The African Biodiversity Network was among the delegates participating in the negotiations of the Post2020 Convention on Biological Diversity Open-Ended Working Group 4 (Post2020 CBD OEWG-4) held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 20-26 June 2022.

The General Coordinator, Dr. Fassil Gebeyehu and Communications and Advocacy Coordinator, Venter Mwongera, actively participated in sessions focusing on discussions, such as Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the biodiversity; inclusion of voices of women and youth in decision making as critical actors in averting the biodiversity loss; restoration of the ecosystem services; inclusion of the communities’ language within the context of Africa; justice and equity; among others. ABN, too, participated in the global campaign against the release of the Gene drive technology that uses new genetic engineering techniques. See a news piece here: https://eco2022cbdalliance.blogspot.com/2022/06/sicuri.html The GBF draft will be adopted during the CoP 15 which is taking place in Montreal, Canada, from the 5-17 December 2022.

ABN partners visits
As the world is gradually opening up its normal operations post-Covid-19, the ABN Secretariat happily hosted Corinna Brothe the Advisor of Bread for the World (BftW), Germany and Henrik Brundin, the Executive Director of SwedBio, Sweden. BftW and SwedBio are among ABN’s long-term partners and friends who have accompanied us in our quest to build resilient communities across Africa.

ABN visited partners already in the network, such as Global Initiative for Environment and Reconciliation (GER) in Rwanda and the Institute for Culture and Ecology in Kenya, besides accompanying the communities they work with. During the same period, ABN Secretariat visited the new partners Green Development Advocates in Cameroon and RIAM – Réseau des initiatives agro-écologiques au Maroc in Morocco to further enhance the relationship. ABN Secretariat remains committed to living her philosophy with the partners and the communities in the lead. 

Changes at the Secretariat- the ABN family grows!
The newest kids on the block are Hannah Kigamba, who is responsible for the Monitoring and Evaluation functions of the network and working from the Secretariat. Abdel-Karim Ali Mahamane is the Regional Programme Coordinator working remotely from Dakar, Senegal. Simon Mitambo passed the button to Abdel but continues to be a part of the ABN family under the Society for Alternative Learning and Transformation (SALT) NGO based in Tharaka Nithi County. With the new team, ABN Secretariat has managed to address the gap in the Francophone language, which has been challenging while accompanying Partners and communities speaking the language. ABN welcomes Hannah and Abdel at the Secretariat while wishing Simon success after his jump to a new ship while remaining in the fleet! Hannah and Abdel can be reached through their emails: hannah@africanbiodiversity.org and abdel@africanbiodiversity.org respectively.

Additional reading material
Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Here is the link: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=md5%3A08677ca53d2ffafe42b018d0f01d7ea8&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Ecosystem-based Adaptation and the successful implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Here is the link:

https://zenodo.org/record/6789086#.YuPPuy8RqJ8