Overview
Mainstreaming biodiversity concerns into economic growth.
Development and economic growth should and must continue, but long-term success will only be achieved by maintaining an effective conservation agenda with robust support for ecosystem services integrated into well-planned development. Doing so will optimize development, ensuring that it benefits people and wildlife over the long term. African Wildlife Foundation strives to forge a uniquely African development model that gives wildlife and wildlands a starring role on the stage of Africa’s progress. We believe that Africa’s wildlife is a cornerstone for Africa’s development.
Drawing on decades of on the ground experience working with communities, governments, and the private sector to achieve conservation and growth simultaneously — and leveraging a unique global network of people and institutions passionate about Africa — AWF engages directly with governments, the private sector, and investors to develop economic and investment plans that maintain vital ecosystem services. On the ground, AWF works with local people and the private sector to follow business plans that benefit people and wildlife.
In 2015, with the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs), the world set an ambitious agenda to “leave no one behind” by 2030, and AWF’s core work supports “a flourishing life on land,” contributing to Goal 15. Given AWF’s commitment to developing conservation solutions that generate benefits for Africa’s people, AWF also makes significant additional contribution to goals 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 15, and 17.