Reviewing the coherence and effectiveness of implementation of multilateral biodiversity agreements in Tanzania

The MEAs covered are the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES or Washington Convention), and Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS or Bonn Convention).

The review methodology was developed by the SEI’s Tallinn Centre and commissioned by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, in 2011. The testing of the methodology was carried out in 2013- 2014 and funded by SEI under its Sida-funded Programme Support.

The review is based on 15 categories, addressing both objective-led and implementation effectiveness. Each category formulates a single review question together with several criteria and benchmarks for scoring the implementation of the conventions. The overall assessment of the cluster of MEAs is based on the results of the 15 review categories and, with ratings of high, moderate or low implementation effectiveness.

The authors rate Tanzania as having strong implementation in the category ‘Adequate legal and policy framework’. Ten other categories are scored as moderate and four as weak.

The study also provides recommendations for the application of the review methodology, including possible adjustments to the categories and questions about the usefulness of some of the ratings when more than two MEAs are being considered at the same time.

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