Sustainable mountain development in East Africa in a changing climate

there is a need to enable communities to meet the challenges of climate change and the interactions with other people outside the mountains. To address such transboundary issues concerning shared mountain populations and ecosystems, efforts should be made to understand the linkages and develop laws and policies that foster productive interactions. Transnational policies and institutional arrangements At the transnational level, a significant number of policies and institutional frameworks exist and are in operation. In East Africa, these arrangements can be used to pursue the agenda for sustainable mountain development. These include, among others, the IGAD, the EAC, the SADC and COMESA. Under these political and economic subregional arrangements, there are institutional frameworks that address a wide range of issues that are relevant to mountain areas. These institutions have a variety of administrative levels particularly the commissions and secretariats, and through these it is possible to address pertinent mountain issues as well as develop and implement programmes of activities to address the challenges facing mountain ecosystems in a changing climate. At the political level, the EAC operates under a ‘Treaty of Cooperation’. The EAC Secretariat is the technical body that carries out Community operations. A number of protocols and policies at the Heads of State level have been put in place to facilitate the operation of these institutions. These include the East African Community Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources Management, the East African Climate Change Policy, and the East African Community Transboundary EcosystemManagement Act of 2010. The East African Climate Change Policy adopted on April 2011 contains activities and provisions for

addressing climate change adaptation. Steps have been taken to implement the policy, but significant challenges and gaps remain. An East African Community Climate Change Strategy was developed to guide and enhance strategic implementation of the policy. The EAC Secretariat in Arusha has also put in place lower level institutional arrangements. The Lake Victoria Basin Commission, for instance, has a number of programmes and projects relevant to natural resourcemanagement including formountain ecosystems and communities. Similar initiatives have been finalized or are under way and should be encouraged in the subregion. A Memorandum of Understanding was endorsed between Rwanda and Burundi in 2012 for the joint management of natural resources. Another Memorandum of Understanding was signed under the auspices of the EAC for improving the management of wildlife conservation in the Mara-Serengeti region. However, there are still other transboundary mountains in the region (such as the Pare Hills between Kenya and Tanzania) where collaboration is lacking. In general, there is still lack of vision on how the EAC could manage and coordinate efforts on mountains within the region. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as amended in 1996, is an intergovernmental institution for the East Africa region that addresses development issues, some of which are relevant to transboundary natural resources and ecosystems. The IGAD, which has its Secretariat in Djibouti, has clear policies and guidelines that govern its various entities. Over the years, the organization, through its Secretariat, has developed and implemented a number of strategies and programmes which address climate change and community livelihoods. While there is no explicit focus onmountain ecosystems and communities, there are strategies and programmes that offer other avenues for addressing mountains issues. For instance, the IGAD (2003) Strategy focuses

Regional institutional arrangements

SADC Southern African Development Community Tanzania

COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Burundi Kenya

Rwanda Uganda

EAC East African Community Burundi Kenya

Rwanda Tanzania Uganda South Sudan

IGAD Intergovernamental Authority on Development Kenya Tanzania

Source: R. Blein et al, 2013,“African agriculture, transformation and outlook”, New Patnership for African Development (NEPAD). Copyright©2015GRID-Arendal ·Cartografare ilpresente/ NievesLópez IzquierdoandDario Ingiusto

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