Letter from the CEO

Linking Conservation to Progress

This year marked a moment of global disruption, with shifting international investment priorities, changing geopolitical alliances, and impatience for the status quo expressed across the world.

What became clear amid this disruption is that Africa’s relationship to the world and our governments’ relationships with their constituencies are changing. African youth are demanding their seats at the table. There is demand for greater sovereignty in decision-making and more transparency from leaders, and an appetite for solutions to conservation and development challenges grounded in national and continental priorities. Conservation as it is practiced on the continent needs to adapt.

As Africa’s international conservation NGO, AWF is uniquely positioned for this moment. Our 10-year strategy emphasizes supporting African decision-making and linking conservation to the aspirations of the continent’s people. Five years into the execution of the strategy, our approach is successfully building capacity and resilience on the continent, helping national and local leaders navigate choices and embed conservation into their long-term planning.

Looking at our accomplishments for fiscal year 2025, you will see how essential our emphasis on African leadership is in delivering durable conservation outcomes. It is the foundation of everything we do. Whether creating green growth investment plans in Rwanda and Kenya’s Kajiado County, convening policy dialogues with ministers and heads of state, enhancing wildlife law enforcement and protected area management, or creating professional and economic opportunity for Africa’s youth, AWF works for Africa’s people and wildlife by supporting effective homegrown conservation leadership.

At the continental level, our work this year with the African Union and the Africa Protected Area Directors network reinforced lessons we see daily: Africa is most influential when institutions are prepared, positions are unified, and leadership is backed by evidence. This is important because Africa is entering a new era of global influence. The question is no longer whether the continent will lead, but how, and whether that leadership will be grounded in long-term investment, strong governance, and a clear understanding that conservation is foundational to Africa’s stability and prosperity. AWF is here to help our leaders make choices that promote a future where people and wildlife thrive.

I invite you to explore in this report how we are helping Africa make essential decisions to value wildlife and wild lands—decisions grounded in informed leadership, partnership, and a shared responsibility for the continent’s people and wildlife.

Our work would not be possible without supporters and strategic partners like you. Together, we can be part of building a future where conservation is recognized not as an external obligation but as a cornerstone of economic growth.

Asante sana,

Kaddu Sebunya
AWF Chief Executive Officer

AUSTRIA: AWF CEO Kaddu Sebunya at the 2025 Salzburg Global Weekend.

What Makes Us Unique?

AWF drives transformative change in Africa by linking conservation to sustainable development using conservation strategies that leverage African ambitions for sustainable growth and deep cultural values for nature.

We emphasize African leadership—and responsibility—in making choices that protect our natural heritage. And we recognize the importance of partnership with a global community that shares our goal of building a future where people and wildlife thrive.

As Africa’s international conservation NGO, our work is in service of the
well-being of Africa’s people and wildlife. It begins with trust.

KENYA: AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

RWANDA: MOUNTAIN GORILLAS ON LAND DONATED BY AWF FOR RESTORATION TO VOLCANOES
NATIONAL PARK.

Applying Our Approach: Creating Space for Wildlife

In partnership with the Government of Rwanda, the African Wildlife Foundation is continuing with an innovative model that positions ecosystem restoration as the driving force behind poverty alleviation and green growth. This is not conservation despite development, or development at the expense of nature. This is a rights-based approach that recognizes local communities as essential partners and the primary stewards of their natural heritage.

The comprehensive Conservation and Development Master Plan was completed in March 2024, providing a blueprint for how Rwanda can simultaneously expand gorilla habitat in Volcanoes National Park while creating a thriving biodiversity economy in the region. This year, gorillas began using 27 hectares of restored land AWF donated to Volcanoes National Park. A business incubation program, launched in partnership with Inkomoko, equips local entrepreneurs with the skills and capital to build conservation-compatible enterprises. And a newly established Volcanoes Community Association Horticulture Hub creates stable employment while demonstrating the economic viability of high-value agriculture.

These are not isolated projects—they are integrated components of a single, cohesive strategy.

SCIENCE IN
2025

Ethiopia: Walia Ibex © Kevin Dooley, Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards 2021

Wildlife

We monitored 41 populations of priority wildlife species, analyzing field and other data to determine threats facing each population. Specific populations were chosen because their viability provides good indications of overall ecosystem health and wildlife security.

In addition to monitoring key species, we improved the capacity of law enforcement to detect, deter, investigate, and prosecute wildlife crime. We also supported effective wildlife management by providing on-the-ground training and resources for wildlife authorities and community scouts, helping to shape national wildlife policies.

In Ethiopia, we have provided technical and financial support to develop the first ever Walia Ibex National Recovery and Action Plan, working closely with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) and stakeholders. We also supported the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s (UWA) giraffe assessment in Kidepo and advanced Uganda’s rhino reintroduction program by training rangers from the Kidepo and Murchison landscapes in rhino monitoring and management. In Kenya, we are current members of national committees for rhinos and elephants and consult on economic development strategies impacting wildlife corridors and ecosystem services, including formulation of the 2025 Wildlife Conservation and Management Act.

At a regional level, this year our scientists were part of the review panel for the IUCN’s Green Status Assessment of the Northern Lion (West and Central Africa).

CAMEROON: Camera Trap Footage from CAMPO MA'AN.

Conservation Geography

The Conservation Geography team applies geospatial analysis to support planning, monitoring, and learning at local, regional, and national levels. This year, we expanded the use of powerful cloud-based processing in Google Earth Engine for vegetation trend and program impact evaluations, allowing us to leverage decades of satellite imagery. We also began an exploratory technical collaboration with the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence to test new approaches to land use and land cover mapping.

GIS analyses are informing a partnership with Kenya’s Kajiado County, which invited AWF to assist in creating a master plan for how the county can drive sustainable economic growth grounded in the Maasai community’s relationship with Amboseli National Park. As part of that plan, the team contributed stakeholder-informed spatial analyses of land use change, projected impacts, and models of tourism distribution. Additionally, we supported partner organizations in the landscape in onboarding and using GIS software. Work with wildlife authorities and other partners in the Faro (Cameroon) and Simien Mountains (Ethiopia) landscapes is leading to a more robust, consistent, and repeatable approach to spatial monitoring. And scenario modeling in Rwanda is helping the government make a case for a more sustainable green growth plan emphasizing wetland and forest protection towards enhanced water quality, flow, and climate resilience.

Kenya: Kajiado County

Wildlife Rescue: Cameroon

A lizard, two monkeys, and three tortoises—this isn’t the start of a fable, but a real rescue story from Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve in March 2025, one of 29 rescues that took place in the landscape this year. The animals were recovered during an anti-poaching operation led by Cameroon’s wildlife authority (MINFOF) in partnership with AWF and with support from the European Union and UNESCO. They went on to receive care at Mvog-Betsi Zoo.

FOREST HINGE-BACK TORTOISES

DE BRAZZA'S MONKEY

Fellow Spotlight

IGNATIOUS KUDAKWASHE MAERESA

2024 AWF-Wall Policy Fellow

AWF-Wall Policy Fellow Ignatious Maeresa is the founder of a Zimbabwe-based nonprofit that simplifies complex conservation issues for youth in remote communities. To date, he has partnered with 200 youth champions in rural communities in western Zimbabwe near Hwange National Park. Skills and experience gained from his 2024 fellowship have helped him in his efforts to introduce them to global conservation frameworks like the Ramsar and CITES conventions, linking local action to international policy. Maeresa’s ambitions don’t stop there. He is also advocating to criminalize intentional or negligent human destruction of the environment, known as “ecocide,” and for the legal recognition of Indigenous peoples' rights under Zimbabwe’s conservation law.

KENYA: AWF-WALL Policy Fellows Workshop at AWF Headquarters.

PARTNERING
WITH GLOBAL
ACTORS

KENYA: GEF Operational Focal Point Training at AWF Headquarters.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the largest funder of biodiversity conservation in the world. Its financing helps developing countries address complex challenges and work towards meeting international environmental goals. Over the past 30 years, the GEF has invested US $7.7 billion in Africa and leveraged more than $50 billion from other sources. Around $1.7 billion is being discussed in the current round of funding. In early 2025, AWF and the GEF began a partnership to ensure that these investments translate into tangible, lasting environmental progress on the ground.

Capitalizing on AWF's grassroots reach, on-the-ground conservation experience, and influence, the GEF approached us to ensure that GEF leads for individual African governments, known as “operational focal points,” are supported in two ways: First, in aligning GEF programming in their countries with commitments under global environmental conventions. Second, in leveraging GEF funding to drive integration and the mainstreaming of environmental issues into development priorities and economic growth agendas.

This year, we engaged operational focal points from 29 countries. One of them, Barthélemy Lamba from the Central African Republic, shared what the collaboration between AWF and GEF has meant for him.

Q: What does an operational focal point do?

Barthélemy Lamba: The operational focal point (OFP) is the interface between a country and the GEF Secretariat, in my case, the Central African Republic. The OFP strengthens communication so GEF-supported work is visible, and we help agencies and national stakeholders integrate evaluation recommendations so projects are implemented effectively. This includes coordinating environmental projects and maintaining close liaison with national partners—including line ministries, technical and financial partners, civil society organizations, and the private sector.

Q: What problem was the GEF trying to solve by partnering with AWF?

Lamba: In practice, OFPs can face constraints in supervising GEF portfolios—particularly when there is limited funding for oversight, or when implementing agencies are unable (or reluctant) to share project data and information. That is why strengthening the OFPs’ supervisory role is essential.

Through this partnership, the GEF worked with AWF to support OFPs so that we can effectively supervise the portfolios of GEF-funded projects. This aligns with the GEF-8 Country Engagement Strategy, which aims to empower countries to take ownership of their portfolios and maximize impact. For us, this support came at exactly the right time. It helps OFPs operate with greater autonomy so supervision is more effective—and funds reach the intended direct beneficiaries.

Q: What has changed since you attended the first training in April 2025?

Lamba: The training provided OFPs with practical, up-to-date tools to strengthen oversight of essential environmental projects. Informal sessions during training helped the OFPs improve their collaboration and communication between line ministries, project managers, implementing agencies, and themselves. I am now better equipped to carry out control missions and conduct follow-up that supports accountability, transparency, and the long-term sustainability of GEF investments.

Q: Looking to the future, how do you see the role and importance of GEF investments evolving in your country?

Lamba: The GEF continues to evolve from a global environmental funding mechanism into a catalyst and innovator. Its investments will focus more on climate mitigation and resilience while integrating private-sector participation. When this happens, there will be an emphasis on integrated solutions that link biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, and sustainable development.

Barthélemy Lamba, GEF focal point for the Central African Republic (CAR).

HOW CONSERVATION
CONTRIBUTES TO

PEACE AND
STABILITY

Cameroon: Oumma Djaoudji shares information about the importance of conservation
with women in the Faro landscape.

DRC: Ardo Moussa

In northern Cameroon’s transboundary Faro landscape, Fulani herder Oumma Djaoudji is part of an AWF-supported initiative that has reduced conflict between livestock herders and local farmers by a remarkable 62 percent—a model that AWF is scaling up in areas such as the Bili-Uélé Protected Area Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Faro is home to diverse wildlife, including elephants and Central and West Africa’s largest hippo population. Seasonal livestock herding, or transhumance, drives overgrazing and deforestation, threatens wildlife, damages crops, and fuels competition for resources.

Djaoudji is one of four women nominated by her community to lead the Association for Peaceful Management of Transhumance (TANGO), a local diplomacy network that mediates conflict between herders and community members through two-way communication and culturally informed outreach. Groups traditionally in conflict over land use are collaborating to establish corridors and improved grazing areas for seasonal cattle pasture and passage.

With funding from the European Union's NaturAfrica program, AWF recently introduced the TANGO approach in the Bili-Uélé landscape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflicts have been driven by pastoralist herders and refugees escaping conflict and climate stress.

Combining expert knowledge, field intelligence, and aerial survey observations, AWF is partnering with the DRC’s wildlife authorities to map pastoralist routes and rangeland across borders. This provides a data-based starting point for engaging with the herders and recommending alternative areas for pasture.

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” says Godefroid Azanga, AWF Transhumance Agent in the DRC. “We are inspired by
Faro’s experiences. Little by little, we will reach their level.”

Herder Ardo Moussa left the Central African Republic in 2017 only to come into conflict with local communities in Bili-Uélé. He says the TANGO partnership reduces tension by helping him understand the importance of keeping his animals out of protected areas and community land.

“We are called upon to respect the areas as laid out,” he says. “May the protected area remain for [the wildlife authority]. In the same way that we watch over our animals, they also watch over theirs.”

Cameroon: Faro Landscape

PARTNER Spotlights

Farmers Sere Etienne and Mango’o Clautilde live near Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve, where their annual cocoa harvest brought in more than US $3,000 last year, almost twice as much as the average per capita income in Cameroon. The future looks bright for the couple, who aspire to expand their family farm, combining traditional knowledge with AWF-supported training to restore degraded land and cultivate cocoa under native tree cover. Income from farming is supplemented by Clautilde’s production of natural soap, which she learned to produce as part of AWF’s livelihood trainings and now sells locally. Etienne directly partners on conservation action by joining eco-guards on patrol to deter illegal logging and poaching.

A continental movement was born when AWF helped to establish Africa’s first wildlife club in Kenya in the late 1960s. Today, there are thousands of clubs across Africa, reaching primary and secondary school children through after-school programs. Recently, AWF built on our early legacy, establishing a national conservation education partnership with the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya (WCK). The pilot program launched this year in 137 schools in the Tsavo landscape, significantly increasing WCK’s reach in this rural area. Central to the partnership is Dr. George Njagi, who leads WCK’s national efforts to strengthen conservation education and environmental awareness among young learners. Dr. Njagi focuses on designing and delivering impactful school and community programs to build knowledge, inspire action, and nurture future conservation leaders.

For former farmer Mukarwego Agnes, living next to Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park meant constant conflict with crop-destroying wildlife. Conservation seemed like a burden, not an opportunity. As part of Rwanda’s strategy to increase gorilla habitat in the park while building a regional green economy, her family was among those identified for relocation to a modern village.

Initially, the relocation plan was met with skepticism. However, that perception began to change with targeted training and community engagement initiatives led by AWF in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). A business incubation program helped Agnes take the leap from farming into agribusiness. She now purchases potatoes from local farmers, stores them, and sells them in bulk at wholesale. She started her business by investing in roughly 200 kilograms of Irish potatoes. Through a revolving fund backed by AWF and RDB, Agnes secured a loan that more than doubled her initial investment. Today, she pays her children’s school fees from the profits—and no longer faces daily competition with wildlife.

With an average annual output of around 130,000 tons, the Kilombero Sugar Company produces 40 percent of Tanzania’s sugar. AWF has partnered with Kilombero Sugar Company since 2015, through the IUCN-SUSTAIN program, working to balance agricultural expansion with watershed restoration and wildlife corridor protection.

As a Social Liaison Specialist at the company, Mebo Kanyabuha works with sugarcane growers and community stakeholders to strengthen farmer capacity, improve land use practices, and increase environmental compliance. This year, Kanyabuha engaged with more than 11,000 smallholder farmers through co-ops strengthened by AWF. Smallholder farms contributed 53 percent of the company’s total cane supply in 2024.

In 2022, AWF partnered with conservation leadership across Africa on a big idea–establishing a network for leaders to share learnings and advocate for the needs of Africa’s 8,932 official protected and conserved areas. This group, known as the Africa Protected Area Directors (APAD) has emerged as a powerful platform for connecting protected area leaders from across the continent. Today, AWF acts as secretariat, supporting leaders like Omer Ntougou Ndoutoume. Ndoutoume is Executive Secretary for Gabon’s national park system, where he oversees administrative, financial, and operational management and the implementation of conservation policies. As a Co-Chair of APAD, he contributes to the strategic coordination of the network in addition to representing the interests of protected area directors in Central Africa and promoting regional cooperation for the sustainable management of protected areas.

Kenya: Learners from young conservation heroes event in kilifi, a town southeast from tsavo east national park.

WATER'S ROLE IN

ECOSYSTEM
RESILIENCE

Kenya: A desilted water pan in Lumo Conservancy, serving as a vital water access point
for wildlife and livestock.

Tanzania: Naomi Kassim Mayowera, center right, with other members of a local water users association in Kilombero.

Water defines life in East Africa. Across the region, climate change-driven drought and flooding, combined with rising competition for scarce water take their toll on fragile ecosystems and the people and wildlife depending on them. For AWF, addressing these challenges means deepening partnerships and driving innovative, community-led solutions to ensure the life-sustaining water keeps flowing.

In south-central Tanzania, the Kilombero Valley supplies fresh water to more than 400,000 people and is part of a fertile region producing much of the nation’s food supply. It is both a wetland of international importance and a critical wildlife corridor for elephants. Rivers like the Mchombe are vital to the valley’s biodiversity and agriculture.

More than 15 years ago, AWF recognized that conservation in Kilombero is inseparable from the health of its water systems. Through the IUCN-led Sustainability and Inclusion Strategy for Growth Corridors in Africa (SUSTAIN-Africa) program, AWF has supported land use planning to maintain key wildlife corridors and partnered with local agribusiness, farmers, and communities to adopt sustainable agriculture and river restoration practices.

For farmer Naomi Kassim Mayowera, whose land lies along the Mchombe’s banks, the river is essential for survival. "Without the river, we have nothing," she says. "It nourishes our farms, animals, and families. Protecting it means protecting our future."

Since 2021, Mayowera has been a member of a local water users association whose 30 members share a single mission: conserving the Mchombe River. Water user associations like Mayowera’s are part of AWF’s watershed health and recovery strategy. They monitor the river's health, tracking water temperature, pollution indicators, and insect behavior as early warning signs of trouble. Mayowera’s community has also embraced reforestation, planting more than 1,400 indigenous trees along the riverbank to prevent soil erosion and create a natural buffer for the water.

"The Mchombe River is the heart of our community," explains Leonard Kisihanga, chair of the Water Resource Committee. "By protecting it, we're not just safeguarding our livelihoods—we're ensuring the future of our children and our wildlife."

Kenya: The Tsavo landscape is part of a vast, semi-arid region in southeastern Kenya, characterized by dry bushland, volcanic rocky outcrops, and plains.

Several hundred kilometers north of the Kilombero Valley, the transboundary (Kenya and Tanzania) Tsavo-Mkomazi landscape also faces water stress, particularly after severe droughts in 2020 and 2022. The landscape is home to Tsavo National Park, Kenya’s largest protected area, supporting a third of the nation’s elephants and nearly a fifth of its black rhinos. Tens of thousands of people rely on the landscape’s natural resources. Climate change has brought unpredictable rainfall, shrinking wet seasons, soaring temperatures, and prolonged dry spells. Deforestation in the Taita and Chyulu Hills—source of 60 percent of Tsavo National Park’s water—has diminished water flow to wildlife in the park.

With support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Tui Foundation, AWF is partnering with local leaders, communities, and local organizations to restore water systems and consequently improve water security for people and wildlife alike.

One local leader is Simon Mwakio, chief of a farming community in the Taita Hills. Mwakio has made it his mission to help restore the Bura River, which originates in hilltop forests and eventually flows into the Lumo Conservancy, a vital lowland corridor linking Tsavo West National Park to Tsavo East. He believes communities such as his must be custodians of the landscape, not bystanders to its decline.

AWF is working with Mwakio and others to reactivate the river’s Water Resource Users Association and the Vuria Community Forest Association, supporting the local leadership needed to sustain long-term restoration. In the forest near the source of the river, solar lamps have been introduced, improving villagers’ lives while reducing their reliance on firewood.

Fruit trees planted along the Bura’s banks are decreasing erosion, and association members are clearing waterways diverted or clogged by silt and undergrowth. Improved water flow benefits farmers along the river, and more water reaches wildlife in Lumo Conservancy—all outcomes that affirm Chief Mwakio’s message of resilience. “These developments show how collective action can secure [our] future…though there is still more to be done,” he says. “Climate change is real, but together we can heal our land.”

AWF Landscape Director Kenneth Kimitei shares that optimism. “I’ve been here 20 years,” he says. “In the next decade, I foresee a shift in how we use water. If the river can reach the lowlands again—sustaining wildlife and people—that’s a bright future.”

INDEX OF OUR WORK

DOWNLOAD INDEX OF OUR WORK

Cameroon: Dja Landscape

Letter from the Chair

When we launched our 10-year strategy in 2020, we could not have predicted a global pandemic or a complete reset of overseas development aid. But those pressures have only served to reinforce the central principle of our theory of change. Africans must lead in defining the future of the continent’s natural heritage.

This year marks the midpoint of the strategy, which is grounded in a belief that the only way to drive sustainable conservation action for African wildlife is through influencing decision-making within African society. Over the past five years that has led to a deliberate focus on building conservation leadership and models that link conservation to the long-term well-being of people.

The hard work our organization has done to realign and reprioritize over those years is paying off. We’ve grown from expenses of just over $30 million in 2020 to just under $38 million in 2025, creating a stable foundation for navigating new global realities. These are realities we are well positioned to meet, and I am proud of the leadership role AWF plays on the continent today in supporting African leaders and their institutions in deepening their conservation impact.

As the stories in this annual report demonstrate, our emphasis on partnership with wildlife authorities, communities, and local organizations is driving meaningful progress for wildlife. AWF’s emphasis on connecting conservation to the aspirations of rural Africans is paying off, as is our rights-based work focusing on improving governance, peace, and stability in areas of conflict.

While ultimately it is Africa’s responsibility to safeguard its natural heritage, we can't succeed without partners from around the world. Africa’s natural resources are of global importance. How Africa defines the value of wildlife and wild lands matters to anyone who cares about the planet and how it works, understands how conservation can positively influence progress, or simply loves the iconic species that define the continent for so many. Together, we can all be part of building a future for Africa where people and wildlife thrive.

Sincerely,

Larry Green
Chair, AWF Board of Trustees

Larry Green concluded his tenure as AWF Chair of the Board of Trustees in March 2026 and continues to serve as a Trustee. Laura Kohler was confirmed as Chair on March 5, 2026.

Board of Trustees

Larry Green (Chair)
Stephen Golden (Vice Chair)
Akhil Bhardwaj
Mark Burstein
Payson Coleman
H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe
Lynn Dolnick
D. Gregory B. Edwards
Mary Glasser
Donald Gray
Rt. Hon. Lord Chris Grayling

Marleen Groen
Heather Sturt Haaga
Gilles Harerimana
Christine Hemrick
Catherine Herring
H.E. Mahamadou Issoufou
Stephen Juelsgaard
Laura Kohler
Andrew Malk
Charles Mbire
Veronica Meinhard
H.E. Festus Mogae

Christopher Murray
Shingai Mutasa
Phoebe Reaumond
Emery Rubagenga
Anne Scott
Kaddu Sebunya (CEO)
Craig Sholley
Fred Steiner
Christopher Tower
Pierre Trapanese
Maria Wilhelm

Country Boards

Canada

Catherine Herring (Chair)
Sheena Chandaria
Colin Chapman
Alain-Désiré Nimubona
Mark Ponter
Kaddu Sebunya

Kenya

Dr. Mohanjeet Brar (Chair)
Kaddu Sebunya (Secretary)
Judy Gona
Jacqueline Hinga
Ali Kaka
Mutuma Marangu

United Kingdom

Gilles Harerimana (Chair)
D. Gregory B. Edwards
Rt. Hon. Lord Chris Grayling
Marleen Groen
Heather Sturt Haaga
Christopher Murray
Kaddu Sebunya
Junko Sheehan
Marcel Stötzel

Trustees Emeriti

Heather Sturt Haaga (Chair Emerita)
E.U. Curtis Bohlen
Joan Donner
Leila S. Green

John H. Heminway
Janet and William “Wilber” James
Dennis J. Keller
Robert King

Victoria Leslie
Henry P. McIntosh IV
David E. Thomson
Charles R. Wall

The trustees and council lists reflect those who served during the 2025 fiscal year as well as those serving at the time of publication in fiscal year 2026.

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SEIZING THE MOMENT

Linking Conservation to Progress

What Makes Us Unique?

Applying Our Approach: Creating Space for Wildlife

SCIENCE IN
2025

Wildlife