Focus Areas
1. Global Change Conservation
Global Change Conservation may include topics such as the impacts of El Nino and La Nina on biodiversity and our ability to mitigate and adapt to these changes, or how species and habitat distributions may change under climate change scenarios, including predictive future distributions and adaptive conservation strategies. Mitigation, resilience and buffering these impacts may strengthen the biodiversity economy by ensuring its stability and viability into the future.
2. Natural Resource economies
Natural Resource Economics may include topics such as sustainable resource use and renewable energy, biodiversity stewardships and ecotourism, and sustainable harvesting of biodiversity products such as developing the game meat industry. Implementation of conservation financing mechanisms to safeguard sustainable use of natural resources is key to ensuring a sustainable natural resource economy.
Special Session: African Wildlife Economy Institute
The aim of this special session is to present and discuss current research from across the continent on a few key topics relevant to enabling and scaling up Africa’s wildlife economy. The policy context for the wildlife economy includes Target 9 of the Global Biodiversity Framework which calls for “the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic and environmental benefits for people… including through sustainable biodiversity-based activities, products and services that enhance biodiversity…”
Click here to register for this session as an online attendee.
3. Natural Resource Management (NRM)
Natural Resource Management describes the mechanisms for managing natural resources including species monitoring and conservation programmes, reducing pollution of ecosystems, managing biological invasions and alien plants, removing lead pollution threatening wild species, land-use planning, protected area management and zones of influence, and maintaining or restoring ecosystem infrastructure. The management and conservation of such resources stabilises the viability of a biodiversity economy.
Special Session: One Health: Co-creating a community of practice for the disposable Absorbent hygiene Product (AHP) waste challenge
Poor waste management of Absorbent Health Products pose significant environmental and social health risks. However, very little information is available on the systems dynamics of AHP waste and consequently, AHP waste is ineffectively managed. Growing concern around the risk of AHPs is opening the field of AHP management to explore and develop a community of practice (CoP) in South Africa. An important step towards the development of a CoP is to coordinate existing knowledge and create opportunities for dialogue among key stakeholders, policy and decision makers. Accordingly, we like to invite you to participate in and contribute to session.
4.Policy and Framework – Global
Global Policy and Framework topics may include discussing and strengthening policy on global climate change, sustainable development goals and implementation of policy for conservation and harvesting of terrestrial and marine resources, COP 27, CITES and norms and standards for key species and their protection (such as elephants, vultures, and trophy hunted species). Consensus on policy for global matters affecting the sustainability of the biodiversity economy is a key theme for achieving the Conservation Symposium’s practical application conversations.
5. Policy and Framework – Local
Local Policy and Framework topics may include policies regarding the development and regulation of the game meat industry, locally hunted trophy species, NEMA, NEMBA and NEMPA policies and environmental impact assessments, legislation, and compliance. Local policy discussions may feed into and strengthen global policy and is a key theme for achieving the Conservation Symposium’s practical application conversations.
Special Session: Financing Conservation Through Partnerships and Collaboration
There is an urgency to conserve natural resources to support sustainable development for the wellbeing of people, economy and environment. However, conservation is not straight forward rather it is fraught with an array of social, cultural, economic and political interactions, and cannot be addressed through a single entity. People need to band together from the private, public and civil sector through partnerships to leverage expertise, resources and political support to ensure effective, sustainable conservation and achieve 30×30 targets. Successful partnerships are determined through synergies in structural, behavioural and organisational features towards common conservation targets. This session will develop guidelines for successful partnerships in conservation.
6. Social ecology and Conservation
Social Ecology and Conservation may include key emerging themes of poverty alleviation, land restitution and co-management of Protected Areas, indigenous knowledge and citizen science, community-based conservation and conservancies, and human-wildlife conflict and poaching. The concept of community includes business, public, private, civil sectors and urban and rural communities. An inclusive approach ensuring participation in, and benefits from, the biodiversity economy is key to realising harmonious conservation goals and targets.
