EU provides €4.4m for Boma-Gambella biodiversity conservation project

Addis Ababa, January 24, 2021 (FBC) -A grant agreement worth €4.4 million euro was signed today to support IGAD for a Trans-boundary South Sudan-Ethiopia conservation project of biodiversity in the Boma-Gambella landscape.

The executive secretary of the IGAD, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu and Head of the European Delegation to Djibouti, Ambassador Aidan O’Hara signed the agreement.

Dr Workneh praised a ‘long-standing friendship’ between IGAD and the European Union that had “grown from strength to strength.

“This project is the latest in a long line of partnerships and shared initiatives between IGAD and the EU to preserve all that is good in our region and also address the challenges that we face”, he added.

Ambassador O’Hara commended IGAD Secretariat for “the cross-border approach it is taking to tackling regional challenges”.

He also emphasized the need to involve local communities in the implementation of the program and wished every success to the implementing partner, ‘The Wildlife Conservation Society’.

IGAD will be in charge of the global coordination of this transboundary project while the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will be the implementing partner.

The Boma-Gambella landscape consists of a mosaic of interacting ecosystems on either side of the South Sudan-Ethiopia border.

The landscape is globally renowned for its diverse wildlife populations and its rare and threatened species.