South Africa - France partnership for biodiversity and marine conservation

This partnership, financed by AFD, brings together the OFB and 2 counterpart public institutions in South Africa and focuses on the conservation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity. With the aim of sharing knowledge and expertise, the institutions will be exchanging information on biodiversity assessment and the management of marine protected areas for 3 years.

Project partners: Office français de la biodiversité (OFB, project leader), South African National Biodiversity Agency (SANBI), South African National Parks (SANParks).
Donor: Agence française de développement (AFD) through a FEXTE fund (Fonds d'expertise technique et d'échanges d'expériences).

Strengthen the respective skills of the OFB and the South African institutions

The aim of this partnership is to share expertise, experience and peer learning on biodiversity assessment and the management of marine protected areas (MPAs) between South Africa (SANBI, SANParks) and France (OFB). Over the three years of the partnership, the experts will meet and exchange views through webinars, workshops, study tours and staff exchanges, and will participate in international events (CoP16, World Ranger Congress, UNOC, etc.). Project activities will be carried out in both South Africa and France.

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This technical cooperation is part of:

• the financing agreement signed on 26 September 2023 between OFB and AFD,
• the quadripartite agreement signed in June 2022 between OFB, AFD, SANParks and SANBI,
• the cooperation agreement on the environment and climate change between the French and South African ministries (Decree no. 2021-1292 of 4 October 2021).

Presentation

In South Africa, two institutions have similar missions than OFB:

• SANBI is responsible for producing, coordinating, interpreting and disseminating information on biodiversity to regulators, decision-makers, managers and civil society
• SANParks is the national manager of protected areas, including 6 national marine protected areas.

This partnership is an opportunity to move forward together and strengthen each other's skills and capabilities, while meeting the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and supporting the implementation of national strategies (National Biodiversity Strategy - SNB, National Protected Areas Strategy - Snap, South African National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans - NBSAPs).

SANBI component - biodiversity mapping, assessment, planning and prioritisation

To strengthen the respective skills of the OFB and SANBI on targeted subjects such as: classification and mapping of ecosystem types, biodiversity indicators, dashboards and information systems, the EDGE approach (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered), red lists of species and ecosystems and red list indices.
This partnership also supports the SBAPP project, a regional project in Southern Africa which aims to develop or improve processes and products for assessing, planning and prioritising national spatial biodiversity in four SADC countries (South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Malawi).

SANParks component - management of marine protected areas

To strengthen the respective skills of the OFB and SANParks on targeted subjects such as: drafting and evaluating MPA management plans, MPA governance, evaluating the effectiveness of MPAs, monitoring illegal fishing, technologies for monitoring species/habitats, climate change. On the French side, these exchanges are largely based on the expertise of the Parcs Naturels Marins (PNM).

French Southern and Antarctic Territories (Taaf) - South Africa component

Exchanges of expertise between the managers of the marine protected areas of the Crozet archipelago (France, TAAF) and the Marion Prince Edward Islands (South Africa), in collaboration with TAAF.

Financing

Funding of €900,000 from Agence Française de Développement.

Results and news

Results

• To strengthen cooperation between France and South Africa on biodiversity, nature conservation and the blue economy.  
• Strengthen the skills of each institution's experts in their respective fields
• Improving the management of marine protected areas in South Africa and France
• Supporting the actions of the regional SBAPP project

News

The next missions with SANBI are planned for France in October 2024. Two SANBI delegations will meet OFB experts to discuss about biodiversity indicators and the EDGE approach.
The next missions with SANParks are planned in France and South Africa, respectively in October and November 2024. Two SANParks rangers will be taking part in the International Ranger Congress and PNM managers will be travelling to South Africa in November to discuss MPA management plans.

Awareness / communication

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