AFROMAISON will make use of what is available regarding Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM) and will contribute to a better integration and fitting of the following key components of INRM at a meso-scale level:

 

•  Landscape functioning (regarding the delivery, use and access to goods and services provided)

•  Livelihood & socio-economic development (including vulnerability to global change)

•  Indigenous knowledge and practices (to take local traditions, cultural norms, specific acceptance structures into account)

•  Institutional strengthening and improved interaction between sectors, scales and communities.

 

The challenge of  AFROMAISON is to provide a holistic toolbox and operational framework for INRM that can be

applied in a variety of environmental and socio-economic conditions in Africa. At the same time, following a participatory analysis of opportunities and challenges, it provides participatory management options for operational

INRM, which are embedded in local traditions and culture, and are scientifically sound.

 

In order to achieve a tangible outcome, AFROMAISON focuses on the following three groups of tools:

 

• Strategies for restoration and adaptation; covering improved water retention and storage, greater erosion prevention, land degradation prevention and desertification, soil carbon build-up and reducing deforestation and forest degradation

• Economic tools and incentives; covering payments for ecosystem services, generation of employment and alternative income sources, testing operational rules for climate change adaptation funds and promoting environmental stewardship

• Tools for spatial planning; covering tools for discussion and negotiation on alternative land use alternatives (trade-off analysis, multi-criteria) and spatially-explicit impact assessment.

UNEP/GRID-Geneva is one of the main contributor to UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS).

 

This activity is the follow up of the GRID-Geneva project Environment Alert Bulletins (2003-2008). The Global Environment Alert Service continuously scans the scientific literature, analyses results of earth observations and other data sources to produce widely distributed alerts, focussing on policy relevant environmental hotspots, environmental science, and near real-time environmental hazards in an easily understandable format. It takes the pulse of the planet and enhances UNEP's ability to provide regular, science based updates to its member states and the international community on the status and trends of the global environment.

The project consists mostly of updating the watershed basin maps produced in 2007 by GRID-Geneva for the UNECE's First Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters by adding information related to land cover, population and water.  Although some of this information will appear on the maps, it will mainly be shown on a series of graphs.  Maps for additional transboundary rivers and lakes will be created and added to the existing set.   

 

The project has four distinct components mentioned below:

- GIS component to extract, manipulate and analyze the data.  

- Programming component to automate some tasks.  

- Cartographic component to update existing maps and create new ones.  

- Graphic design component to produce the graphs.

In May 2010, DEWA/GRID-Geneva is planning to initiate a new country reporting process “Mainstreaming Environmental Governance: Linking Local and National Action in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (BiH). Working in cooperation with UNEP, FAO, UNDP, UNESCO and UNV, it will address and overcome barriers to delivering environmental services and management at the local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project will be carried out in a “bottom-up”, collaborative and consultative style, much like its parent products, UNEP’s series of Global Environment Outlook (GEO) assessment reports at the global level.

Glacial melting in Central Asia poses severe environmental and security risks for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Glaciers presently contribute up to 70% of the water flow in the major river systems of the region during hot, dry summers. It is predicted that between 64% and 95% of the glacial area over large parts of Central Asia will be lost as a result of melting by 2100. The reduction of water flow from such a change in glacial area is at present poorly understood, but is likely to be dramatic, particularly in hot, dry summers. Large reductions in water flow will have severe consequences for the ecological functioning of rivers as well as the water, energy and food security of all Central Asian countries.

Measurement of glaciers in Central Asia started in the 1930’s.  Since that time, approximately one third of the glacial area, of those monitored, has been lost as a result of melting. Because glacial melting provides a large proportion of the water flow in the major Central Asian rivers, the loss of much of the glacial area as a result of global warming will have severe consequences for ecological functioning of water bodies (e.g. rivers, lakes and Aral Sea), as well as water, energy and food security in the region. Additional threats posed by glacial melting include an increase in glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), landslides and mudslides. Indeed, it is well recognized within Central Asia, that glacial melting poses one of the greatest security threats to the entire region. For example, the Kyrgyzstan president announced on the 28th July 2009, in his inauguration speech, that one of the priorities of the future for Kyrgyzstan is adapting to climate change impacts, especially with regards to glacial melting. Without the supply from glacial melting, irrigated agriculture in future hot, dry summers will largely collapse in many parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. This will greatly jeopardise general security in the region. The Fergana Valley provides a present-day example of how water shortages can create conflict between communities. The effects of glacial melting will have a multiplier effect on such conflicts, but to date the ramifications of glacial melting across all sectors have not been explicitly studied.

A combination of country visits, training workshops and processes to develop integrated environment assessments (IEAs) and early warning products/reports on emerging issues and environmental changes (e.g., atlases based on remote sensing studies), and the capabilities for conducting/producing the same at sub-regional and national levels, are carried out in the 2010-11 biennium under the Environmental Governance sub-programme and Expected Accomplishment (EA) -d- projects 3 and 4, respectively on “Environmental Networking” and “Capacity Development” by DEWA/GRID~Geneva and close partners.