Finance experts urge African states to track US$1.2 trillion laundered through wildlife conservancies
Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) – African countries must urgently take steps to track some US$1.2 trillion, which flows into the continent through wildlife conservancies, mostly through foreign corporations.
According to James Arnott, Founder and Director of African Conservancies, the disappearance of large sums of money or failure to account for them, has forced wildlife conservancies into a paralysis.
The estimated US$1.2 trillions lost within Africa, is directed within the continent through financial intermediaries, for payments to African countries.
These are resources ploughed back for the continent for the use of natural resources, mining and environmental restoration, among other things.
Arnott said with nearly 6 million square kilometres of land available for private, public and community conservancies, the need for wildlife park fees could be abandoned in favour of better financial means.
“We are working on how to create a pilot project that would track these funds as we prepare to present to the African countries a new model for financing adaptation to climate change.”
Addressing a financial boot camp convened by conservation financiers to explore ways and means of enhancing conservation, Arnott said natural resources in Africa, should be traded, to finance conservation.
The finance experts suggest conservationists should rely upon other measures such as carbon credits, financial support from corporations, pollution credits and taxes generated from the utilisation of resources within protected areas to fund conservation.
The debate over the need for increased financing for nature conservation took centre stage at the First African Biodiversity Summit, held in Gaborone, Botswana, on 2-5 November 2025, convened by the African Union and the Government of Botswana.
The African Union felt the issue of biodiversity conservation in the continent has been marginalised despite its role in trade in pharmaceuticals, tourism and agriculture, where it supports the green revolution.
The African Union Commission's Director for Sustainable Development, Economic Development and Blue Economy, Harsen Nyambe, said the continent’s leaders felt that it was high time for the continent to look into nature-based solutions from the vast landscapes that dot the continent.
African leaders have been conscious of the vast environmental impacts of mismanagement of biodiversity and were keen to ensure that policies are developed and implemented to domesticate global environmental laws and regulations.
A new Secretariat has been created to advise African countries on the new measures that could be helpful for fundraising to enhance conservation.
The Finance for Nature Ecosystems has helped to unlock US$87 million and set aside the funds to cover 14 different conservation projects in Africa.
This is a new knowledge hub for Africa, which works through the African Union and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) to highlight solutions that could assist countries to deal with lack of resources for conservation.
Currently, countries rely on finance from conservation fees, nature management, biodiversity credits, equitable revenue-sharing between parties involved in conservation and project development grants.
Discussions are underway for countries to consider widening the scope of their funding sources. These include a proposal for the creation of an African Buyers for Credit for Biodiversity.
The Biodiversity Credit markets being proposed seek to assist African countries to generate revenue from the nature markets, given the lack of new sources of finance from international development agencies.
The biodiversity credit markets are designed to favour landowners who could demonstrate that projects being implemented within their conservancies led to a positive impact on biodiversity conservation. They then earn the biodiversity credits from tradeable certificates.
Organisations, such as the African Conservancies Foundation, work by converting areas near wildlife parks into multiple use conservancies. These then act as bufferzones to protect parks and enhance biodiversity conservation.
The Organisation also worked by acquiring critical wildlife habitats at risk of conversion into other commercial utilisation, suffering from degradation or fragmentation in order to preserve them.
Currently, Africa has some 847,000 km square, being classified under Transboundary conservation resource. These cover vast regions in Eastern, Central Africa and Southern Africa.
The Eastern Africa region covers the Virunga Park, shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Limpopo-Zimbabwe-Mozambique and South Africa transboundary corridor.
The African Union Commission estimates the African natural resource capital could hold up to US$6.2 billion in natural resource value, which is generated from fisheries, wood, tourism and pharmaceutical products.
Under a new proposal by the AUC, countries should be prepared to work with local communities in the conservation of these resources. A new AU framework has been proposed to ensure local communities, earn 70% of the income from conservation of these resources.
The AUC is proposing that African countries consider new mechanisms to ensure investments into agriculture and forestry conservation are able to pay for themseles and that the funds are sunk into these projects do not get lost.
The AU has ensured that National Biodiversity Finance Maps are developed by over 40 countries to prepare them to attract innovative funding, according to Sadiki Laiser of the AUC. He said these maps should form the basis for green financial engineering, where the government invests in biodiversity conservation to earn future returns.
Revenue earned from environmental taxes in Africa was estimated to stand at 0.22% of the continent Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Currently, 17 countries levy pollution taxes. South Africa currently raises 0.11% of its revenue from carbon taxes. In Ghana, the government levies pollution taxes of 20% on plastic materials.
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