The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) won the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection award at the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, hosted by the Financial Times and the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
The event, held on October 30 in London following the Financial Times’ Africa Summit, honors projects addressing long-term environmental and economic challenges across Africa.
AWF’s CEO Kaddu Sebunya, discussed the role of biodiversity economies in Africa’s development agenda, emphasizing their potential to boost job creation, income, and revenue for African nations.
“These economies will particularly benefit conservation landscapes, which are often marginalized in economic agendas, by providing opportunities for local communities and vulnerable groups, such as women and youth,” he said. Sebunya added that AWF aims to foster a future where Africa’s wildlife and people coexist sustainably.
The foundation received recognition for its "Biodiversity Economies" approach, an initiative that collaborates with African governments to integrate conservation into economic planning. This model promotes policies to generate financial benefits from biodiversity, aiming to establish nature as an economic pillar for communities.
Edwin Tambara, AWF’s Director of Global Leadership, highlighted the potential impact of this approach: “At AWF, we are convinced that nature is an asset that can drive economic development. By working with governments to ensure biodiversity is seen as an economic pillar, we can create opportunities for Africans, particularly for African youth.”
AWF's collaboration with Zimbabwe is cited as an example of this model’s application. A 2022 report from Zimbabwe indicated that nature-based tourism contributes approximately $1 billion annually to the national economy.
Findings from this report have prompted Zimbabwean authorities to consider updates to policies, including the Wildlife Act and Forestry Policy, to support conservation-driven economic activities across the continent.
AWF aims to establish biodiversity economies throughout Africa to support sustainable development and conservation.
