Africa faces a deepening conservation funding gap that starkly contrasts with its outsized role in global biodiversity and climate stability.
Home to a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity—including eight of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots and critical carbon sinks like the Congo Basin—the continent receives just 6% of global biodiversity funding. The Congo Forest alone, arguably the world’s most vital tropical carbon sink, secures a mere ~11% of development aid allocated to tropical forests, exposing a glaring mismatch between ecological urgency and the global prioritization of Africa’s natural capital.
This gap is widening as geopolitical shifts redirect funding away from conservation.
The shutdown of USAID—once a leading funder of African conservation—has disrupted critical initiatives, both ongoing and planned. From 2014 to 2023, USAID channelled over $1 billion into the continent through its Biodiversity Strategy, with a strong emphasis on community-led conservation. Additionally, geopolitical realignments, including rising military spending at the expense of development aid, are further starving conservation of resources. The consequences are dire: In Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park, the loss of USAID’s $30 million EENT and PROTECT programs has heightened threats like poaching, collapsing wildlife corridors, escalating human-wildlife conflict, and the erosion of vital research and monitoring efforts.
This funding vacuum is especially destabilizing for Africa, where conservation efforts remain dangerously over-reliant on philanthropic and public grants—a model that perpetuates systemic fragility.
While philanthropy accounts for ~70% of conservation funding, private climate finance remains staggeringly skewed: just 18% of total flows reach Africa, with 76% concentrated in only ten markets. This imbalance traps conservation initiatives in a cycle of donor dependency, leaving them unable to develop investable, scalable models. The consequence is a market starved of patient capital and institutional investment, where even high-impact initiatives struggle to transition to self-sustaining models.
However, there is cause for cautious optimism.
Across the continent, a new wave of nature-positive enterprises is emerging—models that fuse ecological restoration with viable financial returns. Agroforestry, for instance, is increasingly demonstrating a multi-revenue pathway through high-value indigenous tree products, revenues from increased agricultural yields, and carbon credits. Some models are tapping into ecotourism to increase bankability. These ventures are not only financially promising, but also socially inclusive and ecologically resilient.
In response to this shifting landscape, BIRA is doubling down on scaling these investment-ready models.
Its second biodiversity accelerator focuses on three sectors with scalable conservation potential: agriculture (particularly agroforestry and biochar), forests, and the blue economy (particularly mangroves). These areas are primed for blended finance, capable of attracting both impact capital and institutional investment. Through targeted due diligence, business development, investment readiness support, and linkage to its Funders’ Circle, BIRA is building a robust pipeline of African conservation ventures that are both fundable and impactful.
The future of African conservation hinges on catalytic investment in market-driven models.
As traditional funding recedes, the continent must pivot toward solutions that marry ecological resilience with financial sustainability—rooted in local context, yet scalable for global impact. The time to act is now. We welcome enterprises working across agroforestry, forestry, and mangroves to apply to our second accelerator here. We will have an open call for proposals throughout the year.