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Linkages between HIV/AIDS and the Environment: Nancy Gelman, Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group
The HIV/AIDS (Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Synodrome which is the late stage of infection caused by Human Immuniodeficiency Virus) pandemic is causing untold human suffering, and economic and social disruption in many countries around the world. It also affects the environment, with impacts from loss of human capacity for conservation, and changes in the use of land and natural resources. Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly hard hit. Since 2001, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) has been studying the linkages between HIV/AIDS and the environment in order to gain a better understanding of the impacts. ABCG is working with partners in East and Southern Africa to share coping strategies to deal with the impacts to the conservation workforce, wildlife, forests, medicinal plants, and land use.
Personnel working for wildlife departments and national parks services are often particularly at risk of infection because they spend time away from their families, where they are more likely to have sexual relations with other partners. Many are based in remote protected areas and parks where there are often no facilities for their families to join them, and no HIV/AIDS awareness programs or access to preventive measures (e.g. condoms). Wildlife conservation leaders often travel extensively to conferences and meetings, and others receive long-term training away from home. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is having devastating impacts on the capacity of the environment sector in Africa. Millions of Africans depend on the continent's renewable natural resources for food, shelter, medicines, fuel, and as a means of income generation. Natural systems provide ecological services such as water supply and soil fertility, as well as sacred sites that are used for cultural and religious purposes. Yet Africa's natural resources, already under increasing pressure due to unsustainable development and poverty, face a new and significant threat due to the impacts of HIV/AIDS. As rural households lose salary remittances from cities, or the capacity for heavy agricultural labor, they turn increasingly to natural resources for their livelihoods (for example, bushmeat, wild foods, medicinal plants to treat side-effects of AIDS, charcoal-making for income). Often this resource use is unsustainable, and erodes the resource base for the future. However, if sustainable use strategies can be developed, natural resources can support important alternative economic activities for affected households. The environment sector needs to develop and adopt coping strategies to mitigate impacts, and work to develop sustainable micro-enterprises.
Figure 1 Some of the key impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on natural resource management include:
Addressing HIV/AIDS and environment impacts takes champions. One such champion is Mr. Daulos Mauambeta, the Executive Director of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM). After seeing the direct effects of the HIV/AIDS, as some staff members of WESM and their families started to suffer from the disease, the impacts to natural resource management by local people that the Society works with on community conservation, and resulting changes in land use, he began to implement innovative policies to address the HIV/AIDS - environment linkages.
Mr. Mauambeta has become an international spokesperson about the need for the wildlife conservation and environmental organizations to pro-actively address HIV/AIDS issues. He has shared the lessons learned by WESM at important international environmental conferences to encourage conservation decision-makers and practitioners to take action. He recently spoke at a session during the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa in September 2003. Thanks to the actions of Mr. Mauambeta and others, the linkage between HIV/AIDS and conservation was recognized as an emerging issue in the Durban Accord, the final communiqué of the Congress. This international gathering of world-wide conservation leaders noted that the HIV/AIDS pandemic is starting to seriously affect conservation success in Africa, and is likely to have significant impacts in next-wave countries such as Russia, China, India and Eastern European countries. To connect the current impacts of the pandemic to conservation capacity and to seek training-based solutions, Mr. Mauambeta was a key note speaker at the 40th Anniversary Symposium of the College of African Wildlife Management (CAWM) in Tanzania in December 2003. CAWM is the leading wildlife college for training future wildlife leaders from Anglophone Africa. To share his experiences and seek collaboration and potential solutions with representatives from the health sector, Mr. Mauambeta spoke at the Global Health Council Conference in Washington, DC in May 2002. In Malawi, Mr. Mauambeta recently organized a "HIV/AIDS Awareness to Action Campaign" with his colleagues in and around Lengwe National Park in February 2004. There is concern that poaching could be accelerating as communities look for cheap sources of game meat for food or sale. Likewise, national park staff responsible for law enforcement may not be patrolling as often if they are sick or attending a funeral. He has sought out partnerships with organizations, such as Banja La Mtsogolo, a family planning and health non-governmental organization as well as theater groups, comedy troops, and bands to communicate and share innovative coping strategies and best practices to lessen the effects of HIV/AIDS on the environment. Mr. Mauambeta hopes to conduct similar workshops in all of the other national parks in Malawi. In the fight to conserve wildlife and natural resources in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, it has become very clear that peer leadership is key in influencing others to take action. Stigma remains strong and many in the environment sector are still in denial that the problem requires their action. Mr. Mauambeta is providing vital leadership by speaking out openly and honestly about the issues and solutions, showcasing the experiences of WESM and others not only in Malawi but more broadly in Africa and beyond. His courageous action merits recognition and encouragement by people concerned about the global environment. To learn more about HIV/AIDS and Environment Linkages and the coping strategies implemented by African Partners such as Mr. Daulos Mauambeta, visit www.abcg.org.
1The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) comprises U.S.-based international conservation non-governmental organizations with field-based activities in Africa. ABCG organizations include: African Wildlife Foundation, Conservation International, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund. ABCG explores emerging conservation issues, shares lessons learned, and seeks opportunities for collaboration. Recent issues explored by ABCG include: The Linkages between HIV/AIDS and Natural Resource Management; Human Migration and Conservation; Compensation for Land Lost for Protected Areas; Private Sector Issues in Marine Tourism in Africa, etc. ABCG has been funded by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and USAID. See: http://www.abcg.org Hippopotamus. Photo Credit: WESM
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HIV/AIDS causes long periods of illness. It's prevalence has significantly reduced life expectancy of the most productive segment of society (working adults and parents). This has created an imbalanced population structure with the young (below age 15) and the elderly (above age 55) forming the majority of the population. Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit in the world in terms of rates of HIV infections, prevalence and rates of HIV/AIDS illnesses and deaths. (See Figure 1.) Generally, the problem in Sub-Saharan Africa is worse than in other parts of the world due to a number of factors including the number of people infected, the difficulty in finding work and education/training opportunities close to families, and the fact that infection occurs primarily through heterosexual intercourse. This has serious implications for families and the large number of AIDS orphans. An estimated 3 million people died globally from AIDS in 2003, approximately 2.3 million in Sub-Saharan Africa. The number of people dying of AIDS every single day in Sub-Saharan Africa is equivalent to two-times the loss of life from the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
