ADAP - About Us
« Turning environmental
conservation into a driver of
community development »
The Association for the Development of Protected Areas (ADAP) is a Swiss non-governmental organisation set up in 1997 and active in several African countries. Since its inception, ADAP has been supporting community-based natural resource management initiatives and working to secure community rights on land and resource. The association also conducts communication and
information activities in Switzerland which aim at raising public awareness of conservation issues and community rights in Africa.
Organisation Profile
STRATEGY
ADAP is convinced that the implementation of community management and co management mechanisms, as well as the development of added-value chains for non timber forest products to diversify local livelihoods, implies a long and in-depth work. Thus, the association is committed to long-term partnerships with community-based organisations with an average duration which exceeds 10 years - and in some cases it can even reach 20 years. For the implementation of its projects, ADAP relies mainly on national technical support teams and works closely with the governmental authorities in charge. Moreover, ADAP collaborates with technical partners for activities such as trainings and surveys and with other organizations which work on the same territories and the same issues. To draw lessons from its interventions, ADAP also collaborates with African and European research and training institutions to ensure independent evaluation of its strategies and results.
IMPACT
In order to demonstrate an impact, it is imperative to set up a monitoring system for both environmental and socio-economic conditions. ADAP makes a special effort to establish initial reference baselines and to set up a monitoring system that allows these evolutions to be documented and the project’s impacts to be assessed.
TRACK RECORDS
Among the significant achievements of ADAP, one can mention the support for the establishment of village hunting zones (ZOVIC) in Burkina Faso through a 14-year project carried out in partnership with various stakeholders (IUCN, FFEM). This approach has been capitalized on by both IUCN and ADAP. Another significant achievement is the implementation of a project in Tanzania, in the Mlele District, which led to the creation of the largest beekeeping zone of the country (850 km2) co-managed by Inyonga Beekeepers Association and the Tanzania Forest Service. Meanwhile, the project has supported the development of a village beekeeping industry that has significantly boosted the income of beekeepers because of the increase in both the quantity and quality of honey produced. Finally, the monitoring carried out has confirmed that the strategy based on an incentive approach to conservation is paying off, since both the forest and the wildlife are well conserved in a context of rapid degradation of the adjacent protected areas.
TRACK RECORDS
Among the significant achievements of ADAP, one can mention the support for the establishment of village hunting zones (ZOVIC) in Burkina Faso through a 14-year project carried out in partnership with various stakeholders (IUCN, FFEM). This approach has been capitalized on by both IUCN and ADAP. Another significant achievement is the implementation of a project in Tanzania, in the Mlele District, which led to the creation of the largest beekeeping zone of the country (850 km2) co-managed by Inyonga Beekeepers Association and the Tanzania Forest Service. Meanwhile, the project has supported the development of a village beekeeping industry that has significantly boosted the income of beekeepers because of the increase in both the quantity and quality of honey produced. Finally, the monitoring carried out has confirmed that the strategy based on an incentive approach to conservation is paying off, since both
the forest and the wildlife are well conserved in a context of rapid degradation of the adjacent protected areas.
PROSPECTS
In view of the good results achieved on a small scale in Tanzania, and in agreement with its local partners and government priorities, ADAP has decided to scale up by adopting an approach that takes into account landscape ecology, connectivity, and the local population. ADAP currently supports co-management initiatives of protected areas with 24 villages in the center and west of the country. ADAP facilitates
Joint Forest Management processes for Mlele Hills (9 villages) and Rungwa River Forest Reserves (4 villages). It also supports 5 villages in the Districts of Sikonge and Itigi that jointly manage the Kululu village
land forest reserve. In 2022 ADAP started a new partnership with 6 villages of the Sikonge district that manage the Ipole wildlife management area. These areas represent essential parts of key corridors that link three major protected area complexes, Ruaha - Rungwa, Katavi - Rukwa and Ugalla. In addition to capacity-building activities for local partners, ADAP provides training to support the professionalization
of non-timber forest product production sectors (beehive products and wild mushrooms). It also collects data in partnership with researchers to increase the knowledge about ecological and human dynamics and frames its projects according to the findings.