Anthropogenic activities have directly resulted in degraded landscapes and ecosystems and indirectly impacted warming temperatures, exacerbating disturbances and resulting in changing weather systems.

This contributed to rapid climatic shifts and increases in the frequency and intensity of hazardous events. These global changes are evident in the North and Central African regions, which have seen some of the fastest temperature increases in the last 20 years, almost doubling in some areas. The result is extra pressure on forests and land-based ecosystems, and resources, which are facing mounting threats to their abilities to provide essential ecosystem services.

In addition to that, unsustainable forest and land resource management is leading to deforestation, land degradation and unsustainable water consumption driven predominantly by expansion of agriculture, fuelwood collection, infrastructure development and mining. One of the countries most impacted in these regions is the Republic of Chad.

The Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN) was set up as a World Bank administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund to support rural livelihood development and landscape restoration while tackling declining biodiversity, forest loss, deteriorating land fertility, and risks exacerbated by a changing climate.

In 2020, PROGREEN and the Chad ALBIA – Local Development and Adaptation Project (ALBIA) programme, engaged with the Republic of Chad government and the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achime (OROA) Wildlife Reserve to improve the management of natural resources and the livelihood of populations in selected climate vulnerable areas in and around the OROA reserve in Chad. As a contribution to that, our study aims to better understand the ecosystem services within and around OROA, with an eye towards eventual commercialization that can support long term financing opportunities in and around the reserve.

Etifor is leading the assessment of potential tourism and ecosystem services within and around the OROA Wildlife Reserve with the following specific objectives:

• Assess the primary ecosystem services provided by the OROA Wildlife Reserve and the cost of their degradation over the years;
• Examine market opportunities for a selection of those ecosystem services and identify steps that could be taken toward promoting the most promising commercialization opportunities;
• Examine the potential arrangement for payment for ecosystem services and/or carbon finance.
• Identify opportunities for tourism that could provide revenue streams for further investment in OROA wildlife reserve and the surrounding areas;
• Examine the potential for Ecotourism (based on the experience of relevant benchmarks) in terms of the potential attractions and types of investment needed to make it attractive for tourists;
• Outline what a partnership with a private operator/manager could be for the management of the PA.