The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) together with Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations (FAO) the secretariat of the convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) society for ecosystem restoration (SER) and centre for international forestry research (CIFOR-ICRAF)hosted a subregional workshop on biodiversity monitoring and reporting from January 27 to 30 geared to strengthen ecosystem restoration efforts in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Speaking during the opening ceremony the Cabinet Secretary for Environment Dr. Deborah Mulongo Barasa louded the importance of translating restoration commitments into tangible outcomes, tackling climate change,and emphasizing credible monitoring and reporting systems which will ensure at least 30 percent of degraded ecosystems are under effective restoration by 2030.
The conference brought together Policymakers and technical experts from 11 countries, including Comoros, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia in a bid to Strengthen monitoring, reporting, and data systems aligning national restoration efforts with regional and global reporting frameworks to promote subregional cooperation.
The workshop marked the official launch of RCMRD as a Subregional Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre, providing coordinated scientific, technical and data driven support to countries in the region,this comes ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the Convention on Biological Diversity where progress under the Global Biodiversity Framework will be closely scrutinized.
