Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
African Great Lakes Workshop Session: Delineation of Key Biodiversity Areas for Lake Tanganyika Entebbe, Uganda 2 May 2017 * ~ 14:00-17:00 Key Biodiversity Areas – KBAs - are sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity WORKSHOP GOALS The May 2nd workshop is designed as a step in the process for proposing and evaluating new freshwater KBAs based on criteria and thresholds outlined under the new IUCN KBA standard published in 2016. The workshop will bring together species and system experts to evaluate biodiversity data for Lake Tanganyika collected and synthesized to date in the process, to provide feedback on specific areas that have been identified, to verify where possible whether the species are present at the required thresholds for the proposed KBAs, and to iteratively refine boundaries of the proposed KBAs, focal areas, and catchment management zones based on data and working knowledge of the region. Over the past decade, under the auspices of the of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), a Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas has revised the criteria and methodology for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) as sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The IUCN Standard for the Identification of KBAs, published last year, consolidated input of experts in the IUCN Commissions, Members and Secretariat staff, conservation organizations, academia, governments, donors and the private sector, and builds on more than 30 years of experience in identifying important sites for different taxonomic, ecological and thematic subsets of biodiversity. Current and ongoing approaches to designation of new freshwater KBAs is rooted in the recognition that new strategies and protection approaches are needed to fully protect freshwater biodiversity. New conservation strategies and tools are being developed in the context of freshwater KBA development to address the unique challenges presented by freshwater systems. Over the past year, Conservancy staff have been working with IUCN and other experts to compile and analyze available spatial data for Lake Tanganyika, to identify candidate KBAs within the lake that have exceptional potential to qualify for KBA designation criteria and thresholds based on the new KBA standard published in 2016, as well as having practical potential for application of local and regional management and conservation strategies. We have approached the task of proposing freshwater KBAs for Lake Tanganyika with the assumption that applying a combination of existing conceptual and methodological approaches and guidance under the new Standard can readily be adapted to in-lake delineation of lake catchment management zones, focal areas, and KBAs. Background. As one of the seven focal basins of interest in The Nature Conservancy’s AGLR Program, Lake Tanganyika is the world's second deepest and second largest freshwater lake by volume. Situated in the western arm of the African Rift, Lake Tanganyika is about 650 km in length and has an average width of about 50 km. It contains 17% of the world’s freshwater and hosts about 2000 species, half of them endemic to the Tanganyika Basin. As the world’s second largest (by volume) and second deepest lake, Lake Tanganyika contains 17% of the world’s freshwater and hosts about 2,000 species, half of them endemic to the Tanganyika Basin. Tanganyika is famous for its species of Cichlid fish, with over 260 species. In addition to a wide variety of charismatic wildlife that also live in or near the lake, the lake is documented to harbor numerous rare and/or endemic mollusks, freshwater crabs, reptiles, amphibians, and even insects. At the same time, many of the over 10 million people who have their home in the basin rely directly on the lake for their livelihoods; it is thus an important area for conservation both for species and for human use. As in many parts of the world, pressures are mounting, threatening the future of natural resources that have sustained globally-unique animals and plants, human communities, and nature-based livelihoods here for generations. Growing challenges outlined in the Lake Tanganyika Authority’s Strategic Action Programme (2012) include unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, sedimentation from watershed degradation, invasive species, expansion of industrial and extractive activities, and increasing pollution. These challenges are made more complex with climate change impacts that are starting to be felt in the basin. Although about 10 million people reside in the catchment, industries are few and concentrated in a few locations around the lake. Nonetheless, people inhabit most of the lake’s shoreline and their activities, domestic and industrial, have begun to affect the water quality in some areas. A range of activities are increasing that pose challenges and threats to habitat, water quality, and environmental health, including potential oil and gas extraction and development. Identifying potential IUCN Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) for the Lake Tanganyika is part of a broader effort by The Nature Conservancy in collaboration with the Lake Tanganyika Authority and other partners to develop improved tools and systems for conservation and natural resource management in the Lake Tanganyika basin, and to bring together existing scientific information in one central platform, a Freshwater Atlas. The African Great Lakes Region (AGLR) is globally significant as home to almost one third of Earth’s available surface freshwater and as much as 10% of the world’s freshwater fish species1. Together, lakes within the AGLR are estimated to contain half of the total fish species recorded on the African continent. The majority of these fish species are endemic and a significant portion are currently recognized as globally threatened. Safeguarding the region’s natural heritage is fundamental to the future water security and political and economic stability. Africa’s Great Lakes, as with other very large freshwater lake systems globally such as the U.S. Great Lakes, are extremely unique ecosystems both physically and biologically. On the entire globe, there are only 15 lakes with surface area greater than 5000 square miles; only ~31 with surface area greater than 5000 square kilometers. Of these, Lake Tanganyika is perhaps the standout star for endemic species, with close to 270 species of cichlids, more than half of which are endemic to Lake Tanganyika. With such systems, understanding of in-lake habitat processes, stressors, and delineation of key in-lake protected habitats is critical to their long-term sustainable management and conservation. 1 (Holland and Darwall, 2011