Monitoring Biodiversity in Africa

About 

As part of plans to monitor and report on biodiversity, Green Resources a forestry asset within the African Forestry Impact Platform, has piloted a biodiversity monitoring tool Orbify.

Orbify offers satellite data-powered tools for screening, developing, and monitoring nature-based solutions to assess biodiversity and climate risk. The Orbify system includes a desktop application which links to remote sensing for landscape level planning and carbon estimation, as well as a mobile application for field reporting of biodiversity, which can be used offline in rural settings, then sync when back in the office with Wi-Fi.  

Key Initiatives 

The Orbify pilot project commenced in September 2023. In the first nine months since the pilot started, 350 biodiversity recordings have been captured across Green Resources’ three estates in Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.  

More than one third of all biodiversity recordings were of Insects, 15.4% were of Birds and 14.9% were of Trees. The system recorded Mammals at 6.9% and Reptiles at 6%. Amongst the Mammals, there were reports of vervet monkeys, baboons, hedgehogs, antelopes, rabbits and wild goats. Such large animals are an indication of a healthy ecosystem, where illegal hunting is not prevalent and they have an adequate food supply. 

In Uganda, three RTE species have been identified as requiring special conservation protection, namely: the cycad species, Ecephalatos equatorialis which is critically endangered; Prunus Africana, a vulnerable tree species and the African teak species, Melicia exelsa, which is endangered. 

Impact 

The African Foresty Impact Platform (AFIP) has been developed with four impact targets; one of which is to increase the area (in hectares) of quality of habitat protected or restored by 14%.  

AFIP is currently finalising the impact target methodology, metrics and baselines for the fund, including biodiversity and using tools such as Orbify to assist with this process.  

New Forests is following global actions, such as the Nature Positive Initiative, to identify opportunities for alignment and adopting international best practices that are practical for rural African settings.