This baseline assessment has been undertaken as one of the activities in the larger project on Building African Capacity for Conserving Biodiversity in a Changing Climate. The project is funded by MacAthur Foundation. The collaborating institutions, IRA/START, are grateful for the financial support.

This report is the first step in this capacity building process and presents the findings of a baseline assessment of existing information related to biodiversity conservation and climate change in Africa and specifically in the Albertine Rift countries of Africa. It includes an examination of climate change and biodiversity in Africa as well as of the existing capacity and current status of research and training programmes in the Albertine Rift countries.