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.
This regional session of the GBF brought together over 120 participants from 22 countries, ranging from indigenous comunity representatives to members of intergovernmental organisations. It was designed to feed directly into the deliberations of the CBD, in particular the discussion of SBSTTA (Jan-Feb 2000). Selected themes reflected key SBSTTA5 agenda items, and also highlighted regional concerns.
