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Showing posts with the label Corona pandemic

Africa Report: COVID-19:Coronavirus in Africa could Reverse 30 years of Wildlife Conservation Gains

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Daily Rendezvous Growing strains on local economies have led to concerns about food security. For wild animals in Africa on the verge of extinction and the tight knit communities who protect them, COVID-19 is a specter, disrupting a delicate balancing act of survival for both humans and endangered species. African officials and conservation experts from Kenya, Uganda and Gabon briefed members of Congress on May 12 about the growing impact of Coronavirus on protected wildlife areas. Their overarching message: new policies must take into account both national security concerns, and sustaining livelihood in communities hardest hit by the lockdown measures. Unless African governments can maintain strong networks of community conservation areas, supporting thousands of jobs dedicated to wildlife conservation, protected wildlife areas face a difficult road to recovery. The fear is that Coronavirus in Africa could reverse 30 years of conservation gains, including communal conserva...

Africa Report: African Development Bank's Adaptation Mechanism to Benefit Ivorian Small Holders Farms

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Daily Rendezvous Cocoa plantations, which are the backbone of the world’s chocolate supply, are highly vulnerable to climate hazards, such as heatwaves, droughts, seasonal shifts, and erratic rainfall Help is on the way for the global cocoa supply chain, severely threatened by climate change. A new project by the African Development Bank and the International Agroforestry Agency [ICRAF would bring relief to two Ivorian smallholder cocoa farmers’ communities in Soubre and Vavoua currently grappling with declining yields caused by climate change and worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Without help, some 800,000 Ivorian smallholder farmers, who produce the largest share of the world’s cocoa supply, could suffer heavy production losses due to production and supply chain disruption. “Our experience has proven that agroforestry practices, knowledge, and skills transfer enhance the sustainability of cocoa plantations and improve the resilience of smallholder farmers’ co...