A two-day capacity-building meeting on the implementation of the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) which seeks to document the status of biodiversity and ecosystem services and identify available gaps that need policy consideration is underway in Mponela Dowa.
It has brought together National Ecosystem Assessment’s Technical Working Group Authors in the Aquatic, Terrestrial, Wetlands, and Indigenous and Local knowledge, to effectively understand the status of the country’s biodiversity and ecosystem services and how they can best be managed and conserved.
According to Principal Environmental Officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Lillian Chimphepo, the main purpose of the meeting is to address capacity gaps identified by the authors as they conduct the assessment.
“Some of the identified capacity gaps are data management, scenario building, chapter, using confidence terms, structuring Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in the assessment chapters, and chapter cohesion,” said Chimphepo.
The capacity-building meeting is being spearheaded by the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) the national implementing agency for the National Ecosystem Assessment in collaboration with the Environmental Affairs Department.
Malawi started the National Ecosystem Assessment process in 2020.
