Incorporating Political and Economic Approaches: CARPE’s Longstanding Biodiversity Conservation Efforts

By Nicodeme Tchamou, USAID/CARPE  • 

This case study shares the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment's (CARPE) evolution from one of USAID’s largest biodiversity programs to an integrated program that is achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable landscapes goals while also advancing democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) and economic growth considerations.

Funding Approach: Co-funded. Sectors Integrated: Climate Change; Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance; Biodiversity; and Economic Growth.

CARPE seeks to sustain the Congo Basin’s ecological integrity by improving the management of approximately 30 million hectares of rainforest across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. CARPE also promotes environmental policy reform and forest ecosystem monitoring in these three countries, as well as in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Cameroon. The U.S. Government launched CARPE in 1995 in recognition of the global importance of the Congo Basin, which contains the world’s second-largest contiguous tropical rainforest. It is the source of food, shelter, and livelihoods for approximately 80 million people and its immense watershed serves as a global climate regulator. This story shares CARPE’s evolution from one of USAID’s largest biodiversity programs to an integrated program that is achieving biodiversity conservation and sustainable landscapes goals while also advancing democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) and economic considerations.

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During most of CARPE’s long history, the program focused on understanding and mitigating biophysical threats to biodiversity and forests in some of the most challenging political and economic environments in the world. As the program evolved, it was evident that, while CARPE was successfully undertaking site-specific actions to address direct threats to biodiversity in the program’s landscapes, CARPE’s strategic approaches did not fully address the political and economic drivers of these threats.

The 2016 CARPE III midterm evaluation recommended employing a systems approach to integrate political and economic considerations and develop a more comprehensive conservation governance strategy. CARPE undertook a series of analyses and expert consultations to better understand the political and economic drivers, as well as the local context in the target areas, to improve biodiversity conservation and climate interventions. The CARPE team further recognized that bringing in expertise from other USAID operating units, in areas such as political economy analysis, human rights, and private sector engagement, could help CARPE advance its biodiversity conservation and sustainable landscapes interventions. CARPE formed a partnership and received funds from USAID’s Democracy, Rights, and Governance Center to deepen engagement with Indigenous peoples and the team also updated its gender strategy, adding a section on the specific challenges and opportunities of Indigenous peoples and youth. On the economic side, CARPE explored options to collaborate with the private sector for greater scale, sustainability, and effectiveness of outcomes with the USAID Global Development Lab’s Private Sector Engagement project in Washington, D.C.

Today, CARPE has a better understanding of the key factors and forces driving threats to biodiversity and forests in the Congo Basin. This knowledge, combined with ongoing consultation and analysis, will be integrated into future phases of CARPE. CARPE management is in the process of developing three new mechanisms that integrate lessons learned and politically informed approaches such as political economy analysis. These mechanisms include a strong human rights focus, the promotion of inclusion of Indigenous peoples, and the mobilization of private sector resources to strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of CARPE’s biodiversity conservation and sustainable landscapes activities. CARPE plans to develop clear and testable theories of change for how politically and rights-informed approaches will lead to positive conservation and development outcomes in the program’s future procurements. These integrated approaches are expected to increase CARPE’s potential to achieve long-term biodiversity, sustainable landscapes, and improved democracy, human rights, and governance outcomes.

Lesson Learned

Understand and address the political and economic forces underlying natural resource degradation.

Commission a series of analyses to identify ways to address political and economic drivers and deliver inclusive benefits. Improved governance and inclusion present opportunities to advance conservation approaches.

Learn More

Explore more case studies on the USAID Biodiversity Integration Case Competition website.

Learn more about biodiversity integration with other USAID technical sectors on the Biodiversity Conservation Gateway.

For more information on USAID/CARPE’s work on biodiversity, DRG, and sustainable landscapes, please visit USAID’s website.

Contact

Nicodeme Tchamou, Regional Natural Resource Management and Climate Change Advisor, USAID/CARPE

ntchamou@usaid.gov