Part of the plan: Building biodiversity in Kenya
Earth’s ecosystems contribute to over half of all global GDP. Global biodiversity resources are the pillars on which we’ve built, and continue to sustain civilisations. We’re reliant on healthy ecosystems for water, food, medicines, clothes, fuel, shelter and energy. Over 80% of the human diet is provided by plants, and more than 80% of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant based medicines for basic healthcare. Yet currently we are facing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity and habitat, and a consequent level of species extinction not seen since the dinosaur age.
Globally one fifth of the Earth’s land areas are degraded, an area nearly the size of India and Russia combined. Between 2015 and 2019 at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land were degraded every year, impacting the lives of 1.3 billion people.
The impacts of this degradation have been felt much more keenly around the world in the past five years. Biodiversity loss is directly connected to an expansion in zoonoses - diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Every year around 2 million people, mainly in low and middle income countries, die from neglected zoonotic diseases.
In the last two decades these diseases have caused economic losses of more than $100 billion, not including the cost of Covid-19, the economic impact of which is expected to be felt for decades to come.
All of our lives are keenly connected to and affected by the ecosystems around us. Protecting and reversing damage to them is encapsulated in the 15th Sustainable Development Goal, which speaks to the importance of ‘Life on Land’. The goal seeks to establish systems and programs to sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity, commemorating the adoption of the text of the Convention on biological diversity on the 22nd of May, 1992. It’s an opportunity to rally around the Convention, its Protocols and action frameworks.
In December 2022 the Kumming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was signed. Setting goals and measures to stop and reverse the loss of natural habitats by 2050, offering opportunities for cooperation and partnerships among diverse actors. The Framework outlines four outcome oriented goals to be achieved by 2050 and 23 targets to be achieved by 2030.
As part of this Framework, this year the theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity is ‘Be Part of the Plan’. A call to action for all stakeholders to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.
Smallholder farmers have an important role to play in the plan. With the convergence of global markets, many smallholders have shifted towards monoculture - focusing solely on the production of one crop, reducing biodiversity and leaving harvests more susceptible to diseases.
Haller’s work aims to provide smallholder farmers with the knowledge and tools to move away from this approach. Increasing the diversity of crops they grow in order to both improve their economic outcomes and increase levels of biodiversity across sub-Saharan Africa. Through community outreach programs, our demonstration farm and the Haller Farmers App, we’ve been able to educate tens of thousands of farmers on a different approach to farming that takes into account both economy and ecology.
All of our work is inspired by the example of Dr Rene Haller, who successfully transformed a barren quarry in Kenya into a thriving and biologically diverse landscape, now known as the Nguuni Nature Sanctuary and Haller Park. The reversal of biological degradation and biodiversity loss isn’t an impossible feat, but it does require commitment from a wide range of stakeholders over a sustained period of time.
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