Options for governance and decision-making across scales and sectors

Abstract

African populations share a close relationship with, and are highly dependent on, biodiversity and ecosystem services. A major challenge lies in managing and governing this human-environment relationship for Africa’s transformation towards sustainability and resilience (high agreement, robust evidence). A wide variety of governance options exist in Africa for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable delivery of ecosystem services and benefits to people under a range of future scenarios. Progress in achieving the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and African Union Agenda 2063, will be shaped by the governance choices made on the continent (Chapter 5, Table 5.7). Good environmental governance is critical for enabling Africa’s diversity to deliver ecosystem services to people. A polycentric governance system has always been practiced in Africa and has addressed different interests in managing natural resources. It is grounded in the processes of accountability through stakeholder and actor engagement, harnesses co-benefits and value added, and addresses trade-offs. As such, it entails working across scales, sectors, values and knowledge systems including indigenous and local knowledge and institutions and adaptive management. It also involves building a sense of social responsibility and vigorously pursuing ‘no regrets’ options, particularly in relation to drivers of changes (identified in Chapter 4) {6.1, 6.2.1, 6.4.5}.