Nairobi — The East African countries have been urged to take the responsibility of funding the conservation of the remaining forests in the region following a decline in external donor support.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Eastern Africa Co-ordinator, Dr Fanuel Shechambo, said Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania should fund the conservation of forests.

He said this was because funding from external donors has declined.

Shechambo made the remarks at the Reef Hotel in Mombasa after the closure of a workshop on Economic Instruments and Financing Mechanisms for Conservation and Sustainable Management of East African Forests.

Participants were drawn from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and World Conservation Union Regional Office for East Africa, among others.

He said the East African countries are experiencing a decline In donor funding on conservation of forests.

The World Conservation Union through IUCN, he said, has been implementing the East Africa Cross Border Biodiversity Project through funding from GEF.

Shechambo said the goal of the project is to reduce the rate of loss of forest biodiversity at specific cross-border sites of national and global significance in East Africa.

The project has been dealing with cross-border sites between Taita Taveta and Chome in Same District in Tanzania, forests at Namanga between the Kenya-Tanzania border, forests in Turkana and stretch into Moroto District in Uganda.

Others include swamp forests of Sango Bay in Rakai District of Uganda bordering Minziro forest in Tanzania.

He asked the three countries to come up with budget allocations on conservation of forests since they play a key role in the economies of the region.