Conservation Enterprise

Conservation enterprises give communities economic incentives to conserve their lands and treat wildlife not as a threat to their livelihoods, but as a boon to their prosperity.

For AWF, a conservation enterprise is a commercial activity that generates economic benefits in a way that supports the attainment of a conservation objective. AWF is currently engaged in conservation enterprise ventures across all the African Heartlands. Collectively, these ventures represent millions of dollars of investment and span a range of sectors – from conservation tourism and culture-based tourism to livestock management, agricultural production and marketing, and fisheries management.

AWF chooses its conservation enterprises very carefully. Scientists are involved from the beginning to ensure projects contribute to conservation. Socio-economic experts examine community benefits and cultural issues. Legal issues are vetted. Particular emphasis is placed on a project’s commercial and financial elements. Projects must benefit conservation and the community and be economically viable.

AWF’s investment in its conservation enterprise program is yielding impressive results throughout the African Heartlands. Conservation tourism is one of the most promising sectors for conservation enterprises.

In Kenya’s Kilimanjaro Heartland, AWF and the Entonet/Elerai community partnered with a private operator to open Satao Elerai Lodge, a high-end lodge and 5,000-acre conservancy located only miles from Amboseli National Park.

In the Virunga Heartland, AWF partnered with the local community and a private sector lodge operator to open Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Rwanda, a high-end lodge that helps conserve the endangered mountain gorilla. It is also working with local partners to develop the Nkuringo Lodge in Uganda.

In Kenya’s Samburu Heartland, AWF and the Kijabe Group Ranch recently opened a new lodge called The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille that sets a new standard in safari lodging.

AWF is also doing exciting things in agriculture. In Kenya, AWF has partnered with Starbucks Coffee Company to market sustainable “coffee for conservation” to benefit small-scale coffee growers.

In Rwanda, AWF is linking local honey producers to the most successful global marketer of retail organic products.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, AWF has underwritten a shipping project on the Congo and Maringa Rivers to bring agricultural products to market.

Livestock management is an important part of conservation enterprise. Simple economics dictate that cattle and wildlife together make more money than “either or” and also minimize risks to pastoral livelihoods. Our interventions improve the quality of beef, offer premium prices by linking pastoralists to conservation beef markets and advise on appropriate stocking levels for sustainable range management.

In Tanzania, around Manyara Ranch in Maasai Steppe, AWF has established a mechanized abattoir that will slaughter, process and sell livestock products to markets ensuring that pastoralists receive high value for their livestock. The abattoir will procure livestock from organized community livestock producer associations, which have been trained and are keeping their cattle using appropriate livestock husbandry practices and adhering to conservation conditions. Business projections indicate that the abattoir should break even in the second year of operation and return profits of $1.2 million by 2012. This project will improve the value of livestock to communities in the Maasai Steppe.

In Kenya, communities have earned $100,000 in the last 10 months by selling their livestock at premium prices in a partnership with Ol Pejeta Conservancy financed by AWF. The Linking Livestock Markets to Conservation initiative in Samburu Heartland in Kenya links pastoralists to premium livestock markets and provides high prices to pastoralists who adhere to conservation criteria -- with the aim of reducing overstocking and rangeland degradation. This is implemented with a private ranch, Ol Pejeta Conservancy (OPC), who buys livestock from pastoralists (who have signed onto the conservation program) at premium prices, fattens the cows at their ranch and sells them to premium markets as conservation beef. Key to this program is a livestock toolkit that contains conservation and governance measures which are tracked to ensure that the appropriate conservation practices are implemented in community areas where livestock is bought. The program started in 2008 with seed finance from AWF and has so far purchased 1,537 cattle at a 30% premium on price, earning communities about $276,000. This program is contributing to improved rangeland conservation and encouraging pastoralists to de-stock. It has also cut off middlemen and improved access to markets and better prices.

AWF aims to support communities in Samburu to develop plant-based bio-enterprises through strengthening partnerships between local producers and buyers at the international and national levels. The commercialization of the bio-products will give rise to community ownership and profit-sharing, with long-term facilitation, access to trade finance, access to investment loans from ethical investment companies, and a micro-banking facility. The program will enable at least 30 bio-enterprises (approximately 5,400 people) to sell sustainably produced organic products into the EU and also to the local markets. Without compromising their commercial opportunities, these bio-enterprises will complement and integrate with traditional livelihood activities and will be replicated throughout AWF heartlands.

These are only a few examples of the projects in AWF’s portfolio. By focusing intelligently and comprehensively on the conception and development of such projects, AWF can unlock the full potential of both wildlife and people.