The Africa Protected Area Directors (APAD) supported by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), convened the Steering Committee of the African Conservation Financing Mechanism in June 2022; to deliver sustainable financing to all of Africa’s protected and conserved areas. This steering committee identified funding gaps through dialogues with protected area directors continent-wide and designed A Pan-African Conservation Trust (APACT).
APACT is a pan-African mechanism that aims to provide sustainable financing for all Africa’s protected and conserved areas, which cover 6 million square kilometers of land and sea. Chaired by H.E Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and AWF global board member, the A-PACT Steering Committee spearheaded this initiative which was officially launched at the inaugural Africa Protected Areas Congress in Kigali, Rwanda. APACT was further endorsed as a crucial vehicle for closing the financing gap for biodiversity in Africa by Africa’s negotiators at the U.N. CBD consultations in Geneva.
