AFRICAN BIODIVERSITY NETWORKLush Spring Prize 2018:
Africa		Established Project Award
Organisation founded: 2002

Project Summary

ABN supports Africans in voicing their views onissues such as food and seed sovereignty, genetic
engineering, agrofuels, biodiversity protection,
extractive industries and the rights of smallholder farmers. ABN’s focus is on indigenous
knowledge, ecological agriculture and biodiversity
related rights, policy and legislation. ABN pioneersculturally-centred approaches to social andecological problems in Africa through sharing
experiences, co-developing methodologies andcreating a united African voice on these issues.

Members drawn from the Meru and Tharaka Nithi
counties participate in an eco-cultural mapping exercise.

Key Project Information (at 2018):

ABN has learnt many lessons about being a pioneering‘Network’ of civil society organisations spread across many
Organisation name: African Biodiversity Network.
countries. Here is a summary of some of those lessons:
Location: Africa - particularly East, West and Southern.
• Focus strongly on developing the deep roots of allegiance
Climate: all African climates.
within each Partner - become more of a Coalition than aKey words: indigenous knowledge; sacred sites & territories;
Network, where fundraising should be for joint activities.
small farmers; youth; agro-ecology methods; biodiversity.
• Focus on the whole Partner organisation, while building
Primary Beneficiaries: indigenous peoples and communities; capacity in the approach and methodologies of the network.
small farmers; youth; women.
• Place the emphasis on processes that generate changeCore education activity: indigenous knowledge; youth;
over time, not distinct activities.
agroecology methods.
• ABN brings a dimension to ‘development work’ that is largely
Project reach: across Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana,
missing from most agencies’ work, creating a greater chance
Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,
for this work to be sustainable.
Zambia and Zimbabwe, through 36 partners.
• Innovation and creativity are the keys to ABN’s ongoingdevelopment.
High Level Outputs & Outcomes:• to be effective ABN depends completely on communicationand flow of information, which needs ongoing attention and• The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)creativity.
was Conceived in 2008 and launched in 2011, as a broad
alliance of different civil society actors that are part of the• A tight-knit pioneering Network/Coalition needs to be madestruggle for food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa.
up of strong and active Partners who fulfil the criteria for• Legislation known as ‘Resolution 372’ was passed in May partnership. Inactive Partners create dead weight and holdthe overall partnership back.
2017 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights (ACHPR) to safeguard the continent’s sacred• The primary focus of the Network Secretariat is to facilitate
natural sites and territories - the ABN was a key force innetworking - this includes continually making sure Partner
petitioning for this law.
organisations understand what it means to be an active
network partner.
• “It is a unique resolution and the first of its kind in Africa.
Getting [Resolution 372] passed was one thing; making• ABN has been very strategic in its lead role to establish
it a reality on the ground with communities to benefit
AFSA - it can now feed into a continent-wide Network ofis another.” Simon Ndonco Mitambo, ABN’s Regional
Networks - a lesson of the power of strategic collaboration.
Programmes Coordinator.
• Participation in carefully-selected international events, canincrease the network’s profile significantly.
ABN’s Education & Network Lessons• For long-term strength, focus on establishing country nodes
ABN’s education lessons include the importance of combining in the network.
practical training on agroecology and youth engagement• Strong involvement of Partners in the governance of any
with high level work to protect and value indigenous peoples’ Network/Coalition is crucial to the sense of ownership that isrights to sacred sites and territories through UN international
the foundation of any such joint endeavour.
and national human rights systems and legal structures.

An IPEN Case Study

International Permaculture Education Network (IPEN)
IPEN Case Studies have been enabled by the Lush Spring Prize

Case Study date:November 2018

Peter Kamanda: a Beneficiary Story

Peter Kamanda, MEAP contact farmer

Photo needed?

Eunice Wangari, an innovative
agroecological farmer in Giteru.

ABN’s Mission, Visionand Values

ABN’s Mission is to ignite andnurture a growing African network ofindividuals and organisations working
passionately from global to local
level, with capacity to resist harmful
developments and to influence andimplement policies and practices that
promote recognition and respect forpeople and nature.
ABN Vision: We envisage vibrant andresilient African communities rooted
in their own biological, cultural andspiritual diversity, governing their own
lives and livelihoods, in harmony withhealthy ecosystems.
ABN Core Values:
1. Diversity and mutual respect forethnic, cultural, spiritual and biologicalwell-being for present and future
generations.
2. Transparency and accountability as
underlying principles of how we work
so as to enable equal, inclusive andfull participation.
3. Solidarity with those working forjustice for people and nature.
4. Commitment, courage and tenacity
to promote ABN core values and to
defend and implement its principles.
5. Transformation of individuals andorganisations as catalysts of change.
ABN contributes to these SDGs
(Sustainable Development Goals)
being achieved:Peter Kamanda is an outgoing farmer with hands-on skills in farming practices,
who has benefitted from agro-ecology training by MEAP, an ABN partner in Kenya,
and now practises agro-ecological methods on his farm.
After the training, Peter started combining conventional crops such as sweetpotatoes, pumpkins, cassava, and sorghum, with indigenous vegetables such as
pig weed, black night shade, kale and nderema (Africa spinach) – a system thatis serving him well. He also practises agro-forestry to incorporate tree and crop
growing, and to benefit from the synergies between trees and crops like pest
control, nutrient cycling, soil fertility management, moisture management and wind
control among others, as well as incorporating crops that are less common locallylike coffee, pineapples and fruits that give him high yields.
These practices enhance productivity on Peter’s farm even during dry spells,
when the farm is green and continues to produce. Other farmers learn from hisinnovation. With his outgoing character and innovation, MEAP identified him as acontact farmer, so that MEAP training is held on his farm for farmers to get handson experience of his methods.

ABN’s story:

Established in 1996 by policy influencers from the African Group, one of fiveRegional Groups of the UN, ABN’s status was formalised in 2002. ABN focuseson Indigenous knowledge, ecological agriculture and biodiversity related rights,policy and legislation, and has been responsible for numerous regional initiatives,
including helping to launch of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)
in 2011, which it played a key role in conceiving and developing. In 2010 ABN
became a Trust, and today supports 36 partners in 12 African countries.

Good Practise: What ABN Has Done

ABN uses innovative ways to solve the challenges facing Africa through sharing
experiences, co-developing methodologies and creating a united African voice.
At a policy level, ABN has used international legal instruments like the Convention
on Biological Diversity, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP), International Labour Organisation 169, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Intergovernmental Platform onBiodiversity and Ecosystem Services to establish clear recognition of the criticalrole and value of the Indigenous and Local Knowledge System for informing
policy formulation on biodiversity issues, as this knowledge system has evolved
over millennia through interacting very closely with Nature. ABN works to createa united African voice on the continent on bio-cultural diversity issues, and also
nurtures alliances with like-minded others by linking the local to global.
At ground level, ABN has pioneered African-centred methodologies for working
with communities for the sustainable management of biodiversity and protectionof community rights. It uses culturally-centred approaches to Africa’s social andenvironmental problems through sharing experiences, using diverse methodologies
such as community dialogues, nature experiential learning, intergenerational
learning and community exchange learning visits. ABN thus has created a new,very African, approach to sustainability and community resilience, closely linked totraditional practices. The premise is that only by restoring people’s strong and deep
sense of connectedness to Nature and all that lies within it will people in Africa findways to be resilient and to sustain their land and other natural resources.
ABN’s methodologies have been rolled out through its work with its partners.
For example, Maendeleo Endelevu Action Program (MEAP) is an ABN Partnerin Kenya, which subscribes to the ABN philosophy and principles. MEAP has
benefitted from various ABN training and capacity building initiatives. It applies
ABN methods in its work relating to three ABN thematic areas, including
Community Ecological Governance (CEG) through promotion of Participatory
Forest Management (PFM), which ensures communities living adjacent togovernment listed forests are involved in co-management of forests. The
process creates opportunity for communities to exercise Community Ecological
Governance, revive their Ecological Knowledge Systems and apply thoseknowledge systems within Participatory Forest Management Plans (PFMP).

Good Practice: How ABN Is Working

Youth are actively involved in healing ecosystems and incampaigning when degradation happens due to various
ABN’s work focuses on four thematic areas, which it promotes
forces. In Ethiopia, youth who came out of this process
through initiatives with its partners. ABN also works to ensure thatare demonstrating leadership in critical positions in various
four cross-cutting issues are systematically addressed in all its
government institutions and universities, because theirareas of work: Gender; Youth; Networking; and Governance.
confidence and their relationship with the earth was
1. Community Ecological Governance & Sacred Territories
strengthened.
Since 2009, ABN has supported five partners to consolidate,
In Kenya, MEAP engages youth in agricultural activities
integrate and further evolve innovative strategies of working withand experiential learning in a forest setting, applying ABN
communities on Sacred Natural Sites & Territories and supporting methods within the Youth Culture and Biodiversity theme.
governance systems, with its core methods including:
The activity facilitates inter-generational knowledge transfer
for ecological governance and ecological agriculture by• community dialogues to analyse and strengthen relevant
enhancing the relevant skills and practices among the youth.
traditional ecological knowledge and practices, and build
community ecological governance capacity;
4. Strengthening Networking, Communication andRegional Advocacy• the creation and use of eco-maps and eco-calendars foragreeing land and biodiversity management and control within
For this theme, ABN works through its 36 partners coveringcommunities, and then with local and national governments.
western, eastern and southern Africa, as well as strategic andinternational partners.
These promote dialogue, analysis and negotiation to identify,
agree and implement solutions that increase local ecosystems
ABN Methodologies Used Across The Four Themes:
control and protection, and community rights and responsibilities. ABN works to build the capacity of whole partner
Elders within the community play a vital role in upholding theorganisations in the approach and methodologies of ABN,
ecological knowledge and customs practiced over generations
which focus particularly on the following eight methods:
which maintain the well-being of Sacred Natural Sites,• Community dialogue - at the heart of ABN processes;
ecosystems, territories and local communities. These customary• Experiential learning - for example in a forest setting or atgovernance systems recognise Sacred Natural Sites andsacred natural sites;
Territories as places where the laws of Earth can be read, and• Eco-cultural mapping and Eco-cultural calendars
from which customs, spiritual practices and governance systems
are derived to protect the territory as a whole. Sacred Natural• Earth jurisprudence - humans are part of a wider community
Sites and Territories are at the heart of ecological, spiritualof beings and the welfare of each member of that communityand cultural practices, and governance systems of indigenous
is dependent on the welfare of the Earth as a whole.
and local communities. Across Africa they are threatened by• Exchange visits - between relevant projects / communities
destruction from economic and other developments that erode the• Community research - as a basis for documenting seedcustomary governance systems of their custodial communities,
knowledge in communities.
while custodians of sacred sites and elders who hold vital• Inter-generational dialogue - to connect youth with elders.
indigenous knowledge are also disappearing.
Areas of Strategic Emphasis
2. Community Seeds & Knowledge
The huge push from governments and corporations to use
hybrid and genetically-modified seeds which require costly inputs
like fertilizers is a common pressure faced by the ABN and therural communities with whom the partner organisations work.
This “Green Revolution” approach is a) unaffordable to many
African farmers who struggle to cope with more extreme drought
and flood impacts from climate change, b) harms biodiversityand c) concentrates the control of agriculture in corporate
hands. Community Seed and Knowledge is an innovative
ABN programme that builds climate resilience through reviving
traditional seed diversity and promoting agroecology and local
food sovereignty as the most effective and ethical way to feed thegrowing population and cope with climate change. It focuses on
the central role of indigenous, locally-adapted seed and traditional
knowledge, especially women’s knowledge.
3. Youth Culture & Biodiversity
ABN’s work on Youth, Culture and Biodiversity aims to restore
confidence in indigenous ecological knowledge and practices bydeepening peoples’ sense of belonging with one another and theearth. This is achieved by bridging the knowledge gap between
elders and youth on indigenous ecological knowledge, and bylobbying for inclusion of this knowledge in school curricula.
For example, Ethiopian and South African government offices
are consulting ABN partners to advise on how to integrate
traditional ecological knowledge into the school system.

ABN are strengthening their emphasis on:

1. Capacity building to embed the ABN approach andmethodologies deeply into the Partner organisations andinto the communities they work with. The aim is to support
the emergence of ‘learning centres of Indigenous and Local
Knowledge (ILK)’ for the ABN approach and methodologies.
2. ABN as a coalition of Partners.
3. ABN’s cross-cutting issues of Networking, Gender, Youthand Governance.
4. Beginning to spread ABN’s approach and methodologies
beyond ABN Partners by establishing carefully planned andmanaged strategic partnerships, and by producing publishedand accessible guidelines and case studies on ABN’s
approach and methodologies.
5. Working closely with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty inAfrica (AFSA), feeding issues and stories from the work ofPartners on the ground into AFSA’s continental voice.
6. Establishing ABN country nodes.
In January 2019 ABN was recognised as
one of just 15 organisations to receive an
Outstanding Practice in Agroecology
award from the World Futures Council, out of
77 nominations from 44 countries.

Permaculture Ethics &Principles in Action

Although not directly involved currently
in permaculture education, ABN fully
embodies the ethics of Earth CarePeople Care-Fair Share, at all levels.
Permaculture principles in action in
ABN’s work include:
Design from pattern to detail • building capacity to use ABN
methodologies across partners;• defining the need for pan-African
legal recognition through the African
Commission of Human and Peoples’
Rights to protect and value indigenous
knowledge and sacred sites / territories.
Small and slow solutions - building oneach step and on small successes, both
locally, regionally and across Africa.
Integrate rather than segregate - ABN
works together with other civil society
organisations and networks, creating
strength to achieve their mutual goals,
for example through AFSA.
Make a small change for the largest
effects - whilst the Resolution 372 is ‘nosmall feat’, as a single change, secured
from within a global human rights
system, it can bring huge benefits.
Working With Nature - valuing andprotecting sacred sites and indigenous
knowledge that allow individuals andcommunities to learn direct from nature.

From Inspiration to Action The Difference arisingfrom the Lush Spring Prize
ABN is a fantastic example for theto be inspired by and to learn fromits example, to emulate in your own
projects and movements:• using established systems ofinternational law and human rights
to protect indigenous knowledge
and sacred sites, and empower
community rights from local tonational levels;• providing practical training thatenables people and communities
them to meet their needs more
effectively.
What experience from ABN could help
your project, community or network:a) to link high level working onprotecting human rights throughinternational and national law
more directly to practical training inagroecology methods, community
resilience and capacity building?
b) to be willing to take on a big vision,big opposition and big challenges like
ABN, whether across a continent,
nationally, regionally or locally?
c) to identify a set of effective andculturally appropriate methodologies,
then building capacity to use thesethrough the network to generate local
individual and community benefit?

ABN is using the £25,000 in funding
from the 2018 Established Projects
Award to support its work netowrking,campaigning and lobbying to influence
policy, regulation and public opinion.
“Sacred places have great ecological,
socio-cultural and spiritual importanceto the communities that live adjacentto them. Winning the Lush Spring
Prize funding really means a lot. Itmeans that the work we are doing with
communities in Africa to protect theseareas to regenerate our biodiversity andecosystems, really matters globally. The
funding will go a long way to support
work on the ground, and lobby for
appropriate policy in countries party
to the African Union. We would like toreally build understanding amongst ourpartners and lead them in getting theirgovernments to integrate this resolution
into the laws of their country, building
capacity of custodians, and raising theprofile of sacred sites. The publicity
the award comes with will also help in
profiling our work at an international
level.”
Simon Ndonco Mitambo, ABN’s
Regional Programmes Coordinator.

Legal Status, Structure & Size: Project start date: 2003
ABN became a Trust in 2010. It has a 5-member ABN Board, and an ABN Secretariat of 5. ABN operates as a coalition of its
36 members, working across 12 countries, with active membership emphasised to ensure ABN’s activity is representative.

Funding, Finance, Resources

ABN receives funding from a variety of sources, for its core activities and partnership projects focused on specific outcomessuch as research and publications. The £25,000 Lush Spring Prize Established Project Award was received in 2018.

Potential Areas for Collaboration with Project (Local, Regional, National or International)
ABN Needs: to make donations to support ABN’s work contact abnsecretariat@africanbiodiversity.org
ABN Offers: ABN publications cover a range of themes including: Seeds; Mining / Extractive Industries; The Network;
Agroecology; Culture; GMOs; ABN Principles; Pastoralism; Diversity; Sacred Natural Sites; Biofuels; and Climate Change.

Contact Information
Website: https://africanbiodiversity.org Email: abnsecretariat@africanbiodiversity.org
Address: ABN Secretariat, Section 9, Mortgage House N0. 60, off OAU Rd, Thika, Kenya

International Permaculture Education Network (IPEN)
Increasing the effectiveness and coherence of permaculture education internationally
IPEN Case Studies have been enabled by the Lush Spring Prize
IPEN website: https://www.permaculture.org.uk/ipen