West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA-BiCC)

WA-BiCC will address both direct and indirect drivers of natural resource degradation to improve livelihoods and natural ecosystems across the region.

The project will work with partners at the community, national and regional levels to strengthen policies and systems that will improve natural resource management and the health and resilience of selected coastal and upland forest ecosystems.

Program Objectives: 1) Combat Wildlife Trafficking through the revision and operationalization of national and regional policies, laws and regulations.

The program will strengthen national and regional networks and institutions by building their capacity to enforce trafficking laws.

National Action Plans and community-led behavioral change campaigns will be developed to shrink the supply chains of trafficked wildlife. 2) Improve Coastal Resilience in West Africa through integrated planning and the strengthened capacity of local, national and regional frameworks.

WA-BiCC will build local, national and regional capacity to generate and use climate information in coastal planning, support the National Adaptation Planning process, and pilot and scale up coastal adaptation strategies that are effective. 3)Reduce Deforestation, Degradation and Biodiversity Loss in key forests through WA-BiCC technical and knowledge management support.

The program will improve capacity for economic planning and development of Low Emissions Development Strategies, REDD+, and transboundary conservation strategies while simultaneously engaging the private sector and supporting frameworks to integrate best practices for the sustainable management of natural resources.