This issue of the African Knowledge Platform (AKP) newsletter shines a spotlight on biodiversity.

The 4^th Pillar of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 calls for an ambitious global biodiversity agenda. This Strategy aims to deploy EU external actions to improve governance, trade policy, resource mobilisation, and international cooperation. For example, the EU doubled its external funding for biodiversity for 2021-2027 to €7 billion.

At the centre of these efforts in Africa is NaturAfrica, an initiative to protect wildlife and key ecosystems while offering development opportunities in green sectors for local populations (e.g., nature-based businesses, non-timber forest products, sustainable rangeland management and agro-pastoral value chains).

To succeed, initiatives like NaturAfrica must integrate science and policy across various themes, not just ecology. The European Commission offers products dedicated to biodiversity, such as the  Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, DOPA (Digital Observatory for Protected Areas), and BIOPAMA (Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Programme). The AKP complements these specialist portals by providing a unique single-entry point for diverse data, tailored to the African context, needed by a modern multidisciplinary initiative like NaturAfrica.  In addition to geographic data on protected areas, habitats, and priority landscapes, the AKP also serves data on human settlements, livestock densities, and opportunities for viewing large game species.

The multidisciplinary character of NaturAfrica embodies larger global trends around biodiversity. As the global community comes together this week at COP 15 in Montreal to finalise the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, they will expand their ambition beyond plants and animals. The EU is central to these international negotiations with the aim of raising the level of ambitions globally, particularly in Africa.

Although the draft Framework’s 2030 Action Targets cover traditional conservation issues – like protected areas, ecological restoration, sustainable harvesting and eradicating invasive species – they also encompass themes beyond the natural environment. This includes the integration of biodiversity into development processes and poverty reduction in the public and private sectors (Target 14) and a shift towards full sustainability of extraction and production practices (Target 15). 

This newsletter draw attention to how the Africa Knowledge Platform can support the European Commission’s efforts around biodiversity. This includes participating in important events in the annual biodiversity calendar, tailoring biodiversity information for the African context, and summarising some of the latest scientific research from the Joint Research Centre.