Expression of Interest

This vision aims to enable seven West African countries (Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone) to meet by 2020 their commitments for protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity, including Aichi target 11 and related protected area commitments,, by strengthening the national and regional protected areas system. The project will seek to maximise protected areas’ ecosystem services, particularly to local communities; by addressing sustainable finance, addressing institutional and legislative barriers, building capacity of all involved stakeholders to addressing threats, promoting innovative governance mechanisms, as well as a major communication and outreach programme that will advocate the benefits from protected areas.

(1) Establishing a regional coordination - “Protected area pledge: Africa far west” (2) Establishment of a regional protected areas’ network and associated biological corridors (3) Identification of value of goods and services from protected areas along with the main beneficiaries (4) Implementation of capacity building and outreach activities for protected area staff, communities and policy-makers (5) Integration of climate change into protected areas planning and management (6) Development of sustainable finance mechanisms for protected areas (7) Promotion of legislation and policy related to protected areas (8) Development of tools for addressing threats to protected areas