March 29, 2024

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IUCN-APAC: African Nature Finance Forum Leveraging African leadership to increase financing for the protection of the world’s biodiversity

Accreditation just opened up at the Kigali International airport.

During the inaugural IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) taking place in Kigali from 18-23 July 2022, the Governments of Nigeria and Gabon will host the high-level African Nature Finance Forum on July 20 at 4:00 p.m. CAT to underscore the need to dramatically increase financing for the expansion and improved management of protected areas in Africa as a global resource critical for all people.

The natural world is disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Global species loss is estimated to be up to 1,000 times higher than the naturally occurring extinction rate and one million plant and animal species now face extinction, many within decades. 

To address the crisis facing nature, nations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, environmental organizations, and businesses are actively working to develop a new framework to guide biodiversity conservation for the next decade, known as the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a global agreement seeking to curtail the accelerating nature crisis, which will be finalized at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to take place in Montreal, Canada, from 5 to 17 December 2022. However, without adequate financing, actions to address the biodiversity crisis will not be possible, and this critical global agreement may be elusive. 

The Africa Nature Finance Forum will bring together government leaders and experts to discuss how Africa can use its historical and cultural tradition of protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, support the financing of biodiversity, and leverage increased financing from donor countries around the world. Given that 70-90% of the cost of protecting or conserving at least 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030 (a proposal known as 30×30) would be focused on low- and middle-income countries, the Forum will underscore the need for high-income countries, development banks, philanthropists, and the private sector to dramatically increase their support for the expansion and improved management of protected areas in Africa.

Speakers at the event will include: 

  • Hon. Mohammed H. Abdullahi, Minister of Environment, Nigeria
  • Hon. Lee White, Minister of Water, Forests, the Sea, and Environment, Gabon
  • Hailemariam Desalegn, Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Co-Author of the Conservation Continent
  • Hon. Zac Goldsmith, Minister of State for the Pacific and the International Environment, United Kingdom 
  • Dr Vanessa Ushie, Manager, Policy Analysis Division, African NaturalResources Centre (ANRC), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Co-Chair of the NC4-ADF Programme
  • Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairman of Global Environment Facility
  • Dr Rashid Sumaila, Professor and Director, Fisheries Economics Research, Conservation Continent and Oceans 
  • Stefanie Lang, Executive Director of The Legacy Landscapes Fund 
  • Solange Bandiaky-Badji, President and Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative
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