Working at a Transformative Scale
Historically most investment in conserving the Okavango has focused on the Delta, with scant resources flowing to Angola. A newly launched five-year program called Ecosystems, Communities, and Climate Cubango-Okavango, or ECCO for short, brings $7.5 million of funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and $10 million of private sector leveraged funding to strengthen and expand action in the upper basin region.
The ECCO objectives are:
1. Promote conservation-based livelihoods for biodiversity, forests and climate resilience
2. Support community-led governance of water supply and sanitation services.
3. Strengthen cross-sector landscape collaboration for biodiversity and human well-being.
Having played a lead role in working with USAID to mobilize the funding, TNC is leading implementation through a consortium of partners including local NGOs, transboundary institutions and private sector companies.
“Wetlands like the Okavango are exceedingly complex ecosystems where the seasonal ebb and flow of water and other natural processes work in harmony to support wildlife and people,” says Elizeth Goncalves, TNC Okavango Program Manager.
“It stands to reason that the only way to save the Delta is to work at the scale of the entire ecosystem, especially the critical headwaters, to orchestrate solutions that support people in Angola and ensure that the wetlands come alive year after year, right in time for wildlife to arrive.”
Source link : https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/africa/stories-in-africa/angola-okavango-basin-protection/
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Publish date : 2023-05-22 07:00:00
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