Using google earth sattelite images to fine-tune the found geographical position of the sites (p.e. position in the middle of wetland sites or lakes)

9 What are the problems (errors) with the sites used in the AfWC Database Countries participating at the African Waterbird Census 1. Spelling errors and lots of duplications of sitenames No uniform site list with correct spelling! 2. Sites mostly without coordinates or wrong coordinates GEOREFERENCING is necessary! 3. No hierarchical information is available for the sites

10 Adding hierarchy to the site information A column (parent site) was added to the site list, giving information of wetland sites from the site list which contains the site completely within their boundaries. Newsitename BAIE D ARGUIN BAIE D ABDEL KHAZNAYA BAIE DE L ETOILE BAIE DE L ETOILE BAIE D IWIK BAIE DU LEVRIER, EAST SHORE BANC D ARGUIN NORD BANC D ARGUIN SUD Parent site BANC D ARGUIN NORD BANC D ARGUIN SUD CAP BLANC ET BAIE DU LEVRIER CAP BLANC ET BAIE DU LEVRIER BANC D ARGUIN SUD CAP BLANC ET BAIE DU LEVRIER BANC D ARGUIN BANC D ARGUIN BANC D ARGUIN

11 Which sites were selected to be cleaned in the AfWC Database 1799 sites distributed in 20 countries in West- and Central Africa were selected for the cleaning process. Sites mostly without coordinates or wrong coordinates N sites without coordinates N sites with coordinates Eq. Guinea Nigeria Cap Verde 0 Guinea Bisseau Cameroun Congo Gabon Ghana Mali Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Ivory Coast Togo Burkina Faso Senegal Mauritania Chad Benin Niger

12 Why poor geographical coordinate information for sites in AfWC Databasesults Many sites were visited and described in the years 80 and 90 No GPS available to localize the sites No GIS yet, which make it possible to do geographical analysis with your data in a GIS environment Coordinates only useful to find back sites, therefore sometimes just a description was given (25 km south of St- Louis) in stead of geographical positions (Latitude, Longitude) Error in reading and writing down coordinates Decimal degrees Degrees, minute, seconds 14 41'53.28"N 17 28'56.46"W Degrees, Decimal minutes 'N 'W

13 Results Site name spelling was corrected and hierarchycal information was given to all the sites. Correct geographical positions (= georeferencing process) were found for 95.8 % of the 1799 sites of West- and Central Africa. For 2.3 % of the sites (= 42 sites) no coordinates could be found. For 1.9 % of the sites (= 34 sites) the location is not sure yet and should be confirmed

14 Progress in georeferencing IWC coordinates dark green = completed pale green = in progress orange = work started red = not started grey = no information

15 Future steps to take Finish the site cleaning and georeferencing job for East-Africa Working with fixed sitelist, in future restrictions for bird observers to create sitenames themselves (problem of spelling error, duplication) Start the site cleaning process for the countries of East-Africa Start to digitize the boundaries of the wetland sites of Africa. (change from point to polygon format). Cleaning the bird observation errors in the AfWC Database is still necessary. Wrong bird observations Error counting numbers of birds

16 C2: Training & awareness raising Programme Sub-Regional development and implementation Development Regionalisation of model programme; Stakeholder specification of sub-regional programmes; Curriculum design involving experienced organisations. Build on existing capacity Implementation Module delivery. 1 st TOT in Cameroon in November 2009 Overseen by training boards; 2 training board meetings Coordinated in a sub-regional project centre; integrate into Programme Sustainability Introduction of fee-payment during project; translation into French Include in curriculum of Wildlife college in Garoua Cameroon Teach some of the modules at Dakar University Master 1 et Master 2 Development of coordination capacity;

17 C2: Training & awareness raising Programme Target groups Political decision makers; at national and regional courses no implementation yet Conservation practitioners (managerial, technical, administrative); target for the TOT: 15 countries + Wetcap (Algérie, Bénin, Cameroun, Cote d Ivoire, Congo, Congo Démocratique, Gabon, Guinée, Mali, Mauritanie, Maroc, Niger, Sénégal, Togo, Tunisie) Community leaders and representatives.: will be linked to the national courses

18 Modules Module 1 Understanding the Flyway scale conservation approach Module 2 Implementing the Flyway scale conservation approach Wetland management Valuation of wetlands Policies Waterbird conservation Institutional and network development Sustainable management of shared waterbird populations Module 3 Communicating the Flyway approach

19 Demonst ration projects Bang Arguin National Park Saloum-Niumi complex Namga-Kororou

20 Institutions and team Direction des Parcs Nationaux (SENEGAL) Department of Parks and Wildlife Management (GAMBIA) Wetlands International WWF Fresh water program Direction de l Environnement (NIGER) Parc National du Banc d Arguin (MAURITANIA)

21 Ornithological ecotourism in PNBA Site profile: 1976; 12000km2 - Half marine and half continental area; - Vast expanses of sea grass beds and mudflats; The largest winter concentration of waders and the most important breeding area for birds on the Atlantic seaboard. Ramsar site

22 The park is home for local communities particularly Imraguen fisherfolks populations. Current methods and fishing gear are not environmental friendly with an important negative impact on rays and sharks. Necessity to encourage and implement alternative economic activities.

23 Objective To ensure conservation of biodiversity and natural resources whilst guaranteeing a livelihood for the local Imraguen population and the long-term economic role of the park, especially through its contribution as a key site of an international importance for fisheries. In fitting with these principles, the overall aim of the project is to enhance the viability and economic status of the park by supporting the implementation of key elements of the ecotourism strategy.

24 Results Contribute to the development of a specific ornithological ecotourism implementation strategy for the park. Group of ecoguides in place Training communities in French Train them on tourism guide with developed tools for one and half year period Modules developed: 7 modules Training manual for the duplication within west Africa?

25 Some of the modules

26 Day of the selection of the trainees Former training centre in Mamghar) New training center

27 Fiches synthétiques par Candidat TEICHOT MEYMOUNA MENT MBAREK Notation des données personnelles 07 / 10 Notation du Niveau d éducation 05 / 20 Notation de la Présentation et la motivation 13 / 15 Notation des Critères subsidiaires 00 / 05 Note finale 25 / 50 Observations LA CANDIDATE EST TROP JEUNE (née en 1990) MAIS BONNE IMPRESSION AVIS DE LA COMMISSION DE SELECTION

28 Training activities

29 Sustainability Economical unit (GIE) Recruitment within the National Park Private business encouraged Communication strategy of Ecotourism underway

30 Follow up Recruitment of some of the ecoguide as park staff GTZ and FIBA programme for ecotourism development Autonomy of some of the ecoguides to develop their own business with external support

31 COMMUNITY-BASED MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN NAMGA-KOKOROU COMPLEX, NIGER REPUBLIC Ramsar site: 2001; ha High biodiversity Important stop over for waterbirds migrants Site managed by communities

32 Project objective WOW will contribute to the sustainable use of Namga-Kokorou through the development of a participatory community-based management plan For the best practices

33 Results Community mangement plan Code of conduct for a better management of the site Communication strategy developed Training needs assesment 3 training courses for different target groups at community level

34 Follow up Engagement of the community to continue Round table with different donors for management plan implementation WWF engagement at site level.

35 Niumi 1987 (4940 ha) Ramsar site: Saloum 1976 (16000 ha) RAMSAR Site in , it integrated the UNESCO MAB. Senegal and The Gambia TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION Saloum-Niumi Complex was established in November The transboundary Ramsar sites :

36 Objectives Contribute to sustainable use of Niumi- Saloum Through strengthened transboundary cooperation and participation of local communities in the management of wetlands and in the wise use of natural resources within the complex

37 Output & Achievements Transboundary Ramsar site 1 st one in Africa Transboundary Management plan endorsed by both parties Harmonize Bird monitoring system in both sites Capacity building at all levels Communities; park staff; women groups Primary school teachers and school children (awareness raising)

38 demonstration value/ Follow up Integration of the different stakeholders of both countries (park staff easy crossing borders - tolerance) Round table of donor after the entire process of endorsement of the transboundary management plan Link to the existing initiatives at site level like World Bank (GIRMAC)- FIBA and WWF Ecotourism of income generation for the communities (Ecoguards)

39 Main Challenges Language barrier at transboundary level and at sub regional level Political issues Working with different currencies (money transfer) Lack of means for courses implementation Limitation to Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries to access to the material

40 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

41 Questions?