In order to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on households and firms, Governments are designing a wide range of policy responses. The immediate priority in this regard is the health and well-being of people. There is also a clear need to ‘keep the lights on’ for critically affected economic sectors, including Africa’s natural parks and conservation systems. However, our long-term recovery from this crisis also provides for an opportunity to review the prevailing development paradigms in Africa, and to ‘Build Back Better’ towards a future development pathway for Africa that increases its resilience against futures crises, were it health, climate change or otherwise related, through better management of its ecological infrastructure.

This proposed analysis is intended to provide important reflections related to the inter-dependence of people, health, livelihoods and wellbeing on the one hand, and nature on the other hand. This analysis will be placed against the backdrop of Africa’s economic development patterns and growing globalization. The results of this analysis are intended to provide the basis for policy dialogues with Governments in the Central African region, as well as their supporting institutions – International Finance Institutions, Economic Commissions and the like – in regard to the policy and investment decisions to be taken now in order to secure a better, resilient and sustainable development for the future. In the immediate sense, this initiative responds also to the call for ‘Green and Just Recovery’ to the current COVID-crisis, including the African Union Green Stimulus Programme and related policy advisories.

The initiative will build on the ongoing policy-engagement work undertaken by WWF and partners in the context of ‘Green and Just Recovery’ and ‘Africa Ecological Futures’. WWF holds an existing MOU with the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which will form the basis for the planned policy engagement related to this assignment.
 
The role of ECCAS will include the following:

• Providing relevant documents to help in the analysis and participate in interviews, response to questionnaires and discussions, etc.
• Participate in the review of scenarios, recommendations made by the consultant, through virtual or physical work sessions and other external partners, including WWF.
• Participate in the validation of the orientation document as well as the approach to be adopted for taking into account the recommendations in the development of desired national and regional policies.
• Facilitate discussions between member states through the organization of a working session.
• Facilitate discussions / consultations with different ministries, institutions and other parties concerned in member countries.