Awareness raising and mainstreaming CWR into national agendas

The activities under this work package aimed to enhance and strengthen national coordination among the different sectors of agriculture, forestry, environment and land use planning, who are the key stakeholders to ensure that the concerns on conservation and use of CWR are adequately mainstreamed in national policy.

• Each country organized national committees to bring together the key stakeholders needed to ensure proper implementation of the project in their respective countries.
• Joint meetings were held between ministries to facilitate collaboration among these key stakeholders.
• Mainstreaming of CWR into the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP), development plans, protected area management plans, and other key agricultural policies relating to environmental protection, food security, and climate change was carried out.
  • The Mauritian CWR team also participated in a national meeting of the preparation of NBSAP and it was agreed that the National Strategic Action Plan for CWR would be integrated with the NBSAP.
  • Similarly, national partners in Zambia and South Africa ensured that the project on CWR were included in the countries’ NBSAP.
  • In South Africa CWR conservation was also included in the South Africa strategy for implementing Target 9 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.  

• In Mauritius, the CWR team was invited to the validation workshop for the UNDP GEF project on Protected Areas Network Expansion, where it was agreed to consider areas rich in CWR to be included in the PA network.
• Mainstreaming the potential use of CWR in countries’ breeding programme was done through discussion with institutions involved in plant breeding – MSIRI and FAREI in Mauritius, ARC in South Africa and ZARI in Zambia.
• Linkages with farming communities to mainstream CWR conservation and use in their activities was mostly achieved by involving farmers in national stakeholder meetings. In Zambia, a specific study to engage with farmers was undertaken. This involved discussing farmers’ incentive mechanisms for in situ conservation of CWR. Surveys of CWR on farm and on communal lands were carried out in 26 local communities.

The project was presented at a number of conferences and side events. Presentations, as well as material produced to support awareness activities are available here.