Mobilising Resources for Wildlife Conservation: A Panel Discussion on the Challenges and Opportunities

Conservation of African elephants is a pressing continental and global concern. The African elephant, a keystone species playing a critical role in maintaining biodiversity of ecosystems, faces persistent threats including increasing human-wildlife conflicts, habitat loss, and poaching. Preserving their populations and habitats requires concerted efforts from African elephant range States, donors, local communities, and other conservation stakeholders.

Similar concerns for the survival of the African carnivores led to the development of a Programme of Work by the Secretariats of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) in collaboration with experts from IUCN specialist groups.  The African Carnivores Initiative (ACI) aims to mobilize resources and expertise to maximize conservation gains for iconic carnivores and the ecosystems that depend on them. Having long supported carnivore Range States on conservation action, IUCN’s Save Our Species Programme is partnering with CMS to mobilize funds and action to implement the ACI.

Among the major challenges faced in these efforts is securing adequate and sustainable financing. This event aims to bring together range States, donors and other stakeholders for an interactive panel discussion on challenges in resource mobilisation for wildlife conservation. The session will explore ongoing efforts through the experiences of the UNEP African Elephant Fund and the IUCN Save Our Species Programme and discuss challenges to resource mobilisation and opportunities for innovative financing from the range states and donor perspective.

Convening presenters from CMS, Range States, donors, UNEP AEF, and IUCN’s SOS African Wildlife, this session will also draw key principles for effective collaboration, delivering measurable conservation action, and mobilizing rapid finance for sustained impacts across Range States.