Indigenous communities, women, youth should be at the forefront
Keletso Thobega | Wednesday November 12, 2025 06:00
Take, for example, Dvuyo Ndara from Shakawe, who is part of a collective of women who make various products from the mongongo plant. She is gatvol with empty promises and made this quite clear during her presentation when addressing stakeholders at a side-event themed ‘Gender equality and Indigenous knowledge in biodiversity governance' at the first Africa Biodiversity Summit held in Tlokweng recently.
Ndara said indigenous knowledge is sacred and should be protected from exploitation through patents and resource support for the local communities. She said they had been trying to eke a living from refining natural seeds and plants, but were recurrently challenged by a lack of resources. She said the few people who had come forward to offer assistance had turned out to have other motives as they took their knowledge and ran off with it. She cited an experience where researchers from an institution in the West visited them and engaged in their local knowledge, only to come and harvest the same plant and make products to sell elsewhere.
Ndara said if they had machinery, their production would be on a mass commercialised scale and they would be able to make a lot of money. There is a niche product because they do everything by hand. She said the operational challenges they face have demotivated scores of youth and women across the area who had been looking forward to working and earning a decent living from their natural products. She shared how the mogonono seed, for one, could transform the lives of communities in the Shakawe region, as different parts of the seed can be used to make many products, including cooking oil, juice, yoghurt, soup, and even soaps. The mogonono is known to have strong herbal and medicinal properties.
Perhaps the lack of resources and research support is the greatest barrier facing remote and rural communities that could transform their lives through their natural ecosystems.
Ndara emphasised that rural communities need support across the value chain, from human resources, technical expertise, knowledge management, and resource mobilisation, but without economic exploitation.
As the primary custodians of natural resources, rural communities play a critical role in the use and management of these natural resources, but they are often underrepresented in decision-making and lack the resources to tap into the biodiversity value chain, which could help curb unemployment and bolster the bio-economy. Institutions such as the Global Environment Fund (GEF) have contributed significantly to supporting women and indigenous communities. GEF, a big funder of environmental community projects, has contributed $7 billion in 2000 projects across Africa, with a leverage of $50 million in 2024. Over the past 30 years, it has pumped $246 billion into environmental projects globally. But more could be done.
In an interview, Dr. Harsen Nyambe, Director of Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment at the African Union (AU), said it is the duty of leaders and communities to be the custodians and architects of ecological integrity. 'Africa is home to diverse flora and fauna, but our ecosystems are under threat from climate change, pollution, land degradation, and unsustainable exploitation. This calls for harmonised biodiversity frameworks which are key to sustained livelihoods,” he said.
He said that stakeholders should share knowledge openly as this would help find sustainable solutions to the challenges affecting the biodiversity systems on the continent, but hastened to emphasise that protecting the intellectual copyright of indigenous knowledge is highly important. Nyambe noted that women and indigenous communities usually know more about the natural ecosystems, and so it’s important to develop gender responsive and culturally rooted solutions to biodiversity challenges.
Nyambe further said it is also important to harness the power of ‘African science' and devise strategies that will develop frameworks and fulfil an agenda that preserves local ecosystems. He said the AU is working with member states to harmonise biodiversity policies and align frameworks to ensure that Africa speaks with one voice and takes the lead in addressing the root cause of biodiversity loss. Often times biodiversity is considered a niche topic, and other industries don’t consider it important to them, but it affects the planet and livelihoods and is therefore a critical part of daily existence. Nyambe said biodiversity should be mainstreamed to ensure that the environment becomes a shared responsibility.
“We should remember that decisions today will echo generations to come. We also owe it to young people to protect the biodiversity because these ecosystems are their birthright. They should play a role in negotiating their future, knowing that biodiversity is a crucial element of their culture, economy, and heritage,” he said.
The first Africa Biodiversity Summit, supported by the African Union and hosted by Botswana, was held under the theme: 'Leveraging biodiversity for Africa’s prosperity.’ The Summit will build on the growing momentum of international and regional environmental frameworks. It also served as a high-level platform to provide political leadership on biodiversity conservation, particularly in governance, resource mobilisation, and Africa’s contribution to global biodiversity negotiations.
****Keletso Thobega is an independent journalist in strategic communications & data consultancy and an African Union (AU) Media Fellow.