60 Years of Visionary Conservation Leadership
A Rich History of African Conservation
For 60 years, African Wildlife Foundation has been ahead of the curve in developing innovative conservation strategies so wildlife, wild lands, and people can thrive. Our approach is uniquely comprehensive, addressing not only direct threats to wildlife like poaching and habitat loss, but also working with communities and governments to ensure that African conservation is truly African owned and led.
2020s
2021
- AWF inaugurates the Charles R. Wall Conservation Leadership Management Program, expanding and deepening the innovative Conservation Leadership and Management Program, which mentors the next generation of African conservation leaders through on-the-job experience
- In partnership with AWF, the Uganda Wildlife Authority begins piloting three conservancies in landscapes surrounding Lake Mburo, Murchison Falls, and Kidepo Valley national parks; the three protected areas will be Uganda's first designated conservancies
- After Benjamin Mkapa's death in 2020, and in honor of his lifelong commitment to the continent’s biodiversity, AWF launches the global Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards
- AWF opens two new Classroom Africa schools in northern Uganda, Kidepo and Sarachom primary schools. This makes six schools AWF has rebuilt in return for communities’ conservation commitments.
- AWF launches Strategic Vision 2020-2030, which renews AWF's commitment to promoting African conservation leadership and focuses on dismantling the false choice between nature and development.
2020-2021
- AWF initiates pan-African leadership platforms for civil society organizations and protected-area agencies and links them into global and regional policy processes including the Convention on Biological Diversity negotiations and the IUCN World Conservation Congress
- To help African people and institutions build resilience and create solutions to COVID-related problems, AWF convenes representatives of numerous sectors, including civil society organizations, protected-area managers, safari operators, and youth conservation leaders
2020
- As the COVID-19 pandemic shuts down tourism and its vital revenue streams, AWF initiates a USD $1.65-million crisis response to support protected-area authorities, wildlife, and communities
- Responding to the threat of increased poaching during COVID-19, AWF’s Canines for Conservation program places a new emphasis on tracker dogs (which work in the field as opposed to airports and other transportation hubs)
- AWF is invited by the International Union for Conservation of Nature to co-chair the first-ever Africa Protected Area Congress, which is set for March 2022
2010s
2019
- On January 1, Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya is named CEO of AWF
2018
- AWF pledges a USD $25-million investment over four years to help end wildlife crime
- AWF partners with cybersecurity and intelligence experts to identify and investigate the online sale of illegal wildlife parts, as well as to provide forensic data for local law enforcement officials to track down criminals
- Following a regional law enforcement conference in 2016, AWF and Space for Giants convene the inaugural East African Wildlife Prosecutors Coalition Workshop in Rwanda, promoting interagency cooperation and information-sharing across borders
- AWF and Nickelodeon International launch the award-winning educational mini-series, the Together for Good Wildlife Special
- AWF begins a collaborative expansion into Europe hosting, for the first time, members of the United Kingdom government, media, private sector, and individual donors at the Royal Geographical Society
- AWF and the Beijing Zoo launch a landmark partnership to raise the Chinese public's awareness regarding threatened African wildlife through a special exhibition and an ongoing series of educational activities
- AWF donates 27.8 hectares of land to the Rwandan government, expanding Volcanoes National Park and expanding critical habitat for the growing but still fragile gorilla population
- AWF joins forces with Okavango Capital Partners to build an impact investment portfolio delivering on conservation returns with the ambition of capitalizing a $70-milllion fund channeling debt and equity financing into commercial enterprises in sustainable agriculture, catalytic technology, and nature services
2017
- AWF, the U.N. Development Programme Uganda, conservation partners, and the Government of Uganda build public-private partnerships at the Giants Club Conservation & Tourism Investment Forum
- AWF Global Ambassador and Board Member Veronica Varekova joins key personalities invited by the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic for the rhino horn burning ceremony in September. In the previous month, she represented AWF at Kwita Izina, Rwanda’s annual naming ceremony for baby mountain gorillas
- AWF launches the Conservation Leadership and Management Program, a 24-month, on-the-job training program for master’s degree graduates interested in building practical experience to become African conservation leaders
- In August, AWF and a coalition of leading wildlife conservation groups support New York’s ivory burn in Central Park, destroying more than one ton of ivory confiscated by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation
- AWF launches a partnership with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), ensuring Africa’s economic goals support natural ecosystems under AU Agenda 2063
- To develop environmentally friendly and inclusive agricultural systems, AWF and the Alliance for a Green Revolution (AGRA) resolve to build a relationship on shared values
- Simien Mountains National Park in Ethiopia is removed from U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's list of World Heritage in Danger after AWF works with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority to reduce livestock grazing in the park and provide livelihood alternatives for communities
2016
- AWF and the African Union Commission agree to prioritize the continent’s wildlife and wild lands as assets for sustainable development by signing a historic partnership agreement in support of the AU Agenda 2063
- AWF and Space for Giants convene the inaugural East African Wildlife Prosecutors Coalition Workshop in Rwanda, promoting interagency cooperation and information-sharing across borders
- At the Global African Investment Summit in September, AWF and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) commit to advance a conservation-centered development agenda
2015
- With support from the Aspen Institute, AWF convenes Chinese and African civil society leaders and celebrities in the lead-up to the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in December
- AWF launches a multi-faceted wildlife law enforcement program across Sub-Saharan Africa, building regional capacity and interagency cooperation to deter wildlife crime
- AWF becomes a member of the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance, a new coalition of corporate, foundation, and non-profit leaders geared to combat wildlife trafficking in the United States and abroad with federal support
- Conservation scientists and great ape experts from AWF lead week-long ecological assessment mission through Dja Faunal Reserve as part of African Apes Initiative’s bid to strengthen anti-poaching strategy
- Kenya burns 15 tons of confiscated ivory at the Nairobi National Park to commemorate World Wildlife Day on March 3
2014
- In September, AWF officially opened Ilima Primary School in Equatorial Province, DRC, and student enrollment increased by 40 percent.
- The U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization declared the Okavango Delta as its 1000th World Heritage Site in June. AWF’s Dr. Karen Ross was instrumental in achieving the designation for this critical ecosystem.
2013
- The College for African Wildlife Management in Mweka, AWF’s inaugural investment in educating Africa’s conservation leaders, celebrates 50 years, with a student body that has grown from 25 men to 500 men and women from across Africa and the world
- AWF expands education opportunities for communities in conservation landscapes through its flagship Classroom Africa program, which seeks to strengthen the links between conservation and education
- A cash-for-work program in northern Tanzania initiated in 2011 builds tourism infrastructure for wildlife management areas and provides jobs and incomes for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities impacted by drought
- AWF and the Aspen Institute launch a dialogue series to promote biodiversity conservation in China-Africa policy
- In September, AWF makes three Clinton Global Initiative Commitments to Action, pledging USD $80 million, with fellow conservation partners, for the Partnership to Save Africa’s Elephants, declaring a USD $5 million investment in sustainable African enterprises and conservation education
- AWF’s CEO was appointed to the United States Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking to provide advice and support to the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, under then-President Barack Obama
2012
- AWF launches its flagship Canines for Conservation program, which partners with authorities to train dog-and-handler teams and deploy them to wildlife trafficking hotspots
- The Bwindi mountain gorilla census shows an increased population of 400 mountain gorillas. The total world mountain gorilla population now stands at a minimum of 880
- The U.S. State Department adds wildlife trafficking to its foreign policy agenda. AWF starts working with the U.S. State Department on wildlife crime issues
- AWF and Tricorona partner to reforest Mau Forest Complex in Kenya
- AWF launches Conservation Management Training Program in April and welcomes the first class of trainees in August
- AWF and WildAid launch a strategic partnership to raise public awareness of the illegal wildlife trade. The first awareness campaign, featuring NBA star Yao Ming, targets rhino horn consumption in China
2011
- AWF celebrates 50 Years of Success in conserving Africa’s wildlife and wild lands.
- AWF partners with Disneynature through the Save the Savanna campaign, and secures 50,000 acres of the Amboseli Wildlife Corridor in the Kilimanjaro Heartland
- AWF-supported Ngoma Lodge opens in northern Botswana, providing jobs and continuous income for local communities
- AWF launches African Wildlife Capital, Africa’s first conservation-focused impact-investment vehicle — a groundbreaking initiative that will invest USD $7 million in private capital into tourism and agriculture enterprises in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Botswana
- The establishment of AWF’s Europe office in Gland, Switzerland marks the beginning of AWF’s strategic, multi-faceted efforts to strengthen the Africa-EU partnership in the service of conservation
2010
- H.E. Festus Mogae, former Botswana president, joins AWF's Board of Trustees
- Disneynature collaborates with AWF on a program to celebrate the release of the feature African Cats. A portion of the film’s opening-week proceeds will go to AWF
- AWF launches its first Heartland in West Africa, Regional Parc W
- AWF establishes a USD $10-million Urgent Response Fund to stop the killing of Africa’s wildlife, stop the trafficking of wildlife parts abroad, and stop the demand for ivory and rhino horn products in Asia
- In the Kazungula Heartland, AWF establishes the Sekute Conservation Area in partnership with the Sekute Chiefdom
- AWF helps to lead a historic transboundary wildlife census in the Kilimanjaro Heartland
- Virunga Massif census results indicate a mountain gorilla population increase of 26 percent between 2003 and 2010
- AWF launches “carbon offset” programs in the Kolo Hills Forest Reserve in Tanzania and on the Mbirikani Group Ranch in Kenya
2000s
2009
- AWF concludes its first-ever comprehensive capital campaign — the Campaign to Save Africa’s Heartlands — on June 30, effectively doubling its investment in Africa in five years
- The Lomako Conservation Science Center opens and will be a base for scientists from around the world to study bonobos
- AWF President Dr. Helen Gichohi is featured in "Milking the Rhino," the first major documentary to explore wildlife conservation from the perspective of people who have lived alongside wildlife all their lives.
- AWF launches the Leasing Land for Conservation Program in the Kilimanjaro Heartland.
2008
- AWF rolls out the Sustainable Economic Resources for Africa initiative, an agenda of policy, legislative, and institutional recommendations based on the principles and lessons of the African Heartlands Program
- The Livestock for Livelihoods Programs rehabilitates pasture and supports pastoral communities in building climate-resilient livestock systems consistent with conservation efforts in Maasai Steppe, Kilimanjaro, and Samburu Heartlands
- The Chiawa Cultural Village, an AWF-supported community enterprise that integrates historical attractions with conservation initiatives, opens on the banks of the Lower Zambezi in Zambia
- The Leopard Conservation Science Project begins in Kruger, South Africa
- AWF's Conservation Enterprise team opens three new eco-lodges that benefit local communities: Satao Elerai Camp in Kenya, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge in Uganda, and Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge in Rwanda
- The Easements for Education Program is launched in the Samburu Heartland
2007
- Dr. Helen Gichohi is appointed President of AWF. She is AWF's first African president.
- The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille opens for business in Laikipia, Kenya. This world-class eco-lodge is a one-of-a-kind conservation enterprise.
- AWF forms a partnership with The Nature Conservancy that will have a vast impact on the conservation of Africa's savanna and fresh-water ecosystems.
2006
- H.E. Benjamin Mkapa, former Tanzanian president, joins AWF's Board of Trustees. He would be instrumental in shaping one of AWF's leading principles — that conservation and development should go hand-in-hand
- AWF helps establish a new protected area in DRC called the Faunal Reserve of Lomako-Yokokala. This is a major win for endangered bonobos and a large benefit to local communities
- AWF completes construction of new park headquarters in the Samburu National Reserve. The new building — along with new staff housing — will improve overall operations of the reserve and improve effective conservation management
- The Mgahinga Gorilla National Park Visitor Center is officially opened, welcoming tourists who come to Southern Uganda to trek the endangered mountain gorillas
- Artist John Banovich partners with AWF to create the Lion PRIDE Initiative. The program raises public awareness about the plight of Africa's lions and generates new fundraising opportunities for their protection
2005
- AWF partners with the Mozambican government to restore the magnificent Banhine National Park. Biological surveys and the construction of an international research center begin
- AWF helps design and implement the Kenya Land Conservation Trust, a new national body that will allow land to be privately held for conservation, thus supplementing the traditional government parks and reserves
- African wild dog research is in full swing in the Samburu Heartland. AWF trains and equips community scouts to monitor wild dogs, one of Africa's most endangered predators, with the goal of increasing wild dog numbers and minimizing conflict with people
- Starbucks and AWF launch the "Coffee for Conservation" project, leveraging the power of the private sector by linking high-quality coffee production and natural-resource conservation in East Africa
- The Zambezi Heartland team conducts a massive biological survey on the Zambezi River. The team samples fish species, measures water quality, and examines ways to improve fisheries management
- AWF initiates a five-year process to help communities in Tanzania establish a mosaic of five wildlife management areas in the Maasai Steppe and Kilimanjaro Heartlands, securing wildlife corridors and land-tenure rights for communities and generating benefits through conservation enterprises
2004
- H.E. Ketumile Masire, former Botswana president, joins AWF's Board of Trustees
- Thanks to a partnership between AWF, USAID, and Tanzania National Parks, a new Visitor Center at Lake Manyara National Park is opened. The center educates visitors about the park's importance and the effort to conserve the natural resources of the area
- For the first time, AWF has accurate data on elephants in the Zambezi Heartland. A large mammal survey shows that the elephant population has increased by 8 percent from an estimated 21,114 in 2001 to 22,826 elephants
- The highly endangered mountain gorilla population in the Virunga Volcanoes grows by 56 since 1989. The IGCP has played a key part in the increase. The total population is 700 individuals
2003
2002
- The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is launched with AWF's help, doubling the protected area (35,000 square kilometers) for wildlife and neighboring communities
- Africa's rhinoceros population continues to increase from 13,109 rhinos in 1999 to an estimated 14,770 rhinos, in just two years
- Poachers kill two mountain gorillas Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park for their babies. This is the first case in that region in 17 years
- The enormous Limpopo Heartland is established and spans Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe and is larger than the entire country of Switzerland
2001
- Dr. Patrick J. Bergin is appointed to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of AWF
- The Four Corners Heartland (now called Kazungula Heartland) becomes AWF's sixth and largest conservation landscape. It extends across the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
- Tanzania's President, Benjamin Mkapa, declares that the government-owned Manyara Ranch will be protected as a major wildlife corridor and gives the ranch to the conservation trust facilitated by AWF
- Eugène Rutagarama, Director of the International Gorilla Conservation Program, is awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his heroic and dedicated work protecting the mountain gorillas during war and conflict
- AWF colleagues record three sightings of elephants in the Central Kajido District of the Kilimanjaro Heartland for the first time in 30 years
- AWF and USAID inaugurate the Koija Starbeds eco-lodge in the Laikipia district of Kenya
2000
- The Zambezi Heartland, encompassing parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique, becomes AWF's fifth Heartland
- AWF works with The Nature Conservancy to refine conservation targets and establish a baseline ecological status for each AWF Heartland
- AWF helps form the new Tanzania Land Conservation Trust to secure important wildlife dispersal area. This is the first institution of its kind in Tanzania and is expected to become a regional model
1990s
1999
- AWF launches the flagship Maasai Steppe Heartland, 35,000 square kilometers of protected and community-managed wildlife areas. The USAID-funded program will invest in tourism infrastructure in Tarangire and Manyara National Parks
- AWF’s Amboseli Outreach Program is the first to work with young Maasai warriors; it concentrates on easing tensions between livestock owners and wildlife arising from competition for food and water
- By late 1999, AWF operates in four Africa Heartlands: Kilimanjaro (Kenya), Maasai Steppe (Tanzania), Samburu (Kenya), and Virunga (DRC, Rwanda, Uganda)
1998
- A new era for AWF: Recognizing that habitat loss is the leading threat to African wildlife, AWF launches its African Heartlands Program to identify and conserve large landscapes of exceptional natural value
1996
- AWF creates the Charlotte Conservation Fellowship Program to help Africans in conservation attain advanced degrees
1991
- AWF, in partnership with Fauna and Flora International and the World Wide Fund for Nature, launches the International Gorilla Conservation Programme
1990
- AWF helps the Uganda National Parks Department set up a new community-conservation base at Lake Mburo National Park, staffed by a warden and rangers who help sensitize area communities to conservation and ecosystem integrity
1980s
1989
- AWF’s landmark “Only Elephants Should Wear Ivory” ad campaign runs on television and in print. AWF staff travel throughout Africa to promote a ban on ivory sales
- CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, move the African elephant to Appendix I, its “most endangered” category, thus disallowing ivory trade
1988
- Responding to an alarming increase in ivory poaching in Africa, AWF launches a Save the Elephants campaign
1986
- AWF helps construct the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary in Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park
1983
- AWLF officially becomes the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)
1970s
1978
- AWLF establishes the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda to help protect gorillas
1976
- AWLF publishes the first of several handbooks on wildlife ecology for wildlife and park personnel
1975
- AWLF begins long-term support of Cynthia Moss’s Amboseli Elephant Research Project), which would eventually become the longest-running research study of wild elephants
1970
- AWLF helps establish a school for wildlife management in Garoua, Cameroon
- Having helped Kenya launch 189 wildlife clubs between 1969 and 1971, AWLF is asked to help organize clubs in Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, Sudan, and Zambia
1960s
1968
- AWLF unveils a “Give a Lion a Home” campaign; proceeds help fund expansions of Serengeti and Tarangire National Parks
1967
- An AWLF research grant finances the Serengeti Research Institute to support studies of the ecosystem
- AWLF provides funding to Dian Fossey’s mountain gorilla study
1966
- Kenyan students and AWLF start the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya
1965
- A milestone for the College at Mweka: the inaugural class graduates
- AWLF opens an office in Nairobi’s Embassy House, its first official office in Africa
- AWLF finances the first issue of all-Swahili wildlife newspaper Urithi wetu, or Our Heritage
1964
- Perez Olindo, later the first African director of Kenya’s national parks, is the first AWLF scholar to earn a degree in the United States
1963
- AWLF co-founds the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka, Tanzania
- AWLF scholarships enable young Africans to study wildlife management and biology at American universities
- AWLF builds a conservation education center at Nairobi National Park
1961
- On March 20, 1961, the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (AWLF) is incorporated