Partners & Key Funders

The Republic Of The Congo

The Ministry of Forest Economy executes national policy regarding sustainable development, forest economy, and the environment. In 2010, African Parks signed its first public private management agreement with the ministry for Odzala- Kokoua National Park. In 2020, an amendment to the agreement was signed with the minister, Madame Rosalie Matondo, adding the Lossi Gorilla Sanctuary to the mandate with Odzala-Kokoua-Lossi Foundation as the management entity. Under the ministry, African Parks works with the Congolese Agency for Wildlife and Protected Areas (ACFAP in French), which is represented by its Director General, Jean Bosco Nganongo.

Nature+

Nature+ is a Belgian non-profit association that has been active in Africa since 2001. Its aim is to improve the sustainable management of natural resources by working closely with the various stakeholders involved, in particular local communities on the outskirts of protected areas. Nature+ implements participatory natural resource management initiatives and emphasises agroforestry as a means of combating deforestation and promoting local development. It operates on a bottom-up approach, conducting pilot field experiments with local communities, and building on the results obtained, in partnership with decision-makers, in order to improve and adapt the institutional and administrative frameworks to realities on the ground. Finally, Nature+ encompasses conservation and management in the broadest sense, from protected areas to certified forestry companies. Composed of forestry experts, Nature+ proposes targeted interventions based on solid scientific foundations, working to this end in close collaboration with the Tropical Forestry Laboratory of TERRA Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège, Belgium).

The European Union (EU)

The EU has been a crucial long-standing partner of African Parks, working together towards joint conservation and development objectives in central Africa. Since 2005, this partnership has helped create areas of stability in volatile regions and attract additional funding and partners. The EU’s support has been critical in managing large landscapes. Through improved management of these ecologically important landscapes; striving towards safety and security for people and wildlife; and strengthening opportunities in green sectors, together we continue to work towards our common goals.

Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF)

LLF is an international fund, established by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as an independent charitable foundation under German law. Its financial resources stem from public and private sources. In addition to funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, NORAD and the French Agence Française de Developpement, each site needs to have a private match-funding partner. LLF addresses the biodiversity financing gap by sourcing significant and sustained long-term funding from both public and private donors, thus contributing to conserving biodiversity within a 30×30 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Two protected areas managed by African Parks are among the pilot sites receiving funding from LLF: Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo and Iona National Park in Angola.                      

Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF)

A joint initiative of Save the Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network, the ECF is a flexible and responsive fund that supports the best efforts by the most trusted organisations globally, working to secure a future for elephants in Africa. Since 2015, the ECF has not only contributed more than US$5.9 million to African Parks, but also expertise on best practice in elephant conservation. This has benefitted critical surveillance, intelligence-based protection, and human-elephant conflict mitigation activities for some of our most threatened elephant populations.

DOB Ecology

A Dutch foundation, DOB Ecology believes that strong and healthy ecosystems are vital ingredients for life, wellbeing, and sustainable development. The mission of DOB Ecology is to support partners that work to protect and restore threatened ecosystems and (re)build the conditions for resilient livelihoods of local communities. The multi-year partnership between DOB Ecology and African Parks revolves around intelligence-based conservation in Odzala-Kokoua National Park.

Rob Walton Foundation

RWF supports ambitious projects, partners and programmes to foster a planet where people and nature thrive. With the passion of their founder, RWF works with urgency and an earnest belief that it will take all of us to reach global conservation goals, protect biodiversity, and create opportunity for communities. Rob Walton has been an invaluable partner to African Parks since 2003, providing support to safeguard the long-term health of protected areas, which are critical to the wellbeing of wildlife and local communities across Africa.

In 2021, the RWF made a transformational US$100 million five-year commitment, the largest endowment gift in African Parks’ history. Portions of the Foundation’s annual contributions have supported various parks within our portfolio, including Chinko, Ennedi, Liwonde and Nkhotakota, as well as sparked matching grants to Iona and Odzala-Kokoua, in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund. Moreover, RWF made pivotal commitments to launch the African Parks Conservation Academy and enhance the reach and effectiveness of the Strategic Partners Programme. These initiatives will collectively strengthen the field of protected area management across Africa, demonstrating the Foundation’s dedication to conservation leadership and capacity building.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on addressing the world’s most pressing environmental issues. The GEF enables developing countries to invest in nature and funds initiatives related to five (5) thematic areas: Biodiversity conservation, Chemicals and waste, Climate change, International waters, and Land degradation – and takes an integrated approach to support more sustainable food systems, forest management, and cities. In June 2022, The GEF Council approved a US$7.2 million regional project to deploy EarthRanger ™ to improve the management of 4.9 million hectares of terrestrial Protected Areas (PAs) in The Republic of Congo, Botswana, and Mozambique, amid escalating threats of poaching, human-wildlife conflicts, and habitat loss. Funded by a US$ 2.4 million GEF Grant and US$ 4.8 million co-financing from partners, the 4 (2022-2026) Year project will be implemented in six African Protected Areas: the Republic of Congo’s Odzala-Kokoua, Nouabalé-Ndoki, and Conkouati-Douli National Parks; Botswana’s Chobe National Park; Mozambique’s Limpopo and Zinave National Parks.

Bennink Foundation

The mission of the Bennink Foundation is to support organizations and initiatives that work to safeguard the planet today and pave the way for a better tomorrow. The Bennink Foundation has been supporting Odzala-Kokoua since 2019 and has played a pivotal role in the park’s decentralisation strategy – improving deployment capacities for research, community engagement and wildlife protection.

Stichting Natura Africae

A charitable foundation established in 2017 by Jan Verhagen, a Dutch entrepreneur, Natura Africae is dedicated to the conservation of national parks and protected areas in Africa, recognising the reciprocal relationship between the livelihoods of local communities and the successful protection of an ecosystem’s wildlife. The Foundation provided €4.1 million in 2023, supporting park operations in Liuwa Plain, Odzala-Kokoua, Matusadona, Nyungwe and Ennedi. The grant also provided catalytic funding to strengthen African Parks’ community development work, particularly related to education.