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ing the Chair of the IPCC, called on COP 17 delegates and
global development partners to take more concerted and
long-term action to save vital mountain ecosystems from
the impacts of climate change.
In 2011, GRID-Arendal partnered with the Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS) to produce an RRA publication
to highlight the crucial role played by ecological networks
in protecting the world’s migratory species in the air, on
land, and at sea. Living Planet: Connected Planet – Prevent-
ing the End of the World’s Wildlife Migration Through Eco-
logical Networks49 was launched at the 10th Conference of
Parties to CMS in Bergen, Norway in November 2011. The
report played a pivotal role in supporting the formulation
of CMS policy during the COP, specifically in relation to
the passage of Resolution 10.3 on Ecological Networks,50
as the quote below by the Executive Secretary of CMS, Ms
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, testifies:
“ ...despite an extremely tight deadline you managed to
produce a true milestone publication, which is already
supporting CMS policy just as we had envisaged...
amendments that arose...only served to strengthen this
Resolution, which is not least the result of this Rapid
Response Assessment.” (Letter of 29 November 2011
addressed to Peter Prokosch)
Maps of migratory routes included in the report (Figure 2)
reveal that they criss-cross the world in all directions, with
the species concerned confronting a multitude of threats
along the way.
The report highlights the urgent need to protect the re-
maining tidal flats of the Yellow Sea, an important stag-
ing area en-route to the Arctic for migratory birds along
the East Asian-Australasian flyway. Following release of
the report, a Working Group comprised of Birdlife Inter-
national, Wetlands International, IUCN, GRID-Arendal,
Ramsar and RSPB was established to recommend an ef-
fective plan of action.
49.
50.
ed/10_03_eco_networks_e.pdf
9 Environmental assessments and
information
9.1 Africa
Through UNEP’s Africa Environment Information Net-
work (AEIN) GRID-Arendal’s activities in Africa have
continued to focus on strengthened networking and data
management and improved institutional capacity for en-
vironmental assessment and reporting to support deci-
sion-making. Over the two years 11 African countries were
assisted through one-on-one or group capacity develop-
ment processes. Ethiopia is the most recent country to
be linked in and, because of its enhanced infrastructure
for environmental data management and assessment,
the government has commenced production of a com-
prehensive environment outlook report for the country.
As part of on-going efforts to strengthen environmental
decision-making in Africa and mobilise additional sup-
port and funding, a major strategic initiative by GRID-
Arendal and UNEP to refocus and expand the AEIN is
being prepared.
The Africa Environment Outlook (AEO)series coordinated
by UNEP is the key information-based decision support
tool for the African Ministerial Conference on the Environ-
ment (AMCEN). An author’s manual produced with sup-
port from GRID-Arendal was used in 2011 to train authors
drafting Part II of the third AEO report (AEO-3) on health
and environment linkages. With GRID-Arendal playing the
coordinating lead author’s role for Part II of the report, a
zero draft manuscript was compiled by the close of 2011.
The report is set for finalisation and launch by September
2012. GRID-Arendal also contributed to the Africa Policy
Chapter of UNEP’s flagship report, the fifth Global Envi-
ronment Outlook (GEO 5) scheduled for launch right be-
fore Rio+20 in June 2012.
i The 2009 Uganda Atlas of Our Changing Environ-
ment, produced in collaboration with the National
Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and
UNEP, continues to generate positive outcomes. These
include the application of the atlas methodology in envi-
ronmental sensitivity atlases, of which three volumes have
been published to guide the oil exploration and extrac-
tion operations in the Albertine Valley.51 There is growing
51.