African grassroots conservation groups hamstrung by difficulties finding funding

Indigenous people increasingly recognised as key to protecting nature, but are shut out of major environmental finance

(Kevin Folk)

By Calvin Manika for Community Podium News

Appeals for governments and non-governmental organisations to fund indigenous groups to help strengthen the enjoyment of their rights and preservation of their environment have heightened.

The San people of Tsholotsho in Zimbabwe, like most of the indigenous groups, are advocating for land rights and establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas.

However, these groups are financially handicapped to successfully challenge powerful organisations running various operations in local communities. These operations include timber logging in Tsholotsho and mining in Hwange, which also often encroaches into the Hwange National Park.

“Unfortunately, most of the organisations which work with Tsoro-o –tso Development Trust focus mainly in other areas of socio-economic development, not on conservation, which is a critical area for San livelihoods and preservation of nature,” said Amos Mabhinya, a social development expert.

A study titled, Greening the Grassroots: Rethinking African Conservation Funding published by Maliasili in July 2022 during the Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC), established that local conservation organizations in Africa struggle to grow and sustain their impact due to barriers in how they are funded.

Smaller, African-led groups working directly with local communities like Tsoro-o-tso Development Trust are increasingly recognised as key to securing indigenous and community land rights.

Such organisations have not been able to secure funding which meet their goals due to the stringent measures and complex setup of the global conservation finance system.

While launching the report, Fred Nelson, CEO of Maliasili, said, “We cannot hope to address conservation and environmental challenges in Africa today if we can’t get the right kind of investment to the most talented and effective organizations in the field.”

The just ended International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) African Protected Areas Congress (APAC) pledged to put indigenous people’s rights at the forefront of protecting biodiversity as part of attaining a healthy earth.

The delegates made a commitment, dubbed the ‘Kigali Call To Action’…calling on stakeholders, non-governmental organisations and governments to recognise indigenous peoples and afford their communities a status of protected areas.

The IUCN is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education.

Last year in Glasgow, Scotland, the UN Climate Conference pledged $1.7 billion (£1.4 billion) to secure land tenure and forest rights for communities.

In December this year, there will be a major meeting in Montreal that was supposed to be held in Kunming, China in 2020 and 2021 but was delayed by Covid 19. During the Convention on Biological Diversity, the major focus is the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which is supposed to set 10-year targets to protect planetary nature and environments. The issue of funding is expected to be one of the priority targets.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Read the original story here.