Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Agrarian Landscapes in Kenya
Context
„All over the world, including in Kenya, population growth, changing consumption patterns and the resulting growth in demand for food and renewable natural resources are leading to a continuous expansion of agricultural areas. At the same time, agricultural production is becoming increasingly intensive, with high input of fertilisers and pesticides”. […] “The value of ecosystem services for agricultural production and the costs caused by their degradation are usually not taken into account in the planning of agricultural production systems.” […] ”Kenya’s agriculture is mainly characterised by smallholdings of up to 3 hectares. The country’s agriculture employs around 40% of the total population and is the basis of livelihood for 70% of the rural population. The ecosystems existing in the various agro-ecological zones show different degrees of vulnerability to anthropogenic land uses.“
Project description
The project aims to strengthen individual and institutional capacities to mainstream biodiversity and manage ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes sustainably.
It is integrated into the target dimension “Building capacity to conserve biological diversity” of International Climate Initiative (IKI) field of assistance IV “Biological diversity” of the Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and part of a global project, that has global activities as well as in-country activities in Kenya, India and Tajikistan. In Kenya, the main implementation partner is the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF).
The project focuses on providing platforms for stakeholders from Government and civil society to enhance the national discussion on agrobiodiversity and ecosystems services, integrating agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services into the curricula of educational institutes and deliver training and capacity building, raising awareness and promoting good practices of sustainable agricultural approaches via the online-platform PANORAMA, and establishing expert networks to support policy development towards a stronger recognition of agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services in national policies.
The project pursues a multilevel approach. The initial analysis of existing proofing and mainstreaming tools and the collection of best practices / solutions for biodiversity mainstreaming will familiarise technical advisers and policy decision-makers with successful approaches for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into agricultural practice. They will subsequently be supported in introducing biodiversity-enhancing-land-use approaches in federal state and national strategies and planning instruments. The international discussion on the integration of biodiversity will be enriched and developed further trough the dissemination of good practices, case studies and other products generated under the project.
At a side event of the 14th Conference of Parties of the CBD (Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 17 – 29 November 2018), one of the national project partners presented the Kenya country package of the project and a biodiversity policy from county level.
Services
In order to achieve the overall outcome, the following service packages are foreseen:
- Service Package 1: Assessment of Biodiversity mainstreaming approaches and good practices;
- Service Package 2: Capacity Development Strategy and Training Modules on Biodiversity mainstreaming and ES in cooperation with the government agencies responsible for environment and agriculture and with the local population
- Service Package 3: Awareness raising and placement on the political agenda as well as in sector strategies/policies;
- Service Package 4: Dissemination and publication of lessons learned (knowledge management and expert knowledge sharing).
