Supporting African Policy Initiatives

AWF works to influence and support key policies that strengthen conservation at every level: local, national and international. We influence treaties, recommend legislation, and facilitate land-use practices that help everyone — from small communities to entire nations — manage their lands successfully and sustainably. We do this primarily through our Sustaining Economic Resources for Africa (SERA) Initiative and ongoing transboundary collaboration.

In order to achieve lasting conservation impact in Africa and to ensure the contribution of wildlife to a sustainable future for Africa’s people, AWF promotes 12 policy priorities in our relationships with African governments, NEPAD, the African Union, regional economic bodies, and bilateral and multilateral donors investing in the continent.

All 12 of these policy statements are central to AWF’s program of work in Africa, and are derived from our 45+ years of experience on the ground. AWF has a practical program of work in support of each of these policy areas, and encourages government and other partners to support them.

To view the full set of SERA policy statments, click here.

Five of AWF’s eight Heartlands cut across international boundaries. This means that transboundary natural resource management is crucial if the integrity of these landscapes is to be maintained. AWF is currently working with partners ranging from governments to local communities to regional bodies to harmonize the policy and legal framework in order to ensure effective transboundary natural resource management.

In the Virunga Heartland, for example, lush forests cover parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. To protect them, and the mountain gorillas that depend on this forest habitat, AWF works through the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) to develop regional collaboration, improve transboundary policy, and increase respect for effective natural resource management.

In southern Africa, AWF has piloted important fisheries work along the Zambezi River — the lifeline of these landscapes. Because the river runs through Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, AWF is working with the governments of all four nations with a view to developing a regional framework to improve fisheries monitoring and management.

AWF has also achieved significant policy victories in Africa through the establishment of land trusts in Kenya and Tanzania. These trusts, owned by local communities, give local people the ability to encourage conservation-friendly use of private lands by allowing them to negotiate land leases, management, and purchases that safeguard critical habitats.

AWF is working to increase the role of local communities in transboundary conservation management to forge policy that is neither “top-down” nor “bottom-up”—but strikes a balance in the interest of all concerned.