Revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Eritrea (2014-2020).

The Vision of the present Revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Eritrea (2014-2020) is that by 2040, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used through the active participation of all stakeholders to sustaining a healthy environment and equity sharing of benefits to meet the development needs and well-being of the people.” Realizing the current status, threats and trends of biodiversity in Eritrea, the mission aims to establish all necessary measures and undertake effective actions designed to reduce the loss of biodiversity by 2020 and ensure that by 2040 the state of the natural environment in Eritrea is stable and capable of ensuring people’s future well-being“. This statement will provide guidance towards the establishment of workable national strategies for both short and long-term efforts by all stakeholders towards the achievement of common goals of national socio-economic development and environmental conservation.
The text consists of 6 chapters as follows: Introduction (1); Country profile (2); The status of biodiversity in Eritrea (3); National policy, legislative and institutional framework (4); Strategic goals and action plan for biodiversity (5); Implementation arrangements (6).
The first chapter addresses the general background of the country in view of the implementation of the Biodiversity Convention of Rio de Janeiro and associated issues. The second chapter describes the broad geographic and socio-economic context of Eritrea within which any biodiversity strategy should be included. This section provides information on the geography of Eritrea and also on the main socio-economic systems across the country. The third chapter documents what is currently known about the distribution and condition of biodiversity across both agricultural, terrestrial and marine environments. Eritrea does contain a wide range of ecosystem types within a small geographic area. And this diversity is an important component of Eritrea’s potential as a tourist destination. Eritrea is home to a number of globally rare and endangered species (e.g. African wild ass; Nubian Ibex) as well as being part of one of the world’s major centres of crop diversity. These plant genetic resources have the potential to make a major contribution to national and global agriculture. The fourth chapter reviews the evolving policy, legislative and institutional framework that creates an enabling environment for conservation and sustainable use of Eritrea’s biodiversity. The policy and legislative framework of the country is as its initial stage and in progress. These policies and legislations are expected to provide vital opportunities for an integrated biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. The fifth and most important chapter describes the principal components of the present Strategy including the Vision, Mission, strategic objectives, general targets, ecosystem-specific targets and actions of the Plan supported by matrix of actions. This chapter also includes the Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites (AZE) that aims at conservation for the critically endangered species such as listed in this chapter. The final chapter 6 expresses the institutional mechanism for the coordination and implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2014 and the need for monitoring and evaluation of the afore-mentioned Strategy at regular basis.
The document encompasses a total of twenty general targets in five strategic goals and eighteen ecosystem-specific targets in three broad ecosystems categories to ensure the effective realisation of the strategic goals for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity that should be met by 2020. The document has been prepared in a broad participatory process including governmental ministries, regional administrative bodies, academia, professionals, civil societies and consultants. It is believed that it will open a new roadmap to a successful implementation for the proper conservation and utilization of biodiversity resources of the country. Hence, it is assumed that all stakeholders would play their roles and make valuable inputs for the effective and efficient implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2014-2020. Four Annexes are enclosed.