The need for State of Mountains reporting for African mountains

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1 The need for State of Mountains reporting for African mountains Introduction Africa s mountains are renowned for their unique biodiversity and sense of place, but are being overtaken by the impact of human activities. Some of the changes occurring, like deforestation and land degradation, have irreversible consequences, and will be compounded by climate change. All of this will negatively affect human well-being. A sobering statistic is that Africa s population is now one billion, but is expected to reach two billion by 2050, 1 meaning that twice as many people may be trying to eke out a living in an around Africa s mountains in the future. For this reason, care of the natural environment as an asset is urgently needed, to ensure that human pressure does not render it unable to provide for human well-being in the future. A formal, mountain-landscape scale science-based monitoring and reporting is needed now to track changes in these mountain systems, identify thresholds of concern, identify other research and information needs and provide information for a campaign for action to either prevent or remediate the deepening situation of adverse change. State of Environment reporting is one such reporting system, but there are others, including large-scale environmental audits like the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of and monitoring more localised environmental health indicators like salinity in estuaries and mercury in fish. In many cases, indicators should be selected and agreed upon through a collaborative process with stakeholders and researchers, but an external audit can also be considered, using published material. The choice of approaches depends on funding. 1 World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision" (XLS). Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. June 2013.

2 Change in world ecosystems over the last 50 years Transformed African lowlands (photo credit Rob Marchant, York University) Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth. The pressures on ecosystems will increase globally in coming decades unless human attitudes and actions change (MA website, 2005). Given current trends of unsustainable and highly vulnerable subsistence agriculture as a major livelihood strategy prevalent throughout Africa, the current situation of impact is of concern and ways need to be found to value and secure important mountain biodiversity and ecosystem assets. Better protection of natural assets will require coordinated efforts across all sections of governments, businesses, and international institutions. The productivity of ecosystems depends on policy choices on investment, trade, subsidy, taxation, and regulation, among others (MA website, 2005). AfroMont intends to champion the cause of sustainable mountain development but foresees that the challenge will definitely increase over time, rather than abate.

3 Problem statement There appears to be a general consensus that African mountain systems are becoming degraded from human agricultural activities, forest clearing, agriculture on fragile soils and illegal logging, and also from commercial farming operations, with no regulations to control land use changes yet there appears to be little large-scale coordinated monitoring of this and its impact, through a programme where data is collected systematically so that different mountains can be compared. A trans-disciplinary ecological and social assessment, reported on in various formats, including a State of African Mountains report, would enable assessment and communication of such an assessment to a variety of audiences like the IPCC and Millennium Ecological Assessment (MA). Ecosystem monitoring Ecosystem monitoring, through large (like the UNEP Millennium Ecosystem Assessments) and smaller local ecosystem assessments like vegetation monitoring and ecosystem health monitoring through selected indicators, allows for changes in ecosystems to be identified and reliably quantified and assessed, and addressed where possible. Through this type of monitoring, it is possible to present up-to-date and accurate data to decision makers to demonstrate unsustainable activities and argue for a commitment of resources to attend to remediation. An important aim of ecosystem monitoring is to identify both suitable endpoints (an ideal state of the ecosystem at maximum productivity and resilience) and also identify thresholds of concern stages where various red flags are noted and must be acted upon. Also, scenario planning can be done once baseline information is gathered and analysed, identifying worse case scenarios that need to be avoided. Of course it would be highly useful to be able to put in place measures to avoid breaching these thresholds or entering worst case situations. In the case of African mountains, these scenarios may include situations where mountain biodiversity has significantly deteriorated, negatively affecting human well-being, and resulting in conflict and migration/urbanization. In all cases, it would be best to use environmental monitoring to ensure that ecosystems remain in a productive state and do not deteriorate further. One format in which the results of mountain ecosystem monitoring can be reported upon is through State of

4 African Mountains reporting which is a specialized type of State of Environment report that focuses on mountain environmental issues, both biological and social. These types of reports must presents scientific findings in a way that is clear and comprehensible to a range of stakeholders and key audiences, and develop key messages. The State of African Mountains reporting can be doing through a stakeholder process, or can also be done through an external audit approach. AfroMont would like to identify itself as an organisation that could coordinate the process, firstly for a baseline report, as an audit, using existing information from publications to national census data, data on land use changes, legislation, land degradation, agriculture, urbanisation and disaster risks for selected African mountains. Models for this type of approach include the IPCC and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Even with detailed and long term monitoring, this must be coupled with innovative land management approaches and legislation. For example, many montane areas, like QwaQwa and the Drakensberg in South Africa, as well high altitude lands in Lesotho, are in a very bad state of land degradation and need a new intervention as older approaches have yielded little results. Existing environmental monitoring products in Africa Land degradation atlas (based on remote sensing) and other similar products. Sahel Land Degradation Atlas (UNEP, 2012). The UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS), a mechanism for identifying, selecting and communicating early warning information on emerging issues to decision makers on a regular basis across UNEP's focus areas. The Global Environmental Alert Service continuously scans the scientific literature, analyses results of earth observations and other data sources to produce widely distributed alerts, focusing on policy relevant environmental hotspots, environmental science, and near real-time environmental hazards in an easily understandable format (UNEP, no date) Millennium ecosystem assessment 2005 (MA website, 2005). Global Environment Outlook (GEO), IPCC and the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) UN state of African Cities reports (annual) NEPAD s TerrAfrica s reports on Sustainable Land Management CITES reporting UN red data species lists FAO s famine watch publications Academic research

5 At a glance it would seem that there is nothing specifically tracking change on Africa s mountains Potential model for State of Mountain Assessments for mountains the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). The global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably. The MA has involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings on the condition and trends of ecosystems, scenarios for the future, possible responses, and assessments at a sub-global level are set out in technical chapters grouped around these four main themes. In addition, a general Synthesis draws on these detailed studies to answer a series of core questions posed at the start of the MA. The practical needs of specific groups of users, including the business community, are addressed in other synthesis reports. Each part of the assessment has been scrutinized by governments, independent scientists, and other experts to ensure the robustness of findings. The MA did not conduct new research, but it is the first assessment to focus on the impacts of ecosystem changes for human well-being. As with the IPCC, the MA primarily synthesized the findings of existing research, to make them available in a form that is relevant to current policy questions. The MA synthesized information from the scientific literature, data sets, and scientific models, and included knowledge held by the private sector, practitioners, local communities and indigenous peoples. Among the sub-global assessments, however, particularly those at local scales, the lack of data and literature did lead some sub-global assessment to undertake some new research and data collection. In all cases, the assessment findings have been useful in identifying information gaps and priorities for future research (MA website, 2005). It would be possible to conduct a mini- MA for Africa s mountains through a network of funders and collaborators. Existing mandates for mountain ecosystem monitoring In Europe the Alpine Convention, agreed in 1991, gave Europe a comprehensive policy on the protection and sustainable development of the Alps, one of the largest European ecosystems. It recognised that the Alps must be protected, and that the economic and social needs of the native population have to be taken into account. It also led to the realisation that it needed to take the

6 impacts of climate change into account and could act as a blueprint for other mountain ranges around the world (UNEP and the Year of the Mountain, 2002). The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre is working with partners to provide the best possible information on mountain ecosystems. The Centre has made a World Map of Mountains and their Forests, which will provide basic materials for a proposed World Atlas of Mountains. It is now working to develop Mountain Watch, a map-based global overview of mountain biodiversity and the priorities for management. All materials arising from the Mountain Watch and Mountain Atlas processes will be integrated into a Mountain Portal on the UNEP.Net Internet site. Indicators for managed ecosystems and protected areas Using carefully selected and feasible indicators to gather data about ecosystem change allows an adaptive management approach to be followed where management plans can be adjusted based on ongoing learning and monitoring. Land managed under these systems implies that there is a management structure in place, there is a mandate for the management of the area, with staff and resources, and that the ecosystem or area is actually being managed, and that there are management targets being aimed for. Even then, resources might not be available to do adequate monitoring and management of the areas. Types of monitoring include vegetation monitoring, encroachment of invasive species, game counting, fire management, burning regimes and impacts, poaching or trespass incidences, results of any remediation being undertaken, and rainfall and temperature measurements.

7 Indicators and landscapes outside formal protection Greater difficulties are experienced if the land is not formally protected and there is no joint or collaborative management in place. This appears to be the case for most of the land in and around Africa s mountains, where science-based land management is not carried out, and traditional methods are being abandoned due to increased numbers of land users. Also, in Africa s mountains, good soils and available water attract ever increasing numbers of subsistence farmers, yet there is often no formal land use planning or effective legislation controlling the land use change process. In most of Africa, slash and burn agriculture is prevalent, and land degradation trends are of great concern. In this situation, land change monitoring should be done by government agencies, NGO s or academic researchers, and reported on through various channels (reports, policy briefs, State of Environment reporting, as well as academic publications) and findings fed into national and regional policy development approaches. Selection of indicators This can be done through an academic approach and a systematic review of published literature, augmented by stakeholder consultations. As local level consultation is very difficult and expensive, a passive audit using published or existing national indicators for which there is readily available data

8 and a good technical analysis, can also suffice to draw attention to issues of concern. These types of data include census (demographic) data, national climatological data, land degradation data, disaster risk research data and so on. The types of existing land and catchment management agencies must also be considered. In the absence of a formal land or catchment management committee or structure, the target audience must be carefully considered (e.g. land users and villagers, commercial agriculture, politicians and policy makers, high level political processes like AMCEN). De novo indicators of interest in African mountains A quantification of mountain ecosystem services and value for human well-being AMPHIBIANS and other bio-indicators Altitudinal gradient studies of species studies performed at medium- or long term intervals Local level catchment studies evaluating water flows over time Carbon studies Ecosystem services monitoring Urbanisation Conclusion The African research and development community need to establish a collaborative process for a research-based environmental monitoring system for Africa s mountains, with regular science-based outputs designed for various important audiences. Utilising existing information products and atlases, there is a need to harness new science and technology to provide accurate and costeffective monitoring of Africa s mountain landscapes and ecosystems and find methods for assessing and monitoring mountain health at different scales. References MA website (2005). UNEP (2012). Sahel Atlas of Changing Landscapes: Tracing trends and variations in vegetation cover and soil condition. United Nations Environmental Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP (No date). Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS).

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