ACF – BACKING UP ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSERVATION GROUPS THROUGHOUT AFRICA

The concept of what is now The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) began just over two years ago when South African bred Terry Harnwell (at that time living in the U.K.) noticed the dearth of information on the internet relating to the subject of conservation efforts in Africa generally. The 'preciousness' and uniqueness of Africa's flora and fauna has been a passion of Terry's since she was a very young child when the pilot of the Dakota transporting them from the UK flew low over the ground to give his passengers a bird’s eye view of the rich diversity of species and habitats below.

What was then African Conservation was Terry's first tentative effort at making a difference - for the benefit of Africa's flora and fauna. As a professional web designer, it was only a short hop from an idea to an actuality and she initially began the laborious task of attempting to build up an internet directory of all groups working towards conservation throughout the continent.

Her original aim was to create a hub, a portal, that everyone could access, which would eventually include facilities at no cost in the form of Interactive Knowledgebase Forums, which she hoped would encourage conservationists and environmentalists to share their information for the benefit of all concerned. She persuaded her partner and IT guru, John Parkin, to purchase and install software on the steadily-growing website which would be easily accessible and not require any great IT skills to use; anyone who can 'cut and paste' can publish their material on the forums ... Press Releases, Articles, Papers, Talks, Job & Volunteer Requirements, Research, etc.

However, quite soon, Terry realised that 'the well had run dry' in terms of contact through the internet and that she was really only touching the tip of the iceberg. Well over 90% of the groups she managed to source for the directory were either European- or U.S.-based (with the exception of organisations in South Africa). The international organisations tended to be those with both access to funding and internet facilities whereas the majority of the African-based organisations were almost devoid of either of these resources. It would require a more radical approach to make contact with most of the ground-based initiatives.

During a series of self-funded trips to Kenya and Tanzania, both African Conservation members had their concerns verified repeatedly ... financial support and internet facilities were severely limited. There are many small, highly dedicated groups of scientists and other specialists (as well as non-specialists) working both minor and major miracles in their particular regions and districts, not managing to acquire any support at all from the outside world; in fact many of these smaller organisations have virtually no technology or resources at all (some even lack a telephone line) by which to bring in vital attention and funding to and for their projects. Terry vowed to at least make an attempt at trying to improve on this situation and began offering free websites for those groups - even domain names and hosting was provided free of charge.

(More than one group asked for their website to be downloaded onto CD and posted to them as nine months or so after completion of their site, they had still been unable to leave their projects in the bush, travel to town and view their site on the internet!).

In August 2001 the project took on a new dimension and was formed into a UK-registered Not For Profit Education Organisation – The African Conservation Foundation (ACF). This 'change' was partly brought about by a Netherlands GIS and Remote Sensing specialist, Arend de Haas, (Arend is also a Primatologist with a great interest in conservation efforts in Africa). Arend approached ACF and enquired as to whether the project would be interested in his skills in terms of GIS and Remote Sensing. The Foundation was now able to offer further assistance to conservation organisations as GIS is an invaluable aid to research for so many on the ground.

ACF seems to have a total momentum of it's own .. the need for the skills offered throughout Africa is phenomenal and is growing and expanding on a daily basis. They are inundated with requests for assistance from all corners of the continent but realise that they can no longer fund these efforts themselves – their well has now run dry! ACF are therefore seeking back-up, partnerships, sponsorship and funding in order to fulfil their aims :

Mission & Aims

The African Conservation Foundation is dedicated to supporting and linking African conservation initiatives, groups and NGOs, with the aim of strengthening their capacity, building partnerships and promoting effective communication and co-ordination of conservation efforts.

Their Goal : To help conserve the wildlife and flora of Africa through capacity-building, training and education.

Specific Aims :

· To bring together access to ALL groups working for conservation in Africa in one central access area - providing the central resource available to all.

· Public education and dissemination of high quality information about conservation issues and the status of biodiversity, particularly rainforests, wildlife and threatened species, to the (international) conservation community;

· To get the smaller/low funded groups on to the Internet - providing them with a web presence.

· To 'kick-start' some of the important/prime organisations into using the web properly - to help them work the Internet technology effectively.

· To provide a vehicle for, and access to, the sharing of research, reports and other information.

· To promote and/or create 'shared community' areas and channels to build networks.

· To provide advice, training and support for groups (NGO's etc.) on the effective use of the Internet for internal communications, external contact and joint ventures.

· To help develop direct funding channels for groups both internal and external.

ACF's GIS programme mission :

To compose, develop and disseminate spatial knowledge, data and information to facilitate the work of research and conservation groups in Africa.

Specific goals:

· To provide technical assistance and support, including Lab services, for conservation groups and NGO's, particularly grassroots, in Africa.

· To develop a web-enabled, centralized database of reliable geospatial (meta) information relevant to conservation in Africa;

· To provide access to vital conservation research and (natural resource) management information and enable better informed decisions;

· To contribute to research and support the development of affordable and functionally relevant GIS solutions;

· To organize workshops, seminars and meetings for the transfer and exchange of spatial knowledge and information.

Anyone wanting to assist ACF financially in their efforts, can either visit their website - http://www.africanconservation.org - or can contact Terry directly, [email protected].

Footnote.

Terry Harnwell is currently in South Africa ... her personal aim is to open a Carnivore Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in East Africa. If anyone would be interested in this project, please contact her.