Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot

Introduction

In September 2010 the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) appointed the Wildlands Conservation Trust as the Regional Implementation Team for a $6,650,000 investment in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. In this role Wildlands is charged to provide strategic leadership and effective coordination for a portfolio of grants in the Region. CEPF’s donors authorise a period of five years for grant-making.

The formal period in Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany is from 1 September 2010 through to 31 August 2015. In fulfilling its mandate, Wildlands coordinated the awarding of three large grants and four smaller grants (less than $20,000) during the 2010/2011 financial year.

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

Everyone depends on the Earth’s ecosystems and their life-sustaining benefits, such as clean air, fresh water and healthy soils. Founded in 2000, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) has become a global leader in enabling civil society to participate in, and benefit from, conserving some of the world’s most critical ecosystems. CEPF is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank.

CEPF provides grants for non-governmental and other private organisations to help protect biodiversity hotspots – Earth’s most biologically rich and threatened areas. The convergence of critical areas for conservation, with millions of people who are impoverished and highly dependent on healthy ecosystems, is more evident in the hotspots than anywhere else.

CEPF is unique among funding mechanisms in that it focuses on biological areas, rather than political boundaries, and examines conservation threats on a landscape-scale basis. From this perspective, CEPF seeks to identify and support a regional, rather than a national, approach to achieving conservation outcomes, and engages a wide range of public and private institutions to address conservation needs through coordinated
regional efforts.

About the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot

The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot spans an area of nearly 275 000 km² and includes portions of South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. The hotspot is the second richest Floristic Region in southern Africa and Africa (after the Cape Floristic Region) for its size. At a habitat level, one type of forest, three types of thicket, six types of bushveld and five types of grasslands are unique to the hotspot. The coastal waters of this hotspot are also significant at a global level for their diverse marine species.

Paralleling the natural, cultural and socio-economic diversity of this region is incredibly high. From residents within the urban centers of Maputo, Durban and Port Elizabeth, to commercial farmers and foresters, to traditional pastoral cultures of the Zulu, Xhosa and Swazi and artisanal fishing culture in Mozambique, all of these are dependent on the region’s natural resources for their well-being and livelihoods. The CEPF investment in this region is critical to stem the threats, balance human and natural needs, and conserve this unique part of the world.

Investment Priorities

• Strengthen protection and management in under-capacitated and emerging protected areas in 3 priority key biodiversity areas.
• Expand conservation areas and improve land use in 19 key biodiversity areas through innovative approaches.
• Maintain and restore ecosystem function and integrity in the Highland Grasslands and Pondoland corridors.
• Create an enabling environment to improve conservation and management of Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany priority sites.

Wildlands’ role

The CEPF Secretariat engages a Regional Implementation Team in each hotspot to oversee grant-making, facilitate partnerships, and promulgate activities that support the conservation outcomes expressed in the Ecosystem Profile.

The Secretariat conducted a competitive application process in early 2010 and selected the Wildlands Conservation Trust to serve in this role. The Wildlands team, in conjunction with a CEPF Grant Director based at Conservation International’s offi ces in the United States, is responsible for managing the application, solicitation and award process and overseeing grantees as they implement their projects.

The CEPF Secretariat makes direct awards for all grants of $20 000 or more.  Wildlands is responsible for making grant awards of less than $20 000. Wildlands receives funds from Conservation International, which it, in turn, can grant to eligible groups in any of the three countries. In general, grants of less than $20 000 are for organisations with limited experience in managing international donor funds.

On a periodic basis, Wildlands solicits letters of inquiry from eligible parties. Qualified applicants are then invited to submit full proposals through an online system managed by CEPF. Wildlands is responsible for ensuring that all proposals are reviewed by at least two external experts.

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Outcomes

The Ecosystem Profile identifies conservation outcomes – targets against which the success of investments can be measured – as the scientific underpinning for determining geographic and thematic focus for investments. Conservation outcomes are the full set of quantitative conservation targets in a hotspot that need to be achieved in order to prevent biodiversity loss.

In Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, these outcomes are reflected in the Strategic Directions, which highlight a total of 22 key biodiversity areas and two corridors.

Overall, the grant portfolio is expected to:

•  Enable at least 40 civil society organisations to actively participate in conservation programmes
• Strengthen the protection and management of 1 400 000 ha of key biodiversity areas, including the creation of 300 000 ha of new protected areas
• Ensure that 1 465 000 ha of production land is managed for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

Apart from these biophysical targets, the presumption is that individual grants, typically made to organisations working with communities whose livelihoods are dependent upon the sustainable use of natural resources, will build human capacity and support poverty alleviation goals.

Click here to see the Grants Awarded list.