BES-Net’s third Regional Trialogue, “Bright Spots on Land Degradation, Food Security and Pollinators” was held on 28-30 May 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya.  The event was hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Kenya and supported financially by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and SwedBio at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Focusing on Anglophone Africa, the three-day event was participated by a diverse group of people from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia, as well as the key resource people from the regional and international organizations. The objective of the Anglophone Africa Trialogue was to inform future land use and management decision-making process at regional, national and local levels based on the improved understanding of land-based ecosystem services, particularly pollinators and pollination, and their contributions to food security, climate change resilience and sustainable development.
 
“Trialogue reminds us of the need to bring out the nexus between land degradation, biodiversity loss and loss of pollinators more than ever,” said Mr. Richard Mwendandu, Director of the Multilateral Environment Agreement at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Kenya. “Unless we build those three up, we will not be able to reverse food insecurity which we are experiencing in most countries in Anglophone Africa region.”
 
The Trialogue offered a variety of interactive sessions both indoor and outdoor and in both plenary and smaller working groups to unpack the messages of the IPBES thematic assessment reports and encourage all three communities of science, policy and practice to engage proactively and speak more freely.  Accordingly, stimulating and inspiring discussions were held, with the exchanges of “bright spots”, or practical good practice examples available, on how to improve the resilience of ecosystems and their fundamental services in support of achieving various Sustainable Development Goals, such as zero hunger (SDG 2) and Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG15.3).  
 
Building on the proven success stories and lessons learned, the participants jointly came up with a series of concrete actions to be undertaken as regionally- and nationally- adapted versions of the policy and management options to uptake the IPBES assessment recommendations. “BES-Net brought together researchers, policymakers and practitioners and helped form a network, bridging the gap that has existed among them for a long time,” said Mr. Benneth Obitte, Director, Small Mammal Conservation Organization. “The most important thing coming out of this network is that, as we move forward, we are committed to serve as the champions and work together to lead the implementation of the national and regional actions.”