African Protected Area Directors (APAD) and representatives from the Consortium of African Funds for the Environment (CAFE) gathered to ensure that the backbone of Africa’s natural infrastructure – protected and conserved area systems – are resilient and well managed so that they can continue to underpin development aspirations on the continent. The African Wildlife Foundation and IUCN convened members of APAD and CAFÉ to further the co-design of a sustainable financing mechanism, disaster risk reduction initiative, and cooperation mechanism between themselves
The Nairobi Declaration of Africa Protected Area Directors produced by the gathering outlined a shared vision for collaboratively strengthening Africa’s networks of protected and conserved areas as foundational to the development aspirations set out in Agenda 2063.