Four years ago, I stood at the foothills of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and gave a mountain gorilla her name. She was born on 13 September 2021, to Igitangaza, of the Mutobo family. I called her Indatezuka — the resilient one. I want to be precise about what that means. In much of Africa, naming…
For millions across Africa and the developing world, the biodiversity crisis is not an abstract problem – it’s the soil that no longer yields bountiful harvests and the fish that no longer return to coastal waters. But the world spends 30 times more money destroying nature than protecting it, and Africa often lacks the necessary…
A major survey of Angola’s remote Lisima plateau has uncovered species unknown to science, including new dragonflies, grasshoppers, moths and butterflies, confirming the highlands as one of Africa’s most exciting biodiversity frontiers. High on Angola’s eastern plateau, in Moxico Province, lies one of Africa’s great almost-unknown treasures: the Angolan Highlands Water Tower. It’s a vast…
Africa is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. But much of its biodiversity remains poorly studied. Research from the continent contributes to less than 1% to global scientific output. This pattern is often explained by limited investment in research. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa allocate, on average, only about 0.4% of their gross domestic…
Nairobi — Relying on donor funding is not the right way to finance biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity is not a charitable cause. It is actually part of the sovereign natural assets, and so we need to look at ways in which countries can link their economies to biodiversity conservation. – Luther Bois Anukur, IUCN Eastern and…
Nairobi — A new study and interactive dashboard released today in Nairobi at the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) finds that current international financial flows remain billions of dollars short of what is required to achieve the global biodiversity target of protecting and conserving at least 30 percent of the world’s…
Tlokweng — Can Africa rescue its own biodiversity before the losses become irreversible? This is a question that once hovered at the edges of policy conversations, raised by scientists and conservationists but rarely confronted by political leaders with any real urgency. But at the recent Africa Biodiversity Summit in Tlokweng, Botswana, the question once again…
The African Union Commission (AUC), through its Directorate of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy, officially opened the Inaugural Africa Biodiversity Summit at the Royal Aria Convention Centre in Gaborone, Botswana. The opening of the technical session, held 2-3 November 2025, brought together delegates from AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), United Nations agencies, research…
The illegal trade in giant African harvester ants endangers local biodiversity and could spread invasive species in destination countries. Four men were convicted in May for attempting to smuggle 5 440 giant African harvester ants from Kenya to Europe and Asia. The suspects (from Belgium, Vietnam and Kenya) were ordered to pay US$7 700 each…
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe — Global biodiversity is disappearing at breakneck speed and, in the process, threatening the future of humanity. The loss is not a future threat but a present crisis that Dr. Luthando Dziba, the new Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), believes can be tackled with science-based policy…
