Report of the first eastern and southern Africa regional biodiversity forum : using biodiversity to strengthen livelihoods

The theme of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Session of the GBF was “Using Biodiversity to Strengthen Livelihoods”. The Forum explored ways and means of integrating poverty alleviation considerations into local, national and regional actions aimed at conserving, using sustainably and sharing equitably the benefits of biodiversity. Its principal aim was to enable broad discussion and dialogue on a range of key biodiversity issues, prior to the 5th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP5), to be held in May 2000 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Forum also sought to encourage regional collaboration and to broaden the constituency for the implementation of the CBD in the region, especially among non-governmental and community-based organizations and the private sector.