Investing in Africa’s Ecosystems Is Key to the Planet’s Future | Opinion

Africa’s landscapes are not just renowned for their beauty—they are vital to the continent’s future and the planet’s health. These ecosystems have sustained people and shaped cultures across the continent for millennia, while supporting critical biodiversity. Yet we risk losing them forever, along with the immense benefits they provide to Africa and the world. If we act now to make the right investments and partnerships, we can protect these invaluable resources and secure a sustainable future for generations—but this requires investments in conservation at scale.
One of the most striking examples of this scale of work is the historic commitment to translocate 2,000 threatened southern white rhinos across various African countries. The reintroduction of these rhinos will restore balance to entire ecosystems. White rhinos are mega herbivores that shape savannas, boosting both flora and fauna. Where rhinos thrive, so does the entire ecosystem, benefiting people and wildlife alike.
Preserving nature in Africa goes far beyond the continent. Africa is home to 25 percent of the world’s biodiversity. Containing some of the planet’s most vital ecosystems, it plays a critical role in regulating the global climate, storing carbon, and maintaining weather systems. The forests, wetlands, and savannas of Africa are both national treasures and global lifelines. If these ecosystems are degraded or lost, the consequences will be felt far beyond Africa, affecting climate stability, biodiversity, and human well-being worldwide.
African Parks, a not-for-profit conservation organization, operates a distinctive model. Based on long-term public-private partnerships with governments, it emphasizes full responsibility for managing national parks and protected areas across Africa, ensuring they are ecologically viable, socially acceptable, and financially sustainable, while providing critical benefits to people. Other key components include anti-poaching efforts and ecological restoration to community development—a holistic approach that protects wildlife and landscapes while also fostering local economic growth and stability.
Recognizing the critical importance of these ecosystems to Africa’s future and the future of the planet, African leaders issued the Kigali Call to Action for People and Nature in July 2022. Among other things, this declaration highlights the vital role of Africa’s protected areas in supporting livelihoods and cultures and in meeting national and global biodiversity targets. In December 2022, the leaders of all African nations signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the protection of 30 percent of Africa’s lands and waters by 2030.
Yet Africa currently receives only 3 percent of global biodiversity funding, underscoring the urgent need for increased investment. That’s why the 30 by 30 framework is critical for safeguarding biodiversity, and emphasizes the urgency of immediate and sustained conservation efforts. It couldn’t come at a more pivotal moment for global conservation.
The next decade will determine whether we can prevent the loss of up to 1 million species worldwide. We are currently witnessing remarkable conservation successes, like the largest migration of animals ever recorded—over 5 million—in South Sudan and parts of Ethiopia. Another example in Ethiopia is the Green Legacy Initiative launched by the prime minister in 2019, planting tens of billions of trees across the country, significantly contributing to reforestation and environmental restoration efforts.
These success stories show that taking action now can work. Investing in nature is not just an environmental imperative—it’s an economic one. Protecting existing ecosystems is significantly more efficient than attempting to restore them once they’ve been damaged.
At the forefront of innovative conservation solutions, African Parks launched the Verifiable Nature Unit (VNU) at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. The VNU offers a groundbreaking method to measure and verify the ecological health and biodiversity of protected areas, establishing a new means of measuring and rewarding natural capital preservation that can attract investment and secure the long-term sustainability of these critical landscapes. VNU issuances are expected to generate $15.6 million for four sites in 2024. Strategic, large-scale conservation initiatives are crucial to managing and strengthening conservation areas, ensuring they provide lasting benefits to all stakeholders.
Yet there is much more to be done. The global community must amplify its support for these efforts, recognizing that conserving Africa’s natural heritage is a global responsibility. The survival of our planet’s most precious ecosystems—and by extension, the health of the African continent and the entire planet—depends on our willingness to act.
Governments, corporations, and individuals must invest in nature—not just in Africa, but worldwide—if we are to safeguard our planet’s biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and enable local communities to continue to thrive. Conservation at scale is not only possible; it is essential. By combining comprehensive management with local community involvement and financial sustainability, we can help protect one of Earth’s greatest continents and secure a sustainable future for the planet. But we must act now.
Rob Walton is chair of African Parks Foundation of America. He is the former chairman of Walmart’s Board of Directors, serves on the board of Conservation International, and is an inaugural member of the Protecting our Planet Challenge.
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012-2018. He serves as board member and chairperson of various organizations such as Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Global Steering Committee for the Campaign for Nature.
The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.