The current proposal to establish a work program on agriculture at COP 17 strongly emphasizes mitigation over adaptation. This would likely be based on an expansion of the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund, which holds up the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project as a model for such efforts around the world. The Kenya project supports important improvements in agricultural practices that will strengthen the soil, increase yields and potentially reduce emissions.

However, there are significant problems with its linkage to carbon market. Full story here:

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) has just been launched at COP17. 

The report “Food Sovereignty Systems: Feeding the world, regenerating ecosystems, rebuilding local economies, and cooling the Planet – all at the same time” shows Food Sovereignty in order for African farmers to be resilient to Climate Change. Download the report here.

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) PRESS RELEASE Monday 5 December 2011

African farmers and civil society groups in Africa are celebrating the launch of a “network of African networks”, called the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). They have released a report emphasising that Food Sovereignty can cool the planet, while feeding the world and regenerating ecosystems.

Read full press release. 

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is a new association of African networks that have come together to form a united African voice on key issues affecting the continent's peoples' in particular, farmers, food systems, forests and other ecosystems.  AFSA aims to strengthen the already existing and growing food sovereignty movement in Africa.  Our objective is to create a strong voice that calls for effective policies in the interconnected areas of family farming and food systems, promotion of traditional and indigenous knowledge systems, regeneration and protections of ecosystems and community rights and ecological governance systems in Africa.  Our over arching objective is to promote African solutions for food sovereignty.

Goal for Durban 2011: 

This will be Africa's third Conference of Parties (COP) and will be another opportunity for a region that is predominantly reliant on rain-fed agriculture to tell its story of vulnerability to global climate change.  We will demonstrate that small farmers and indigenous peoples are still feeding the continent and can continue to do with the right support and will challenge the internal and external forces that undermine our communities and their territories.  Through massive mobilisation, African civil society will amplify the message that tangible solutions to climate change are attainable.  More on AFSA can be found here.

NEWS - September 26th 2011

The ABN family joins the rest of the world in mourning the death of Professor Wangari Maathai. Read reflections and condolences from across the African Biodiversity Network here. 

Celebrating Professor Wangari Muta Maathai

Wangari Maathai - Reclaiming the Earth

The trees will clap for her

Committed to Justice to People and Planet

Mother nature mourns your death

Unbowed and unbeaten till the end

"We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk! " Rest in peace Professor Wangari Maathai.

NEWS - July 4th 2011 -  Kenyans protest over GM maize imports.

NEWS - June 2011 - The ABN's biennial partner's meeting took place in Kenya. View the photo gallery here!

NEWS - 30th May 2011 - Kenyan Farmers Root for Organic

NEWS 20th May 2011 - The ABN's Advocacy team have been conducting national Biosafety workshops in East Africa. Earlier this week we were in Tanzania. The story features here in the Tanzania Daily News.

NEWS - ABN partner Mphatheleni Makaulule of the Mupo Foundation, South Africa, speaks out for International Women's Day and raises awareness of the necessity of protecting sacred sites and our cultural heritage. Read the interviews in the Mail&Guardian and The Ecologist.

NEWS - The ABN has co-authored a new report on the impact of the UN's Clean Development Mechanism to mitigate climate change. Read the report CDM and Africa: Marketing a New Land Grab.

NEWS - The ABN is delighted to share a brand NEW film from our partner Melca Ethiopia. Watch The Story of Sheka Forest: Wisdom from the Past, Resilience for the Future by clicking here.

The African Biodiversity Network (ABN) is a regional network of individuals and organisations seeking African solutions to the ecological and socio-economic challenges that face the continent. The ABN was first conceived in 1996 in response to growing concern in the region over threats to Biodiversity in Africa and the need to develop strong African positions and legal instruments at the national, regional and international level. Currently The ABN has 36 partners drawn from twelve African countries:  Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The African Biodiversity Network strives to ignite and nurture a growing network of change agents working passionately at all levels, in the face of injustices and destruction arising from the current industrial development model, to enable resilient local communities to govern their lives and livelihoods rooted in their own social, cultural & ecological diversity.

We focus on indigenous knowledge, ecological agriculture and biodiversity related rights, policy and legislation. We pioneer culturally-centred approaches to social and ecological problems in Africa through sharing experiences, co-developing methodologies and creating a united African voice on the continent on these issues.

Africa is at a crossroads, trying to reconcile the conservation and recuperation of its vast cultural and natural heritage and meet the many needs of a growing population. Powerful external forces continue to divert us from solutions that come from within Africa as they push for the privatisation and industrialisation of land, knowledge and biodiversity in the name of poverty alleviation.

However, the solutions that we seek already lie within our indigenous cultures. The ABN is a network committed to unearthing and implementing African solutions to African problems and building solidarity on biodiversity and community rights issues on the continent.

The ABN is committed to the following thematic areas. Click on the links to find out more:

Building Ecosystem and Community Resilience

Strengthening Advocacy Alliances

Strengthening Network Development
 

Together, the African Biodiversity Network is finding innovative and pioneering pathways and solutions to the challenges which face the continent. We thank you for supporting this journey.