Since the coronavirus reached Africa, over half the continent’s protected areas have had to halt or reduce anti-poaching patrols and outreach programmes. The reason for this decline in conservation is the downturn in tourism, a critical source of income for conservation efforts and wildlife parks in Africa. On top of this, many philanthropists have redirected funding to Covid-19 targets.

As a result, private and national parks and wildlife programmes have had to look for non-tourism-related funding and sources of income, something that has been difficult to do for years. An example of how much money is needed for just one area of conservation is in biodiversity; to reverse its decline, data from the Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability and The Nature Conservancy put the figure at $722–967 billion annually over the next decade. And that was before Covid-19.

The following are just a few of the innovations being used across Africa to keep nature conservation and wildlife protection top of mind:

Racing for rangers

Sporting events have always been a powerful short-term fundraising avenue, and the Wildlife Ranger Challenge is no different. Founded in 2020, this 21km race is organised by wildlife rangers for wildlife rangers, and this year attracted 150 ranger teams from 24 countries. Over R200 million was raised for the salaries and operating costs of 8 000 plus rangers.

‘If it weren’t for the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, we wouldn’t have been able to cover the salaries of most of our rangers due to serious funding cuts related to the pandemic,’ said a spokesperson for Kissama Foundation, which protects Angola’s National Parks. ‘The effort of many years could have been lost.’

The world’s first wildlife bond

Meanwhile, the World Bank is planning to introduce the world’s first wildlife conservation bond this year. The five-year, R670-million security will raise funds to protect South Africa’s black rhino. The initiative allows backers, especially companies, to get returns depending on how the rhino population grows. Investors could then choose to invest part of that money in new projects.

If successful, the idea will be replicated to protect the black rhino in Kenya and other endangered species elsewhere, including mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

Impact investment

Transparency and convenience have become vital for wildlife and conservation donors, and so has the guarantee that their donations will be used to make a lasting effect. This is where impact investing comes in. Various platforms have come online that allow consumers to make a tangible difference with their wallets, while making a return on their investments.

While most impact-investment platforms focus on sustainability in general, the Nature+ Accelerator Fund looks at only wildlife conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it, founded the fund in 2020. Its partners, Global Environmental Facility and Mirova Natural Capital, have joined forces with IUCN to vet projects that provide conservation benefits as well as financial returns for investors.

Such initiatives are needed more than ever before, said IUCN’s Stewart Maginnis at the fund’s launch, stating that biodiversity loss goes beyond species disappearing. It has economic implications, too. Africa’s travel sector, for instance, largely rests on wildlife. Not doing anything about environmental damage ‘is actually eating away at the fabric of our societies, our culture, and our wealth creation’.

In South Africa, Old Mutual introduced the country’s first environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating system for unit trust funds in April 2021. In addition to rating all Old Mutual funds on the Old Mutual Wealth open platform, the group has invited other asset managers on the platform to submit their funds for rating, too. This makes it easy to see which funds have the best ESG score to be able to make more sustainable, responsible investment choices.

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