COVID-19 is having a profound impact on Africa’s protected landscapes and on their economies. The Africa Land Stewards Rescue Fund provides financial relief for biodiversity and conservation enterprises affected by the pandemic. The Fund will launch in the second quarter of 2021.
ProNatura International is raising grant funding to capitalize the fund. Our goal is to raise $2.5 million by April 2021 and $25 million by July 2021 to provide emergency loans to conservation-compatible enterprises in priority regions.
"The COVID pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges. We need to ensure that community livelihoods are sustained during this pandemic."
— Kaddu Sebunya
CEO, African Wildlife Foundation
Protecting Livelihoods and Biodiversity
“The COVID-19 crisis in Africa creates a ‘perfect storm’ of reduced funding, lower conservation capacity, and increased threats to wildlife and ecosystems. Wildlife conservation arguably faces its most serious challenge in decades.”
– NATURE AND ECOLOGY MAGAZINE
Small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs)
SMEs play a key role in supporting Africa’s biodiversity. SMEs bring resources and incentives for environmental conservation. Their activities range from regenerative agriculture to monitoring, ecosystem restoration, cultural revitalization. They create jobs and protect landscapes.
COVID-19 has devastated Africa’s biodiversity economies
The pandemic has upended nature-based SMEs, putting jobs, communities, and landscapes at risk. This is causing biodiversity loss driven by increased poverty across landscapes and decreased support for conservation efforts.
Mitigating impact
The Africa Land Stewards Rescue Fund mitigates the impacts of the crisis by providing direct emergency financial assistance to SMEs that demonstrate biodiversity benefits. This allows enterprises to provide economic and conservation benefits through the crisis and beyond.
Building long-term resilience
Recognizing the need to look beyond the emergency, the Fund is the first phase of NatureCap - a bold, ambitious Biodiversity and Resilience Investment Platform for Sub-Saharan Africa that links funders with projects across multiple biodiversity-compatible sectors.
