Sustainable mountain development in East Africa in a changing climate

Climate change adaptation A few projects relating to climate change adaptation have been implemented in the mountain regions of East Africa. There have been some notable achievements, but also a number of challenges. One of the most recent projects was the Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EBA) programme, which covered eight mountainous districts in Uganda. The project was jointly implemented by the Government of Uganda, UNEP, UNDP and IUCN. The project was implemented by local and central government teams in close collaboration with local communities. The overall objective of the project was to strengthen Uganda’s capacity for promoting ecosystem-based adaptation options and to reduce the vulnerability of communities to climate change impacts with particular emphasis on the Mount Elgon ecosystem. Another project of relevance to the East Africa region is the Strengthening Sustainable Environment and Natural Resource Management, Climate Adaptation and Mitigation project in Uganda. The project was implemented by WWF and focuses on the Rwenzori Mountains. In Burundi, the Enhancing Climate Risk Management and Adaptation project was implemented between 2010 and 2014. The project aimed at integrating relevant information on climate change into national and subnational decision- making processes by raising awareness, developing preparedness and adaptationmeasures, and enhancing the capacity of the population to adapt to climate change and reduce vulnerability (GEF, 2010). Generally, reasonable achievements have been made in terms of creating awareness of climate change and building local institutional capacity for climate change adaptation in the mountainous areas. These projects are, however, scattered and rather short- lived and, therefore, unlikely to demonstrate any significant long-term impact.

Simien mountains, Ethiopia

to provide sustainable livelihoods as an alternative to agricultural encroachment into the park. The Trust is recognized internationally as an example of innovative conservation finance (World Bank, 2002). Conservation and Management of the Eastern Arc Mountain Forests of Tanzania Project aimed to build consensus among multiple stakeholders around how best to conserve mountain biodiversity; support the implementation of community-based conservation initiatives in priority pilot areas in the Uluguru Mountains; and develop lessons that could be extended to other areas (UNDP, 2010). It also supported a process of institutional reform to strengthen institutional capacity to undertake

participatory forest biodiversity conservation. The UNDP implemented Community Management of Protected Areas for Conservation Project aimed to promoting community-based biodiversity conservation in the Kilimanjaro region (OECD, 2003). Other similar projects include the World Bank-funded Forest Conservation and Management Project, which focused on the development of the forestry sector, and on biodiversity conservation in Tanzania’s forests. The latter component, which is supported by the GEF and jointly implemented with UNDP, focused on the Eastern Arc forests, which are recognized as biodiversity hotspots, and are a crucial water catchment area for Tanzania’s water supply and hydroelectric power generation.

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