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African Heartlands
Program The essential need to
conserve Africa's remaining vital ecosystems
inspired AWF to mark a new era in African
conservation by establishing the African Heartlands
Program in 1998. Heartlands are large, cohesive
conservation landscapes which are biologically
important and have the scope to maintain healthy
populations of wild species and natural processes
well into the future. They also form a sizeable
economic unit in which tourism or other natural
resource-based activities can contribute
significantly to the livelihoods of people living
in the area. Most of the African Heartlands include
a combination of government lands (like national
parks) community-owned lands, and lands owned by
individuals or the private sector. AWF has performed extensive
scientific research and feasibility studies to
select and prioritize Africa's most viable
conservation landscapes. In these vast conservation
landscapes, which frequently cross national
boundaries, AWF works with local partners to
undertake concrete activities that protect more
land for conservation while mitigating threats to
these valuable resources. Seven Heartlands have been
initially identified: Four Corners (Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia); Kilimanjaro (Kenya
and Tanzania); Limpopo (Mozambique, South Africa
and Zimbabwe); Maasai Steppe (Tanzania); Samburu
(Kenya); Virunga (Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic
Republic of Congo); and Zambezi (Zimbabwe, Zambia
and Mozambique). Education and African
Leadership Program From the beginning, AWF has
believed that Africans are the ideal stewards of
Africa's natural resources. This core belief led
AWF to found the first school to train African
wildlife managers in Tanzania in 1961. During its
early decades, AWF helped to establish and support
wildlife clubs in several African countries to help
raise the awareness and interest of a new
generation in the importance of conservation. AWF
has also provided scholarships and educated
hundreds of Africans in conservation studies to
assure the survival of Africa's wildlife
heritage. Today over 80% of AWF's
staff are African professionals. Dr. Helen Gichohi,
an ecologist from Kenya, is head of AWF's
conservation programs in Africa; Dr. Philip
Muruthi, a Princeton educated zoologist, is AWF's
chief scientist; Mr. Alfred Kikoti, a former park
warden, is now extending Cynthia Moss's elephant
research across the border into the west
Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania; Mr. Eugène
Rutagarama, working under the AWF-funded
International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP),
risked his life during civil war in Rwanda to
secure the safety of the Virungas' fragile mountain
gorilla population, a distinction acknowledged when
he recently received the prestigious Goldman
Award. AWF's commitment to
developing and supporting Africa's future
conservation leaders, led to the creation of the
Charlotte Conservation Fellowship. This scholarship
program honors the memory of longtime AWF supporter
Charlotte Kidder Ramsay by providing educational
grants to Africans pursuing advanced degree studies
in conservation-related fields. Critical Species Research
and Conservation Program Over the past four decades,
AWF has supported some of the most respected and
important research projects on the continent
including those of Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and
Cynthia Moss. AWF continues its tradition of
support to important research with an emphasis on
research projects which directly address
conservation management problems and human-wildlife
conflicts. These projects include: * Elephants. AWF supports
important elephant research and conservation in
many of the savanna Heartlands where they occur.
Recent research has focused on the use of the
landscape and corridors by elephants. * International Gorilla
Conservation Program (IGCP). A joint initiative of
AWF, Fauna and Flora International and the World
Wide Fund for Nature aimed at conservation and
research of mountain gorillas and their afromontane
habitat. This acclaimed effort is largely credited
for having saved this critically endangered species
despite the tragic civil disturbances of recent
years in the region. * Rhino Conservation. AWF
has provided support for rhino conservation in
Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Namibia. Priority
has been given to testing different strategies and
technologies such as sanctuaries and radio collars
for protecting and increasing the numbers of this
highly endangered animal. * Predators. AWF provides
support to a number of projects for the protection
of endangered predators including the cheetah, the
African hunting dog and the Ethiopian wolf. We also
support a several studies that take a unique
approach to understanding how communities of
predators such as lion, leopard and hyena co-exist
in the same ecosystems. Conservation
Enterprise AWF has established
strategically located Conservation Centers
throughout Africa. Staffed with an unparalleled
team of enterprise specialists, these specialists
offer expertise in business planning, law and
community development. Overall, AWF specialists
assist rural communities who live with wildlife to
establish enterprises related to conservation.
Wildlife then becomes a welcome asset rather than a
costly nuisance to local people. Conservation related
enterprises in Africa are frequently concessions
for wildlife safaris, ecotourism lodges, walking
safaris and camps. Other enterprises that AWF has
fostered include the production of honey from
protected forests, sale of local handicrafts to
tourists and the marketing and export of bush
products http://www.awf.org/ |
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African Wildlife
Foundation
