Climate change prevention and adaptation strategies in UNESCO biosphere reserves in the AfriMAB network

Abstract

African countries and societies are still heavily dependent upon their natural resources. As such, many countries have a strong tourism sector and rely on nature-based tourism income for development and conservation efforts. African societies are extremely vulnerable to climate change as it will affect the natural resources and livelihoods on which they depend. Effective ways must therefore be found to both conserve the environment and sustainably fulfil societal needs. The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Man and Biosphere Programme aim to address these issues by extending conservation beyond the boundaries of formally protected areas and promoting sustainable development. Research on human/nature interactions informs climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, the question arises of how individual biosphere reserves in Africa have implemented these measures and what is needed to achieve the targets set by the Paris Agreement.

This study aims to determine how UNESCO biosphere reserves in Africa can position themselves in such a way that they can optimally counter climate change within their current institutional structure. This is achieved by adopting systems thinking, the social-ecological systems framework and the adaptive cycle. The Delphi research technique was employed, where an online questionnaire was distributed to 100 members of the AfriMAB network. This received a 70% response rate, representing 35 out of the 90 biosphere reserves. The representatives were asked about their current structure and climate change projects, what they foresee will happen in the future, and what can be done to improve this scenario.

Most climate change projects reported were related to climate change adaptation and mitigation of forests, climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture, mainstreaming biodiversity, enhancing landscape connectivity, and sustainable fishing. Overall, 49% of all climate change-related projects were funded by international organisations such as the GIZ and the European Union, 20% of projects were funded locally, 12% nationally, and 11% by the state or province. The results indicate that most respondents (63%) believe there is a less than 50% chance that the global increase in temperature would remain below 2⁰C by 2050.

While the initial results of this study indicate that the UNESCO biosphere reserve network might have a substantial impact on climate change adaptation and mitigation, the findings also suggest that much more needs to be done to achieve the temperature targets set out in the Paris Agreement and reduce the vulnerability of natural resource dependant societies in Africa. Furthermore, this relates to the implementation of the 30 x 30 goal of the UN Biodiversity Conference held in Montreal in December 2022 and its intention to foster the role of indigenous people by designating new protected areas for conservation as well as for nature-based tourism purposes.