Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production landscapes

Collaborative workshop

Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production landscapes.

On October 13th, the Centre for Environmental Studies (CFES) at the University of Pretoria conducted a workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, on "Scientific Approaches towards mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes". The workshop was hosted on the premises of the Marine and Coastal Management research aquarium, Cape Town and facilitated by CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, with funding from the French Embassy in South Africa.

The day-long meeting gathered more than 65 people from academic institutions, Government departments, NGOs and other organisations. The objective of the meeting, through talks and debate, was to make an assessment of key scientific approaches potentially leading to improved enhancement of biodiversity in rural development and also to foster networking.

The following topics were addressed:

Landscape labelling (E. Torquebiau)
Environmental audit (W. Ferguson)
Integration of conservation and development (G. Schroth)
Biodiversity and territory (P. Caron)
Biodiversity mainstreaming in the grasslands biome of South Africa (A. Stephens)
Community based conservation (A. Venter)
and finally and probably for the first time in South Africa Ecoagriculture, through a live video-conference from Washington DC, by Sara Scherr of Ecoagriculture Partners.

Participants expressed interest and confirmed their willingness to pursue actions in common. CFES will look into other means of enhancing biodiversity, especially in small-scale farming landscapes.

Here is the programme, including links to PDF versions of the presentations by some of the contributors.

Time	Topic	Presenter / Remarks
9:00 - 9:15	Inaugural Address	Dr Leluma Matooane, Director, Climate Change & Biodiversity, Department of Science & Technology
9:15 - 9:30	Welcome address	Mr Antoine Michon, Consul of France in Cape Town, representing the French Embassy in South Africa
9:30 - 10:00	Landscape Labelling for Biodiversity Mainstreaming	Emmanuel Torquebiau, CIRAD / University of Pretoria
10:00 - 10:30	The role of environmental audit in promoting biodiversity conservation in an agricultural landscape	Willem Ferguson, University of Pretoria
10:30 - 11:00	Sustainable use reserves and environmental service rewards as complementary tools to integrate conservation and development	Götz Schroth, Conservation International, Washington DC, USA
11:00 - 11:15	Coffee break
11:15 - 11:45	Mainstreaming biodiversity and the territory concept	Patrick Caron, Head of Department, CIRAD, Montpellier, France
11:45 - 12:15	The Grasslands Programme: Going behind the mainstreaming strategy for the grasslands biome	Anthea Stephens, South Africa National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria
12:15 - 12:45	Value-adding role of mainstreaming biodiversity	Andrew Venter, Wildlands Conservation Trust, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
12:45 - 14:00	Lunch break	Brown bag lunch served on the premises
14:00 - 15:30	Discussion on Social Sciences Approaches to mainstreaming biodiversity	All participants Chairperson: Jane Olwoch Rapporteur: Munyaradzi Chitakira
15:30 - 16:00	Ecoagriculture: Landscapes for People, Food and Nature	Sara Scherr, Ecoagriculture Partners, Washington DC, USA (on-line video conference)
16:00 - 16:15	Coffee break
16:15 - 17:00	Discussion on Bio-physical Sciences Approaches to mainstreaming biodiversity	All participants Chairperson: Sébastien LeBel Rapporteur: Jérôme Gaugris
17:00 - 17:30	Prospective lines of action	All participants Chairperson: Willem Ferguson Rapporteur: Emmanuel Torquebiau