NAIROBI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Friday launched a regional center of excellence aimed at preserving the rich biodiversity, forests and seascape ecosystems.
The Regional Center of Excellence for Biodiversity, Forests and Seascape Ecosystems Management, the first in Eastern and Southern Africa, is expected to foster collaboration, innovation and knowledge exchange in conserving best practices to enable 24 regional countries to tackle climate change and meet their environmental conservation targets.
Soipan Tuya, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry of Kenya, said that the center is a milestone that will help countries with data on the protection of threatened protected areas.
"Our protected areas, including forests and biodiversity, are currently under threat due to a lack of quality data to inform decisions in the countries," Tuya said during the launch in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
Peter Minang, director for Africa at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), said that the center will lead in the generation of data in the region to be used in managing forests and biodiversity.
Minang said the center will provide the latest information to help address the challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss and heatwaves in the region. He added that the center will also help regional countries in preserving, conserving, and sustainably managing the rich natural resources.
The center is established by the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development and CIFOR-ICRAF in collaboration with the 24 regional countries.
The Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development will provide mapping capacity while CIFOR-ICRAF will avail forest data and informatics that they have generated over the years to support the 24 regional member countries.
The new center will enable countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to effectively conserve their forests, seascapes and biodiversity through the provision of regional datasets on the latest trends and threats to forests. ■
