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The Regional Workshop for Coastal West-African countries on CBD/UNDP elearning course on Protected Areas is being held from 10 – 12 May 2016. The workshop is seen as a training of trainers. The main objectives of the workshop are: To present and promote the conservation.org global e-course on protected areas; Build capacity and confidence in training and encouraging key stakeholders in taking part in the e-course for the 8 weeks online course to be initiated on June 1st, 2016; Enhance understanding and capacity among participants to manage biodiversity protection within the NBSAP process of the UNCBD Research institutes/universities participating in the workshop are strongly encouraged to include these modules into their curricula. The Workshop has been organised by the Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation in West-Africa (PRCM) through the CBD project entitled ‘Enabling PRCM countries to meet their obligations for the Convention on Biological Diversity’, with support from the Institute of Francophonie and Sustainable Development (IFDD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the NBSAP Forum. The Workshop is being held in the beautiful coastal city of Saly, Senegal. Participants comprise protected areas managers, policy-makers, experts and academicians from seven West-African countries, namely Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Participants include representatives from Abidjan Convention; RAMPAO; the University of Nouakchott (Mauritania); Institute Oceanography, University of Freetown of Marine (Sierra Leone); Biology and and Master GIDEL, University of Dakar (Senegal). Day I and Day II has been exciting with very engaging participants discussing issues related to global perspective on world’s protected areas; spatial and sectoral integration of protected areas. Specific cases of trans-boundary Protected Areas were discussed with participants from each bordering country. Participants at length discussed the challenges and factors of success of transboundary protected areas. The workshop managed to balance group discussions, plenaries and expert presentations. The methodology adopted for each module was as follows: Expert presentation introducing the Module available online, Working group discussions addressing questions and practicing exercises as provided in the online training module Presenting group discussion summary at the Plenary Observations presented below are the result of the reporting at the plenary. Updates from Day I Global Trends in Protected Areas and Biodiversity: Participants observed that although there is an increase in the world’s protected areas, there is a relative decrease in resources due to lack of good governance and implementation, especially at the local level. Lack of community participation, conflict between development and conservation goals of countries, challenges related to landscape based management were also recognized as some of the major trends in the world’s protected areas. Increased human population, exploitative agricultural practices, business as usual approach and lack of proper communication channels were some of the major drivers of biodiversity loss that were recognized by the participants. Agriculture, Infrastructure, Energy, Tourism, Extractive industry, and high production forest exploitation were identified as major sectors driving biodiversity loss. Trans-boundary Protected Areas: Participants underscored the importance of creating trans-boundary protected areas for effective and efficient protected area management. Trans-boundary protected area challenges and opportunities were discussed amongst bordering countries during real case-based discussions. Conflicting polices and regulations, lack of involvement of corridor communities, conflicting status of forest areas across borders, border disputes, conflicting government priorities i.e. development vs. conservation were highlighted as some of the major issues. Collaboration, coordination, capacity building, and communication among bordering countries; compliance with international biodiversity conservation goals; harmonizing regional legislation; engaging with corridor communities were recognized as the primary steps to achieve a coherent approach towards successful trans-boundary protected areas establishment and management. Participants also brainstormed over potential trans-boundary protected areas that may be created with neighboring countries. They also discussed the steps necessary to be undertaken in their countries for successfully creating these protected areas. Updates from Day II Use of appropriate technology: Day II progressed into discussions related to the use of appropriate technology as a fundamental part of protected area management. Participants shared their knowledge and understanding on current and new technologies and methodologies like GIS, use of drones, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), remote sensing, spatial planning tools, tools for ecological survey etc. Participants also discussed the use of new technologies like drones, GPS utilization in terms of security and legality. Participants also highlighted challenges like lack of financial resources and lack of capacity to use appropriate technology for efficient biodiversity and protected area management and monitoring. Resource Mobilization: One of the modules focused is the important question resource mobilization for protected area management. The BIOFIN workbook was introduced as an innovative methodology enabling countries to measure their current biodiversity expenditures, assess their financial needs in the medium term and identify the most suitable finance solutions to bridge their national biodiversity finance gaps. Participants observed that the budgets allocated for PA management is insufficient, making it difficult to implement strategic activities. Mauritania and Guinea Bissau have created trust funds to fill the financial gaps in terms of resource mobilization for protected area management and biodiversity conservation. Various income-generating activities were highlighted as additional financial resources for protected area management and biodiversity conservation. Strengthening public-private partnership was recommended as another important strategy to ensure sustainable finance. Protected Areas and Climate Change: The day was completed with the module on protected areas and climate change, where functional ecosystem within protected areas offer a strong capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Participants recognized that increase in temperatures has resulted in change in weather and rain patterns affecting migratory and breeding cycles, and habitat loss. Ecosystem restoration, reforestation and afforestation, use of new agricultural techniques using water saving measures, sand-dune fixations, setting up of wind breaks, flood and sediment breaks, creating fire belts involving communities were recognized as some of the ways to buffer climate change through Protected Areas management plans and practices. Updates from the last day. The third day of the workshop the participant reflected, discussed and presented and practice the module focusing on governance and monitoring of protected areas. The importance of good and effective governance for protect areas was discussed and examples of best practices were provided from first-hand experience from participants. For example communities members living at a proximity of a protected area are taking part in monitoring of the ecosystem, are involved in managing structures and in the decision making process. Such co-management processes have shown in various places to improved effective implementation of the plans. In addition, the practice ethical values in management practices have shown to be essential for improving the implementation of ambitious plans for the protection of ecosystems and their biodiversity. The workshop participants had the opportunity to continue to practice the use of NBSAP.net website for networking and accessing knowledge resources among PA practitioners. They also continued to access the e-modules on conservation.org in order to become familiar with the navigation and the content of the upcoming online course. Before closing the workshop participants had the opportunity to present the capacity building and dissemination plan for their respective countries. Action planned include the use of the 8 weeks e-learning course to be launched on June 1st, 2016 to provide training for protected areas managers and relevant practitioner, but also university with the relevant expertise, the relevant civil society and community representatives and environmental media. This workshop is proving to be an excellent segway into the NBSAP Forum's upcoming interactive eight-week E-learning course on ‘Protected Areas Management and Design’ starting from 1st June, 2016. For registering for the eight-week e-learning course, contact Heena Ahmed, Policy Specialist, NBSAP Forum ([email protected]). Check the Forum website for more on the e-learning UNDP certified course and updates on the Workshop!