Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ...

compiling lists of species and assessing distribution and abundance, so that the necessary dataare available for assessing the relative biological importance of sites and the degree of threatstatus of species.3.3 Monitor populations of Critically Endangered and Endangered Species in the hotspot.Particular attention must be given to monitoring the 24 Critically Endangered and 68 Endangeredspecies of this hotspot (Table 1, 2, Appendix 3). Their continued existence is the bottom line forCEPF interventions. This calls for a wise use of resources, as the monitoring of rare species cantake much time and effort. Expert training of and support for, local field technicians may be oneway to compensate for the short field visits of professional scientists. Special care will benecessary to ensure that monitoring activities do not expose endangered species to any addedrisks.3.4 Support research in the hotspot to facilitate Red List Assessments and re-assessments forplants, reptiles and other taxa. The deficiencies of the 2002 Red Lists for this hotspot havealready been noted. This is dramatically illustrated by the 973 plant taxa in the List of PotentiallyThreatened Plants (Gereau and Luke 2003) that is included in the Outcomes Database for thehotspot. The situation is scarcely any better for the reptiles, where none of the more than 50endemic reptiles in this hotspot are included in the 2002 Red List. Red List assessments forinvertebrates would probably add thousands more species to the conservation outcomes for thishotspot. Red List assessments must be an investment priority.3.5 Compile and document indigenous knowledge on hotspot sites and species. The values ofindigenous knowledge of biodiversity and the urgent need for its documentation are widelyrecognized. An enormous amount of knowledge on biodiversity and its uses has beenaccumulated among indigenous peoples in the hotspot and has been transferred orally across thegenerations. While much of this has been recorded, the literature is scattered and hard to find. Itneeds to be compiled in both hard copy and database form. In any research in this area, therecognition of Intellectual Property Rights must be a primary consideration and the sources ofinformation must be meticulously recorded.3.6 Support awareness programs that increase public knowledge and appreciation ofbiodiversity values in this hotspot. The usefulness of awareness programs in conservation is oftenquestioned. One problem is that they are often limited in their impacts by short project lifecycles,whereas awareness needs to be continually re-enforced (as shown by commodity marketing).Another is that awareness of biodiversity is seldom linked to any real benefits for the targetcommunities. Innovative approaches are needed that circumvent these difficulties. Ways need tobe found to put a bright and constant spotlight on the ecological services provided by thehotspot’s forests (particularly water catchment and hydropower). Current public awareness of theglobal biodiversity values of the hotspot also needs to be boosted at all levels.4. Establish a Small Grants Program for all the 160 important sites identified for thehotspot, that focuses on critically endangered species and small scale efforts to increaseconnectivity of biologically important habitat patches60