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Sifelani Tsiko, Environment Editor

Africa needs to take charge and drive its own conservation agenda less dependent on outsiders and with conservation actions that connect local livelihoods to the continent’s future aspirations based on African values, says Kaddu Sebunya, chief executive officer of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

Sebunya told journalists at the AWF second African Editor’s Roundtable recently that it was worrying that most conservation efforts have been led by non-Africans.

“Our conservation strategies and approaches need to change. We are not getting the results we want. Why do we think that conservation needs to change? It’s being led by non–Africans.

“That alone cannot get us the results we want. Billions of dollars are being spent on conservation alone in Africa every year but Africa is continuously losing 35 000 elephants a year. In a country like Zimbabwe where there are no donors, the population was okay. Zimbabwe without donors still has 200 000 elephants,” he said.

“What’s wrong with this picture? There was a realisation that we have a big problem that Africans had outsourced the responsibility of conservation to non-Africans through funding from international community with benefits to international investors. We had checked out completely out of the sector.”

Wide-ranging discussions at the second African Editor’s Roundtable sought to delve into the pivotal role of media in advancing the conservation agenda across the African continent.

Sebunya said the media was uniquely positioned to help articulate and promote a new vision for the future of Africa in which wildlife coexists with modern cities, productive farmlands, greater expanded infrastructure and even manufacturing.

“Africans need to take conservation issues as part of their aspirations. We must recognise the ambitions of our people. We need to get Africans involved in conservation. Conservation is a food security issue and conservation is a health issue. Conservation is a firewall against outbreaks of viruses such as Covid. Conservation is an energy issue. 

“Without conservation we risk suffering from the collapse of the rural economy and poor resource management,” he said, touching on broader conversations about conservation and development in Africa.

“Conservation is foreign policy. What is happening in the Congo basin has wider implications on rainfall availability in Zambia, Zimbabwe and the entire southern African region. It’s interconnected. We need to support Africans to coexist with their wildlife.

“NGOs should give local people education and not awareness. Don’t call people to come and dance for tourists. We need to empower our local communities to safeguard their wildlife resources and also to benefit from it.”

The head of the AWF said full involvement by local communities whose livelihoods and well-being depend on nature was vital to the conservation of wildlife.

Africa is battling complexities around balancing the needs of local communities with the needs of wildlife, adapting to rapid changes in land use and management and the impacts of climate change and expanding infrastructure.

Sebunya said the AWF was putting emphasis on expanding the constituency for conservation by reframing the conservation narrative to increase its relevance to people in their day-to-day lives.

“We need to have new conversations on conservation issues. Conservation should not be an end in itself, it has to benefit the local community,” he said.

“The broader engagement of local communities at large is critical. Conservation is everyone’s business and we must bring  people together across sectors, cultures and economics to make conservation inclusive and not exclusionary.”

Africa is grappling with various conservation threats which include human population growth, economic expansion, urbanisation, deforestation, land degradation and climate change.

Africa is among the world’s most biodiverse regions and boasts of more than 50 000 plant species, 1 100 mammal and 2 500 bird species and between 3 000 and 5 500 freshwater fish species.

Living organisms on the continent represent one-quarter of all biodiversity on earth.