The BIOPAMA Regional Programme Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr Sue Snyman, participated in two workshops recently as part of stakeholder engagement and building networks to support the implementation of the second phase of the programme’s workplan, which is currently under development. 

The first workshop was the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching (LEAP) Strategy implementation workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana on the 15th June. Sue presented on BIOPAMA as well as other IUCN initiatives which link to the implementation of the LEAP strategy and engaged in discussions as to how BIOPAMA can support the successful and sustainable implementation of the strategy. 

At the recent inception workshops for Eastern Africa and Southern Africa, law enforcement and anti-poaching activities were identified as a part of the regional priorities in terms of protected area management effectiveness. 

The second workshop was the SADC Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) cross-border tourism product guideline validation workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 4th July. Tourism plays a key role in terms of a potential sustainable financing option for protected areas (also identified as a key regional priority at the recent regional inception workshops), especially for TFCAs. 

The aim of the workshop was to validate the recently developed cross-border tourism product guidelines and to ensure that they are ready for publication and use to promote the development of further products and to enhance existing products.

As BIOPAMA develops their detailed workplan, based on the recent regional inception workshops for Eastern and Southern Africa links to other existing initiatives, such as those above, and collaboration with other institutions working on protected area management effectiveness and governance and equity is critical for sustainability and long-term success.