10/10/2025
15:30 - 16:00
Forum - Arena
, Hybrid (onsite with livestreaming)
Session with interpretation
Why attend
Discover how the NaturAfrica approach delivers large-scale impact by protecting Africa’s biodiversity while promoting sustainable economies, empowering communities, and promoting inclusive governance for lasting conservation success.
Session Description
NaturAfrica is an EU initiative supporting sub-Saharan African countries to protect biodiversity and build sustainable economies through a landscape approach. It integrates conservation with sustainable agriculture, eco-tourism, and other green-value chains, addressing environmental challenges, poverty, and food insecurity. Launched at the WCS in 2021, now present in about 38 countries, NaturAfrica aims to establish a network of conservation areas in key biodiversity hotspots like the Virunga Mountains, safeguarding wildlife and ecosystems. Collaboration is at its core, through partnerships with local communities, governments and the private sector. Support goes beyond the European Commission envelope (>EUR300m), through significant support at national and regional level from multiples sources notably EU Member States; and substantial benefits generated to the communities through the support to the local economies. Through specific examples, the session will demonstrate that a scalable, community-driven model for conservation is possible, proving that thriving ecosystems and prosperous communities are mutually reinforcing.