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Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change

Received: 24 July 2017    Accepted: 21 August 2017    Published: 13 October 2017
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Abstract

The last 15 years have seen the establishment of several transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) in Africa, presenting a unique opportunity of using an integrated ecosystem approach for promoting sustainable ecosystems services. TBCAs have unique characteristics for livelihood improvement of adjacent human communities. Mountain TBCAs in Africa, are increasingly being threatened due to commercial exploitation as well as population and commercial growth, resulting in logging, conflicts and poor land use practices. This is being exacerbated by challenges of climate change. We examined the potential of the TBCA approach for the alleviation of such threats and promoting sustainable mountain development including adaptation and coping mechanisms with respect to climate change. Data and information was gathered largely through field observations, discussions and relevant secondary sources. The results revealed that: 1) While single countries have developed frontier areas within the established TBPAs there is a lack of transboundary governance that enables transboundary development of infrastructure and the sustainable management of natural resources. 2) Socio-economic development and adaptation of human communities towards climate change inside TBPAs have largely taken place as part of activities not connected to the establishment of a TBCA. In conclusion for realising the exceptional opportunities that TBPAs offer, two things are important; 1) To date, biodiversity conservation inside TBPAs has been emphasised. Sustainable livelihood improvement inside a TBPAs should be the point of departure for achieving conservation of natural resources including biodiversity. 2) The establishment of consistent transboundary governance is crucial for achieving that.

DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13
Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 6, December 2017)
Page(s) 117-126
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

African Mountains, Global Change, Trans-Boundary, Conservation Area

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Environmental Management, Makerere University, Mountain Resource Centre, Kampala, Uganda

  • Centre of Environmental Studies, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

  • National Environment Management Authority, Kampala, Uganda

Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Nakileza Bob Roga, Wilem Ferguson, Festus Bagoora. (2017). Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change. Earth Sciences, 6(6), 117-126. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13

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    ACS Style

    Nakileza Bob Roga; Wilem Ferguson; Festus Bagoora. Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change. Earth Sci. 2017, 6(6), 117-126. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13

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    AMA Style

    Nakileza Bob Roga, Wilem Ferguson, Festus Bagoora. Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change. Earth Sci. 2017;6(6):117-126. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13,
      author = {Nakileza Bob Roga and Wilem Ferguson and Festus Bagoora},
      title = {Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {6},
      pages = {117-126},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20170606.13},
      abstract = {The last 15 years have seen the establishment of several transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) in Africa, presenting a unique opportunity of using an integrated ecosystem approach for promoting sustainable ecosystems services. TBCAs have unique characteristics for livelihood improvement of adjacent human communities. Mountain TBCAs in Africa, are increasingly being threatened due to commercial exploitation as well as population and commercial growth, resulting in logging, conflicts and poor land use practices. This is being exacerbated by challenges of climate change. We examined the potential of the TBCA approach for the alleviation of such threats and promoting sustainable mountain development including adaptation and coping mechanisms with respect to climate change. Data and information was gathered largely through field observations, discussions and relevant secondary sources. The results revealed that: 1) While single countries have developed frontier areas within the established TBPAs there is a lack of transboundary governance that enables transboundary development of infrastructure and the sustainable management of natural resources. 2) Socio-economic development and adaptation of human communities towards climate change inside TBPAs have largely taken place as part of activities not connected to the establishment of a TBCA. In conclusion for realising the exceptional opportunities that TBPAs offer, two things are important; 1) To date, biodiversity conservation inside TBPAs has been emphasised. Sustainable livelihood improvement inside a TBPAs should be the point of departure for achieving conservation of natural resources including biodiversity. 2) The establishment of consistent transboundary governance is crucial for achieving that.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Transboundary Conservation Areas in African Mountains: Opportunities and Challenges for Addressing Global Change
    AU  - Nakileza Bob Roga
    AU  - Wilem Ferguson
    AU  - Festus Bagoora
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20170606.13
    AB  - The last 15 years have seen the establishment of several transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) in Africa, presenting a unique opportunity of using an integrated ecosystem approach for promoting sustainable ecosystems services. TBCAs have unique characteristics for livelihood improvement of adjacent human communities. Mountain TBCAs in Africa, are increasingly being threatened due to commercial exploitation as well as population and commercial growth, resulting in logging, conflicts and poor land use practices. This is being exacerbated by challenges of climate change. We examined the potential of the TBCA approach for the alleviation of such threats and promoting sustainable mountain development including adaptation and coping mechanisms with respect to climate change. Data and information was gathered largely through field observations, discussions and relevant secondary sources. The results revealed that: 1) While single countries have developed frontier areas within the established TBPAs there is a lack of transboundary governance that enables transboundary development of infrastructure and the sustainable management of natural resources. 2) Socio-economic development and adaptation of human communities towards climate change inside TBPAs have largely taken place as part of activities not connected to the establishment of a TBCA. In conclusion for realising the exceptional opportunities that TBPAs offer, two things are important; 1) To date, biodiversity conservation inside TBPAs has been emphasised. Sustainable livelihood improvement inside a TBPAs should be the point of departure for achieving conservation of natural resources including biodiversity. 2) The establishment of consistent transboundary governance is crucial for achieving that.
    VL  - 6
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