Using Innovative Land Conservation Tools in Africa to Protect Land, Enhance Resource Management and Improve Community Livelihoods

Projections of the impact of global change on biodiversity show continuing and in many cases accelerating species extinctions, loss of habitat, and changes in the distribution and abundance of species and biomes over the 21st Century. Climate change is projected to accelerate the rate of species and habitat loss. New and innovative conservation mechanisms are needed to halt this rapid decline. A number of factors is leading to the decline of Africa's biological diversity, including global demand for Africa's natural resources, economic growth, increasing urbanization, climate change, and human population growth. Africa is developing more rapidly than ever before, with a population estimated at 1.033 billion and projected to grow by 2% per year. While Africa hosts an important network of protected areas that supports wildlife, ecosystem services, and generates revenue for host countries, this network is too small and isolated to support viable populations of wildlife and local communities are limited in how they can benefit. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. AWF's mission is to work together with the people of Africa to ensure that the wildlife and wild lands of Africa endure forever. AWF's Land and Habitat Conservation program aims to secure strategic lands to protect the ecological integrity of landscapes and suitable habitat for viable populations of wildlife. AWF has successfully implemented new land conservation mechanisms that protect land and provide benefits to landowners. AWF has executed environmental easements in Kenya, payment for ecosystem service conservation leases in Kenya, community trusts in Zambia, and land use plans and conservation agreements in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These transactions are based on the interest of and voluntary participation from landowners, thorough due diligence, free prior informed consent, responsible investment, and clear land tenure. AWF's conservation enterprise program secures land conservation with payments to communities from viable enterprises such as tourism lodges. The AWF's Land and Habitat Conservation program employs a variety of strategies and tools towards achieving its land conservation objectives, including support to protected areas, land use planning, establishment of community conservancies, and corridor designation. Central to AWF's land conservation strategy is to provide meaningful benefits to community landowners. AWF aims to facilitate practical, field-based solutions to global and local sustainable natural resource management challenges in Africa. AWF's program is built around five strategic areas: applied conservation science and research; land and habitat conservation; conservation enterprise; climate change; and capacity and leadership development. Policy development is a cross-cutting theme that is integrated into each of these programs. Through these programs, AWF aims to secure strategic lands to protect the ecological integrity of landscapes and suitable habitat for viable populations of wildlife. In Kenya, AWF has implemented environmental easements to protect strategic land and improve community livelihoods. These easements are based on the interest of and voluntary participation from landowners, thorough due diligence, free prior informed consent, responsible investment, and clear land tenure. In Zambia, AWF has established community trusts to provide benefits to community landowners. These trusts are based on the interest of and voluntary participation from landowners, thorough due diligence, free prior informed consent, responsible investment, and clear land tenure. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, AWF has implemented land use plans and conservation agreements to protect strategic land and improve community livelihoods. These plans and agreements are based on the interest of and voluntary participation from landowners, thorough due diligence, free prior informed consent, responsible investment, and clear land tenure. AWF's conservation enterprise program secures land conservation with payments to communities from viable enterprises such as tourism lodges. AWF's Land and Habitat Conservation program aims to secure strategic lands to protect the ecological integrity of landscapes and suitable habitat for viable populations of wildlife. AWF has successfully implemented new and innovative land tools to protect strategic land and improve community livelihoods. These transactions are based on the interest of and voluntary participation from landowners, thorough due diligence, free prior informed consent, responsible investment, and clear land tenure.