Advancing ecosystem conservation, restoration and sustainable use in West and Central Africa
Biodiversity conservation has become a major development issue in the world, particularly in Africa. Over the past two weeks, world leaders have gathered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, for the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Their objective was to discuss, among other things, challenges and efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15, namely how to "sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss."
Astrid Aulanier-Rebeschini (France) and Gilbert Kilimo (Kenya) are UN Volunteers working to combat accelerated nature degradation by promoting biodiversity conservation strategies.
Astrid, who is 23 years old, supervises biodiversity management with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Benin. Her passion for issues related to biodiversity and global warming brought her to Cotonou. Her role as a UN Volunteer is to make a lasting impact on the lives of people through the implementation of projects to protect biodiversity.
Promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity to protect the planet
Thevuni Halangode is a Project Coordination Assistant (Maritime Ecological Disaster) with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka. As a UN Volunteer serving since July 2021 with the Climate and Environment Team, Thevuni has been supporting the maritime disaster assistance project and Climate Promise Phase II.
As a part of the maritime disaster assistance project, Thevuni contributed to supporting one hundred vulnerable fisheries households affected by the MV X-Press disaster through a cash-for-work programme to clean up the Negombo lagoon.
Until the successful completion of the project on 31 January 2022, Thevuni facilitated coordination between government institutions and project implementation partners. She monitoring project progress, reviewing and editing reports and communications materials from the implementing partners.