How RCMRD And AWS Are Helping 24 African Countries Map And Protect Nature

Governments across Eastern and Southern Africa are under pressure to expand conservation while meeting the global goal of protecting at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030.

That goal sits in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by 196 countries at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in 2022. Its 23 targets include a requirement for countries to establish well-connected and effectively managed protected areas; Target 3, the one the 30-by-30 agenda turns on, calls for effectively conserving and managing at least 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by the end of the decade.

But meeting the target requires more than designating land and water for conservation. Governments need accurate data showing where ecosystems and threatened species are located, how they are changing and whether protected areas are connected and effectively managed.