LEX-FAOC013281

Zambia’s Second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP -2) is a national cross-sectoral strategic document of Zambia for the period 2015-2025. Its main goal is to achieve that, by 2025, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, as well as maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy environment and delivering benefits essential for all Zambians and the Zambian economy. Specifically, more specific objectives of the document is to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society; to reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use improving the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity; and to enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services. In the area of climate change, the NBSAP-2 provides for mainstreaming climate change adaptation measures that will enhance resilience of priority ecosystems, as well as to regularize forest management plans to ensure connectivity, habitat resilience and ultimate refuges for wildlife in face of climate change. The ministry responsible for environment and natural resources, as focal point on the Convention on Biological Diversity and also responsible for environmental policy, will be responsible for the overall coordination of NBSAP implementation in close collaboration with the National Steering Committee which was formed at the beginning of NBSAP1, the Zambia Environmental Management Agency, the ministry responsible Wildlife and National Parks, the ministries responsible for fisheries and other key stakeholder organizations active in the environment sector in general and biodiversity conservation in particular, will all play various roles. In order to effectively monitor and evaluate Zambia’s NBSAP2 towards the Aichi Targets, M&E framework emphasizes balance between regular progress monitoring focusing on output level indicators and the achievement of established targets and periodic in-depth evaluation activities to examine whether outputs are leading to expected outcomes and impacts.