The BIOPAMA programme in Eastern and Southern Africa recently facilitated a workshop of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems Technical Working Group of the East African Community (EAC), convened by the EAC to validate the EAC State of Protected Areas (SoPA) report.

The workshop was held in Kampala, Uganda from the 19th to the 20th of July and was attended by the members of the Working Group representing all EAC Partner States with the exception of Rwanda and South Sudan, whose representatives were unable to travel due to internal administrative and logistical reasons but who gave their consent for the Working Group to review and validate the SoPA report on their behalf. The SoPA report was compiled during the first phase of the BIOPAMA programme and is expected to be validated at the next meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers.

The State of Protected Areas report is intended as a baseline report to:

• Give an overview of the state of the protected area estate in the EAC;
• Show gaps in knowledge and information and potential research needs;
• Inform better decision making and planning;
• Incentivise improved management and governance;
• Attract funding, including through making the business case for protected areas;
• Share experience and knowledge;
• Highlight good examples and work in the region;
• Provide input on key indicators to be monitored;
• Provide a baseline for future reporting.

The development of the report was led by IUCN, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), with contributions from all Partner States and various technical partners. South Sudan was not included in the SoPA as they were not members of EAC at the time of the development of the report.

The workshop consisted of a series of presentations by IUCN and AWF. Each of the eight chapters of the report were presented and then discussed in plenary. Minor corrections and other required amendments were identified. The second day of the workshop focused on the drafting of the official meeting record by the EAC Working Group, with inputs from the Partner States. The workshop report was then accepted and signed by the Partner States.

After the revisions have been incorporated, the final report will be tabled for official endorsement by the EAC Council of Ministers at the next Ministerial meeting scheduled for September 2018.