BCNet
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE FOR AFRICA PROJECT

From news of El Niño to reporting on the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) in Kyoto, awareness of the indicators and consequences of global climate change has been rising. The answers to such global events must come from all levels, from local actions to international agreements that result from years of research and negotiation. The focus of climate change research has ranged from emissions in industrialized countries to carbon sequestration in the forests of developing nations. The Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) has been part of this endeavor, supporting the Global Climate Change for Africa (GCCA) Project's research into the role of forests in abating the greenhouse effect. BCNet will begin posting a series of papers that were presented at a GCCA Project conference. We introduce this series with the following summary and background.

INTRODUCTION

Accelerating emissions of greenhouse gases are expected to result in significant changes in the Earth's climate, with potentially devastating impacts on humans and the environment. Impacts are likely to be felt most strongly by people in developing countries, especially in Africa, due to their reliance on natural resources for subsistence, as well as to the lack of financial and technical means with which to reduce their vulnerability to global climate change. The six countries of central Africa -- Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Congo -- contain the largest remaining contiguous expanse of moist tropical forest in Africa and the second largest in the world. Unfortunately, like the tropical forests of Latin and South America and Asia, the deforestation rates of this moist forest and surrounding drier woodlands are increasing. This has a variety of negative consequences, including: 1) substantial contribution to global climate change; 2) damage to the agricultural and economic productivity of the region, placing a heavier burden on the natural resources upon which the rural populations rely for almost their entire subsistence; 3) reduction of the region's ability to withstand the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts of global climate change.

The Biodiversity Support Program (BSP), a USAID-funded consortium of World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and World Resources Institute developed the Global Climate Change for Africa (GCC) Project, which was started in 1991 as a first step in understanding the complex dynamics of the causes and effects of global climate change in central Africa. The primary objective of the GCC project was to help USAID's Africa Bureau design a global climate change effort and fund innovative research to inmitigating field-test approaches. The ultimate goal was to improve African expertise deforestation and biomass burning, and the impacts of these processes on the environment, in order to enable the sub-Saharan countries to more effectively (1) manage their resources sustainably and (2) participate in international policy discussions that will influence both their own economic development and future greenhouse gas emissions from the rest of the world.

The key findings that have come out of the GCC project are that 1) overall, Africa contributes little to global climate change, yet is vulnerable to it, and 2) Africa's capacity to adapt to global climate change is limited.

The first phase of the GCC produced a series of technical papers which explored the following three issues: 1) the present understanding of current and potential carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation in central Africa; 2) the socioeconomic factors driving human activities in the central African forests; and 3) potential impacts of these activities and of global climate change on the region. The findings of these studies were widely disseminated through the project document Central Africa: Global Climate Change and Development (published in 1993), significantly raising the visibility of climate change as a critical problem affecting the future of Africa. This phase of the project showed that baseline scientific and socioeconomic information on the causes and effects of climate change in Africa are inadequate, of poor quality, or nonexistent. The report also recommended that, to be most effective, both research and mitigation activities should be carried out through collaboration between local governments, bilateral donors, NGOs and the scientific and resource management communities in Africa, Canada, Europe and the United States.

Phase II of the project explored these issues in more depth through a research grants program with the purpose of building a base of knowledge to strengthen African efforts to address the threat of climate change on their continent. This phase produced a series of tools and baseline databases to identify and monitor the impacts of climate change in Africa and to help develop regional approaches to slow the increasing degradation of the vast intact forest of Central Africa. Research grants were awarded to seven US and African scientists and NGOs addressing, in innovative ways, the key issues in climate change and land use identified in the Central Africa Global Climate Change Study (for more information see the grantee contact list below). The results of the research provided essential data for the development and implementation of field activities for mitigating emissions and potential negative impacts of land use change and global climate change in Central Africa. The seven studies have produced the following tools and assessments to be used in monitoring the Central African forest and in future conservation and development projects:

Step six of the seven research grants and associated slides is posted on this site. Technical questions and copies of the full research reports can be obtained from the authors, whose contact information is posted below. These articles were made possible through support provided by the Bureau for Global Programs, Research, and Field support, Center for the Environment, Office of Environment and Natural Resources (G/ENV/ENR), U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of Grant No. DHR-5554-A-00-8044-00. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The results and recommendations from Phase II of the GCC project led to the establishment of the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) project in 1995. Its objective is to engage African NGOs, research and educational institutions, private-sector consultants, and government agencies in evaluating threats to forest integrity in the Congo Basin and to identify opportunities to manage the region's vast forests sustainably for the benefit of Africans and the world. This 5 year project is a collaborative initiative between US-based and international partners, which invites and supports Central Africans' involvement to work in partnership with the CARPE member organizations to conduct studies, participate in workshops, and provide technical expertise. Some of CARPE's members and partners are: U.S.-based: NASA/University of Maryland, Peace Corps, USAID, USDA/Forest Service, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Learning (PVO-NGO/NRMS), World Resources Institute, WWF; Regional:African Forest Action Network (AFAN), Avenir des Peuples des Forêts Tropicales (APFT), Conference des Ecosytémes de Forêts Denses et Humides d'Afrique Centrale (CEFDHAC), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Central African Sustainable Use Specialist Group, ECOFAC, The World Conservation Union (IUCN), Regional Environmental Information Management Project (REIMP). CARPE's preliminary key findings are:

A third phase of the GCC project began in 1994 and is comprised of activities designed to assist the US-supported Country Studies Program which is currently assisting 12 African countries to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change. The US Country Studies Program is one activity in a comprehensive, international effort to understand and respond to the threat of global climate change, as scientists, NGOs and policy makers work to facilitate the Framework Convention on Climate Change. On the one hand, the convention commits the international community to provide financial and technical assistance for adaptation activities; on the other hand, it provides little or no region-specific adaptation strategies or estimates of the potential costs.

To complement the Country Studies' efforts, BSP's GCC - Phase III focused on Africa's global climate change adaptation mechanisms related to such issues as biodiversity, agriculture and food security, forests and sea level rise. The following activities have been carried out: (1) a regional conference on climate change was held in Togo, where integration of climate change considerations into NGO activities and national development planning in Africa was encouraged. At this conference the pan-African Climate Action Network was formalized and a strategy for regional climate change activities formulated; (2) a pan-African newsletter on climate change adaptation and vulnerability was produced and dissesminated.Three issues have been produced to date with one on the N.E.S.D.A. (Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa) web site. Three more are expected; (3) BSP and WRI collaborated to support climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments in Africa. BSP supported the Ugandan Ministry of Natural Resources to hold a national workshop in 1997 on developing a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Uganda. Participants included: experts from all the relevant Ugandan Ministries/Departments, representatives from educational and research institutions, and NGOs. Prior to this, a series of reports was prepared by the five leading government agencies/sectors with three main components: 1) a case study of recent flood or drought event(s), including damage caused in that sector and actions taken to reduce damage before, during and after; 2) identification of adaptation/response options; and 3) identification and description of policies in that sector that affect adaptation. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning also prepared a paper on National Development Policy and how the policies are likely to offset climate change and vulnerability. Copies of these documents can be obtained from Bwango-Apuuli. The third project phase will be finalized with a WRI/BSP publication on developing adaptation strategies in Africa with expected delivery date of July, 1998.

Grantee Contact Information (given alphabetically by author name):

Inventory of Wood Use in Charcoal Production in Zambia

Strategic Planning For Conservation Management Options In The Lobeke Region, Southeastern Cameroon

The Use of Time-Series Satellite Data for Characterization and Monitoring of the Seasonal Forests and Savannas of Central Africa

Study Of The Zaïrian Tropical Forest: Mapping Of The Vegetation Types And Understanding Of The Local Factors Of Change

Exploring Methods For Integrating Data On Socio-Economic And Environmental Processes That Influence Land Use Change: A Pilot Project

Inventory Of Major Saline Areas Of Dzanga-Sangha, Dzanga-Ndoki Reserve/Park

Contact information for Bwango-Apuuli and the Uganda Ministry of Natural Resources


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