East Africa

We live in a hyperconnected world and conduct a big portion of our lives via technological devices. The latest data from the U.N. International Telecommunication Union shows that global internet users total 4 billion, or half the world’s population. Our work is online, our relationships are online, and so are our finances.

Education has been described as the “great equalizer.” This can only be true if students have access to good schools with well-trained teachers. In Uganda’s Kidepo Valley landscape, African Wildlife Foundation’s Classroom Africa program built Kidepo Primary School and Sarachom Primary School to ensure children in this rural area receive the education they deserve. Students will not just learn about their rich natural heritage — they will see conservation in action.

To protect that most iconic African wildlife species, the lion, conservationists rely on an array of solutions, mitigating threats including habitat loss, the illegal wildlife trade, and, most significantly, human-lion conflict — the leading cause of lion decline in numerous places. Confronting these challenges is the work of Dr. Bernard Kissui, a leading lion researcher whom African Wildlife Foundation has supported throughout his academic and conservation career.

Every year, during the dry July-September season, millions of wildebeest thunder across the vast Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, following the rain in their quest for breeding grounds and fresh pasture. On this centuries-old journey, massive herds plunge into the dangerous Mara River as they make their way to the Serengeti plains — a spectacle that brings tourists from far and wide to Kenya and Tanzania. But this year, the wildebeest’s avid audience all but disappeared.

Smallholder farmers make up more than 60 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s total population, according to a 2019 McKinsey & Company report. These small-scale producers own less than five hectares each, but collectively hold most of the arable land in the region. Investment in this sector will undoubtedly increase productivity, which experts signal as the “biggest growth driver” and the answer to food insecurity.

When African Wildlife Foundation designed its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization knew that focusing only on wildlife and wild lands would fall short of mitigating the ongoing crisis. Our decades of experience in conservation in Africa continue to show that even the best designed conservation programs do not succeed when the needs of the communities living near wildlife remain unaddressed.

Africa is thought to be the most vulnerable continent to climate change given its predominately climate-dependent livelihoods, extensive water-stressed populations, and low adaptive capacity. Weak economies, institutions, and governance structures all contribute to the low adaptive capacity. Human activities have been a leading cause of climate change through activities such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation. Among the major climate change impacts include variations in rainfall patterns, extreme weather, habitat loss, and new disease challenges.

The illegal trafficking of protected African wildlife species can take various gory forms across the continent. Wildlife management authorities and investigators often discover concealed elephant tusks still dripping with blood or even pieces of flesh and hides, but they are also likely to find crocodile eggs or pangolin scales. The contraband counts as evidence, as do the tools and weapons found at the crime scene, which can range from handmade bows and arrows to AK47s.

“Every day is Earth Day,” says Derrick Mugisha. An environmental scientist and active member of youth-led biodiversity protection groups, he is leading the 50th-anniversary celebration of Earth Day in Uganda.

Developing: As I was writing about the incredible community conservation program at Olderkesi, the COVID-19 crisis was just developing. Now, as I finish this piece, unfortunately, much of the work outlined here is in great threat as tourism comes to a grinding halt in the wake of the pandemic. Cottar’s Safaris find themselves in the same position as most safari outfits. Tourism revenues have plummeted, threatening the wildlife living on this critical conservancy in the Mara and the livelihoods of the Maasai families who work at — and receive economic benefits from — the lodges.