Protecting Land

Land conservation is AWF's primary wildlife conservation strategy. Why? Because AWF believes that loss and fragmentation of habitat is the single largest threat to most African wildlife.

Like wildlife everywhere, the wildlife of Africa needs vast open landscapes to live, move and propagate. Isolated islands of protected land will not suffice to ensure that wildlife survives and thrives. Successful conservation efforts look beyond human borders to balance the needs of wildlife and people at the landscape level.

For AWF, "land" means more than a space on a map. It means all of the features and dimensions of a rich wildlife habitat - from mountains to caves, rivers to trees, even small-scale farms and national parks. AWF's land conservation efforts consider every aspect of the land and its role in the lives of animals and people.

The need for landscape-level conservation is the inspiration for AWF's African Heartlands Program. Working with governments, local villages, private interests and national parks, AWF uses a variety of approaches to bring public, community and private lands under conservation. These approaches include:

• Supporting protected areas, from Tanzania's popular Tarangire National Park to Mozambique's Banhine National Park.
• Engaging in land-use planning with community groups to protect special sites and dedicate land to conservation efforts like the Cubo Community Nature Reserve.
• Creating private land trusts like the Kenya Land Conservation Trust to hold land rights that promote conservation.

AWF recently convened a committee to explore the idea of environmental easements as a tool in Kenya. While Kenya enjoys a diversity of exceptional protected areas, they alone will not support viable populations of wildlife in the long-term. Research shows that most wildlife in Kenya is found outside protected areas. Kenya needs innovative conservation mechanisms to secure strategic land and provide financial incentives to landowners. As the threats to biodiversity accelerate, we need to be more creative in our approach to conservation.

> Click here to view the African Wildlife Foundation Technical Paper: Expanding options for habitat conservation outside protected areas in Kenya: the use of environmental easements, published in partnership with the Kenya Land Conservation Trust.

Land use laws, agricultural growth, human settlement patterns, unchecked hunting and political challenges limit the ability of wildlife to survive and thrive in their natural environment. AWF brings lawyers, scientists, policymakers, and local communities to the table to address these challenges in ways that sustain human growth as well as the natural environment.