African Wildlife Foundation
Encyclopedia
The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), founded in 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, is an international conservation organization that focuses on critically important landscapes
in Africa.
When founded in 1961, the purpose was to train Africans to maintain game reserves professionally, ensuring an adequate supply of game for hunters on safari. Later, the mandate evolved to supporting western scientists in studies of protected animals in their natural habitat. More recently, the focus has been on developing sustainable systems that benefit both animals and local human communities.
The AWF has always been constrained by funding, earning less than US$20 million in the year ending 30 June 2009.
While supporting education and other programs, the main focus of the AWF is now on assisting development of nine "heartlands", large ecologically important areas that typically span national boundaries. These are home to endangered or threatened species that include Western African Giraffes, mountain gorillas, bonobos, Grevy's zebras, white rhinos and elephants.
The African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (AWLF) was founded in 1961 by Russell E. Train
, a wealthy judge and hunter, and member of the Washington Safari Club.
Other founding members from the Safari Club were Nick Arundel
, a former United States Marine Corps combat officer and journalist, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
of the CIA, James S. Bugg, a business man and Maurice Stans
, later to be Richard Nixon
's finance chairman.
Train was worried that European park managers would be replaced by unqualified Africans in conservation work as African countries gained their independence. Twenty African countries became independent in 1960 and 1961.
Train wrote "In Tanganyika alone, the government recently ordered 100 percent Africanization of the game service by 1966! ... Replacement of European staff by intrained, unqualified men spells disaster for the game".
He felt that it was urgent to train Africans to become wildlife professionals.
The first major grant of the AWLF was $47,000 to help found the College of African Wildlife Management
at Mweka, Tanzania
in 1963.
The college was organized by Bruce Kinloch
, Chief Game Warden of Tanganyika, as a pioneer institution for the training of African wildlife managers.
Funding for Mweka was also provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society
, with facilities donated by the government of Tanganyika
.
By 2010 the college had trained over 4,500 wildlife managers from 28 African countries and 18 non-African countries.
In 1963 AWLF started a scholarship program to bring young Africans to American universities where they could study biology and wildlife management. The AWLF built a conservation education center in the same year, situated at the entrance to the Nairobi National Park
. In 1967 the AWLF provided $50,000 to finance construction of a Research Institute in Tanzania. In 1970 the AWF established a school for wildlife management in Garoua
, Cameroon, giving instruction in French.
During the 1970s and 1980s the AWLF continued to finance students, and also assisted conservation projects, often giving supplies such as tents, vehicle spare parts, water pumps and photographic equipment rather than cash.
In 1969 the AWLF took the lead in a campaign supported by other conservation groups to protect rhinos. In 1974 the foundation began a program to study cheetahs.
In 1983 the AWF dropped "Leadership" from its name. Train was disappointed with the change, considering that the organization had lost sight of its original mandate. Instead, it had become just another conservation organization, giving funding to westerners to conduct research on animals.
However, research such as Dian Fossey
's work on gorillas and Cynthia Moss
's work on elephants, both supported by the AWF, was clearly useful.
The foundation struggled to raise money.
In 1968 the annual budget was less than US$250,000.
In 1988, the year in which the AWF launched a campaign against elephant poaching, the foundation had a staff of six and an annual budget of just $2 million.
When the AWF turned 30 in 1991, the board of trustees continued to be dominated by prominent and wealthy Americans, many of whom served on other non-profit boards.
Conserving wildlife involves research into species and into how these species interact with people, the basis for defining programs from which both humans and animals can benefit.
The main thrust, however, is on protecting land, ensuring that large open landscapes are available for wildlife.
This involves supporting existing protected areas, creating private land trusts and working with local community groups on protecting special sites. Starting in 1998, land protection efforts have focused on nine "heartlands" with unique ecologies, most of which span international boundaries.
The foundation had income of US$19,333,998 in the fiscal year ended 30 June 2009. Of this, $8,582,555 came from public sector support, $5,815,839 from corporate and foundation support, $5,224,931 from gifts from individuals and $1,360,424 from legacy gifts.
$17,395,456 was spent on programs, $1,524,764 on fund raising and $1,262,056 in administration.
Program funding broke down as $14,174,224 on conservation programs, $2,392,989 on public education and $828,243 on membership programs.
Heartlands include:
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
one of the least developed and most remote parts of the Congo Basin.
The inhabitants are among the poorest in Africa, depending on natural resources to meet their basic needs.
Most of the people live by slash-and-burn agriculture, and rely on bushmeat such as porcupine, sitatunga, and forest hog for protein.
Cash crops include maize, cassave and groundnuts.
The growing population is placing more stress on the environment, and there is risk of a revival of logging that could harm the ability of the land to sustain the people and could jeopardize both biodiversity.
Since 1973 a Japanese team has been researching the bonobo
population near the village of Wamba
in 1973.
However, research was discontinued after political disorders started in 1991 followed by civil war in 1997, resuming only in the mid-2000s.
The IUCN Red List
classifies bonobos as an endangered species
with conservative population estimates ranging from 29,500 to 50,000 individuals.
The AWF has led efforts by local and international groups to develop a sustainable land use plan for the MLW Landscape.
The plan aims to ensure that the economic and cultural needs of the inhabitants are met while conserving the environment.
The approach combines AWF's Heartland Conservation Process and the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) Program Monitoring Plan.
A variety of tools are used including surveys, interviews with local people and satellite image interpretation.
The floodplains of the Zambezi River are surrounded by a mosaic of Miombo and Mopane woodlands and grasslands that include important wildlife migration corridors.
The Victoria Falls
, the largest in the world, are between Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
in Zambia and Victoria Falls National Park
in Zimbabwe.
The Falls and surrounding area are designated a World Heritage Site
.
However, the environment is threatened by growing and haphazard development of tourism, and lack of funding to the park authorities.
The AWF has established the 160000 acres (64,749.8 ha) Sekute Conservation Area in this region in partnership with the Sekute Chiefdom, holding two elephant corridors.
AWF helped wildlife authorities settle four new white rhinos in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
in Zambia, joining the last surviving white Rhino in the country, a bull.
On 17 January 2011 it was reported that two of the female white rhinos had given birth to calves, which seemed healthy.
The area is also home to endangered black rhinos.
In 2011 a cluster of modern new buildings for the Lupani community school were opened in Kazungula, built by the AWF at a cost of US$250,000.
The new school has six classrooms, offices and five teachers' houses with three bedrooms each.
Disney released the movie African Cats in April 2011. The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund gave AWF a portion of the proceeds from the first week's ticket sales for use in protecting the Amboseli Wildlife Corridor. Their "See 'African Cats,' Save the Savanna" program served both to promote the movie and to raise money for conservation.
The Limpopo Heartland includes areas of Mozambique
, South Africa
and Zimbabwe
.
It includes savanna, woodland, rivers and floodplains.
Fauna include sable antelope, rhinos, hippos, and many species of birds, insects and aquatic life.
The AWF has started the Leopard Conservation Science Project in this heartland .
The AWF is particularly involved in the Banhine National Park
in Mozambique, which covers 7000 square kilometres (2,702.7 sq mi).
Until recently this park had little or no infrastructure or staff to ensure that the environment was protected.
The AWF has built a conservation research center, which it is marketing to the international scientific community.
Fees from researchers will pay for staff to run the center and to manage the park.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
(GLTP) is a 35000 square kilometres (13,513.6 sq mi) park that is being established to connect the Kruger National Park
in South Africa, the Limpopo National Park
in Mozambique, the Gonarezhou National Park
in Zimbabwe and other protected areas.
It is almost as big as the Netherlands and more than three times larger than the Yellowstone National Park
.
The GLTP is home to many of the species most popular with tourists, including lion, white and black rhinoceros, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo.
The AWF says the megapark will result in "creating new jobs and fortifying a tourism base not yet meeting its full potential".
The AWF is a major sponsor of the project that is setting up this park.
The 35000 acres (14,164 ha) Manyara Ranch Conservancy is near to Lake Manyara
in Tanzania
.
This is a pioneering conservation and tourism project supported by the African Wildlife Foundation, the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust and the Manyara Ranch Conservancy. While not a park, the conservancy is frequented by resident and migrating wildlife including elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and the more common plains game. Rarely seen in the parks but a common resident on the Conservancy is the Lesser Kudu.
, Burkina Faso
and Benin
meet.
It consists of three national protected parks that form a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
, the trans-national W National Park
, as well as several adjacent reserves and buffer zones.
The complex includes savanna woodlands, gallery forests and flooded plains where the Mekrou
and Niver
rivers meet.
It is home to large and diverse wildlife populations including the largest population of elephants in the region and the only remaining West African Giraffe
s.
Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA research shows that this is a distinct and genetically healthy subspecies that diverged from the Rothschild's giraffe about 350,000 years ago.
In Parc W, AWF and other International NGOs such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Wide Fund for Nature
and Africa 70
play a central role in communication, education and organization of local communities and their leaders, and help collect socio-economic and technical data.
AWF is helping fund tree nurseries in Niger and Burkino Faso for replantings to provide fodder for the giraffes. Conservation threats are human population growth and desertification. AWF partners in the region include the Association pour la Sauvegarde des Girafes du Niger, Centre National de Gestion des Réserves de Faune (CENAGREF), Benin and the Ministries of the Environment in Burkina Faso and Niger.
. The volunteers count and photograph endangered Grevy's zebra
s, of which there are about 2,000 in the region, and record GIS locations, activities and other observations of wildlife, livestock and people.
The data is used to prepare GIS maps that show the distribution of zebras in relation to predators, humans, and habitat, which are shared with the AWF and the local communities.
A highly critical film by the British journalist Oliver Steeds named "Conservation's Dirty Secrets" was aired on June 20 on the United Kingdom's Channel 4
. It portrays the alleged role of the AWF in forcible displacement of Kenyan Samburu pastoralists.
Steeds interviewed evicted Samburu elders while the film showed their homes being burned down and Kenyan police trying to arrest his Samburu guides.
landscape is an area of volcanic highlands around the point where Uganda
, Rwanda
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
meet, Virunga is home to the last 700 mountain gorilla
s in the world.
It includes the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
in Uganda, where AWF opened a visitor center in July 2006.
The Virunga ecosystem is highly diverse, and also shelters chimpanzees, golden monkeys, forest elephants, and many species of birds, reptiles and amphibians.
The region is overpopulated, intensely poor and politically unstable, placing severe threats on the environment.
The AWF helped Dian Fossey
study Rwandan mountain gorillas in the 1960s.
AWF President Robinson McIlvaine
later said that "There would be no mountain gorillas in the Virungas today ... were it not for Dian Fossey's tireless efforts over many years".
McIlvaine initiated formation of a consortium to protect the threatened Rwandan mountain gorillas while he was president of the AWF between 1978 and 1982.
More recently, the AWF coordinated fundraising and construction of a lodge overlooking the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, home of about half the worlds population of mountain gorillas.
According the Farley Mowat
in his book Woman in the Mists
, in the late 1970s Fossey asked McIlvaine to temporarily serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund
while he was AWF President.
She had created the fund to finance patrols against poachers seeking to kill mountain gorillas. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
, the Digit Fund, and his own AWF asking for funds, to be made out to the AWF.
The Digit Fund received none of the money. When McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWF, Fossey declined and McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the fund.
The AWF is a co-sponsor of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) in Virunga, the others being Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF). Among other activities, the IGCP works with Virunga Artisans, which markets hand-made products of artisans who live near the Volcanoes
, Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks.
A census of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif in March and April 2010 showed that there had been a 26.3% increase in the population over the past seven years, an encouraging sign that conservation efforts were succeeding.
The organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
As of 2009 there were 36 members of the Board and 132 paid staff.
Funds are raised through direct mail, grant proposals, Internet appeals, planned giving, cause-related marketing, and membership appeals.
The executive heads of the foundation have been:
The AWF is a member of International Conservation Caucus Foundation's
Conservation Council.
It is also a member of EarthShare, a national federation that supports leading American environmental and conservation charities.
Landscape ecology
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between urban development and ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems...
in Africa.
When founded in 1961, the purpose was to train Africans to maintain game reserves professionally, ensuring an adequate supply of game for hunters on safari. Later, the mandate evolved to supporting western scientists in studies of protected animals in their natural habitat. More recently, the focus has been on developing sustainable systems that benefit both animals and local human communities.
The AWF has always been constrained by funding, earning less than US$20 million in the year ending 30 June 2009.
While supporting education and other programs, the main focus of the AWF is now on assisting development of nine "heartlands", large ecologically important areas that typically span national boundaries. These are home to endangered or threatened species that include Western African Giraffes, mountain gorillas, bonobos, Grevy's zebras, white rhinos and elephants.
Early years
Russell E. Train
Russell Errol Train was the second Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , from September 1973 to January 1977, and the Founder Chairman Emeritus of World Wildlife Fund . As head of the EPA under U.S...
, a wealthy judge and hunter, and member of the Washington Safari Club.
Other founding members from the Safari Club were Nick Arundel
Nick Arundel
Arthur W. "Nick" Arundel was a Harvard graduate and former United States Marine Corps combat officer in the Korean and Vietnam War. Arundel covered Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for CBS News and later The White House for United Press International...
, a former United States Marine Corps combat officer and journalist, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. , was a political action officer of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Plans who coordinated the Operation Ajax, which aimed to orchestrate a coup d’état against Iran's prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, and return Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran,...
of the CIA, James S. Bugg, a business man and Maurice Stans
Maurice Stans
Maurice Hubert Stans was an American accountant, high-ranking civil servant, Cabinet member, and political organizer...
, later to be Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's finance chairman.
Train was worried that European park managers would be replaced by unqualified Africans in conservation work as African countries gained their independence. Twenty African countries became independent in 1960 and 1961.
Train wrote "In Tanganyika alone, the government recently ordered 100 percent Africanization of the game service by 1966! ... Replacement of European staff by intrained, unqualified men spells disaster for the game".
He felt that it was urgent to train Africans to become wildlife professionals.
The first major grant of the AWLF was $47,000 to help found the College of African Wildlife Management
College of African Wildlife Management
The College of African Wildlife Management commonly known as Mweka College or just Mweka, is located near the Village of that name on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, above the city of Moshi, about 14 kilometres north of its centre.The locality also gives its name to the Mweka...
at Mweka, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
in 1963.
The college was organized by Bruce Kinloch
Bruce Kinloch
Bruce Kinloch MC was born at Saharanpur in India and educated at Berkhamsted School in England. He was commissioned into the 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles after leaving Sandhurst in 1939, fought with them in Burma and on the Northwest Frontier, and won the Military Cross for his part in...
, Chief Game Warden of Tanganyika, as a pioneer institution for the training of African wildlife managers.
Funding for Mweka was also provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society
Frankfurt Zoological Society
The Frankfurt Zoological Society is an independent, non-profit conservation organisation based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The society is funded through membership fees, donations, bequests, grants and earnings from its endowment fund.-History:...
, with facilities donated by the government of Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
.
By 2010 the college had trained over 4,500 wildlife managers from 28 African countries and 18 non-African countries.
In 1963 AWLF started a scholarship program to bring young Africans to American universities where they could study biology and wildlife management. The AWLF built a conservation education center in the same year, situated at the entrance to the Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya. Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya's first. It is located approximately 7 kilometres south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with only a fence separating the park's wildlife from the metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers...
. In 1967 the AWLF provided $50,000 to finance construction of a Research Institute in Tanzania. In 1970 the AWF established a school for wildlife management in Garoua
Garoua
Garoua is the capital of the North Province of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. The city had 235,996 inhabitants at the 2005 Census, and is an important river port.- Overview :...
, Cameroon, giving instruction in French.
During the 1970s and 1980s the AWLF continued to finance students, and also assisted conservation projects, often giving supplies such as tents, vehicle spare parts, water pumps and photographic equipment rather than cash.
In 1969 the AWLF took the lead in a campaign supported by other conservation groups to protect rhinos. In 1974 the foundation began a program to study cheetahs.
In 1983 the AWF dropped "Leadership" from its name. Train was disappointed with the change, considering that the organization had lost sight of its original mandate. Instead, it had become just another conservation organization, giving funding to westerners to conduct research on animals.
However, research such as Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...
's work on gorillas and Cynthia Moss
Cynthia Moss
Cynthia Moss is an American conservationist, wildlife researcher and writer, who specialises in elephant behaviour. She has published several books including Portraits in the Wild: Animal Behaviour in East Africa .-Life and work:Moss graduated at Smith College in Massachusetts in 1962, majoring in...
's work on elephants, both supported by the AWF, was clearly useful.
The foundation struggled to raise money.
In 1968 the annual budget was less than US$250,000.
In 1988, the year in which the AWF launched a campaign against elephant poaching, the foundation had a staff of six and an annual budget of just $2 million.
When the AWF turned 30 in 1991, the board of trustees continued to be dominated by prominent and wealthy Americans, many of whom served on other non-profit boards.
Recent thrusts
In more recent years the AWF has modelled its program around three objectives: empowering people, conserving wildlife and protecting land. Empowering people involves conservation enterprises that provide benefits and incentives to local communities, sponsoring training of African conservationists and working with government to define conservation policy.Conserving wildlife involves research into species and into how these species interact with people, the basis for defining programs from which both humans and animals can benefit.
The main thrust, however, is on protecting land, ensuring that large open landscapes are available for wildlife.
This involves supporting existing protected areas, creating private land trusts and working with local community groups on protecting special sites. Starting in 1998, land protection efforts have focused on nine "heartlands" with unique ecologies, most of which span international boundaries.
The foundation had income of US$19,333,998 in the fiscal year ended 30 June 2009. Of this, $8,582,555 came from public sector support, $5,815,839 from corporate and foundation support, $5,224,931 from gifts from individuals and $1,360,424 from legacy gifts.
$17,395,456 was spent on programs, $1,524,764 on fund raising and $1,262,056 in administration.
Program funding broke down as $14,174,224 on conservation programs, $2,392,989 on public education and $828,243 on membership programs.
Heartlands
The AWF names the landscapes that it supports "heartlands".Heartlands include:
| Countries | Heartland | Start | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Republic of Congo | Congo | 2003 | Moist tropical forest between the Lopori Lopori River The Lopori river is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lopori, and the Maringa River to the south, join near Basankusu to form the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo River.... and Maringa Maringa River The Maringa river is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Maringa, and the Lopori River to the north, join near Basankusu to form the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo River.... Rivers. Home of the endangered bonobo Bonobo The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee... |
| Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe | Kazungula | 2001 | Woodland-grassland mosaic with important wildlife migration corridors around the Zambezi River |
| Kenya & Tanzania | Kilamanjaro | 1999 | Wetlands and savanna surrounding Mount Kilamanjaro |
| Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe | Limpopo | 2002 | Savannahs, woodlands, rivers and floodplains around the Limpopo River Limpopo River The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size. Its mean annual discharge is 170 m³/s at its mouth... |
| Tanzania | Maasai Steppe | 1999 | Savannah including Lake Manyara Lake Manyara Lake Manyara is a shallow lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania. Said by Ernest Hemingway to be the "loveliest [lake] ..... and Tarangire National Park Tarangire National Park Tarangire National Park is a national park in Tanzania.Tarangire National Park is the sixth largest national park in Tanzania after Ruaha, Serengeti, Mikumi, Katavi and Mkomazi. The name of the park originates from the Tarangire river that crosses through the park, being the only source of water... |
| Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin | Parc W | 2010 | Protected savanna in West Africa |
| Kenya | Samburu | 1999 | Acacia grassland near to Mount Kenya Mount Kenya Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian , Nelion and Point Lenana . Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi... |
| Congo, Rwanda and Uganda | Virunga | 1999 | Volcanic highland mountains, home of the last 700 mountain gorillas in the world |
| Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe | Zambezi | 2000 | Zambezi River, tributaries, acacia floodplain and interconnecting wetlands |
Congo
The Maringa-Lopori-Wamba LandscapeMaringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape
The Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape is an ecologically sensitive landscape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the Maringa / Lopori basin....
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
one of the least developed and most remote parts of the Congo Basin.
The inhabitants are among the poorest in Africa, depending on natural resources to meet their basic needs.
Most of the people live by slash-and-burn agriculture, and rely on bushmeat such as porcupine, sitatunga, and forest hog for protein.
Cash crops include maize, cassave and groundnuts.
The growing population is placing more stress on the environment, and there is risk of a revival of logging that could harm the ability of the land to sustain the people and could jeopardize both biodiversity.
Since 1973 a Japanese team has been researching the bonobo
Bonobo
The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...
population near the village of Wamba
Wamba, Luo Reserve
Wamba is a village in the Luo Scientific Reserve, Tshuapa District of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.It is inhabited by Bongando people.The reserve is home to bonobos, threatened due to hunting....
in 1973.
However, research was discontinued after political disorders started in 1991 followed by civil war in 1997, resuming only in the mid-2000s.
The IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
classifies bonobos as an endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
with conservative population estimates ranging from 29,500 to 50,000 individuals.
The AWF has led efforts by local and international groups to develop a sustainable land use plan for the MLW Landscape.
The plan aims to ensure that the economic and cultural needs of the inhabitants are met while conserving the environment.
The approach combines AWF's Heartland Conservation Process and the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) Program Monitoring Plan.
A variety of tools are used including surveys, interviews with local people and satellite image interpretation.
Kazungula
The Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.-Introduction:...
, the largest in the world, are between Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is an UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya — 'The Smoke Which Thunders' — known worldwide as Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River...
in Zambia and Victoria Falls National Park
Victoria Falls National Park
Open to visitors throughout the year, the Victoria Falls National Park in north-western Zimbabwe protects the south and east bank of the Zambezi River in the area of the world-famous Victoria Falls...
in Zimbabwe.
The Falls and surrounding area are designated a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
However, the environment is threatened by growing and haphazard development of tourism, and lack of funding to the park authorities.
The AWF has established the 160000 acres (64,749.8 ha) Sekute Conservation Area in this region in partnership with the Sekute Chiefdom, holding two elephant corridors.
AWF helped wildlife authorities settle four new white rhinos in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park is an UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya — 'The Smoke Which Thunders' — known worldwide as Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River...
in Zambia, joining the last surviving white Rhino in the country, a bull.
On 17 January 2011 it was reported that two of the female white rhinos had given birth to calves, which seemed healthy.
The area is also home to endangered black rhinos.
In 2011 a cluster of modern new buildings for the Lupani community school were opened in Kazungula, built by the AWF at a cost of US$250,000.
The new school has six classrooms, offices and five teachers' houses with three bedrooms each.
Kilimanjaro
Limpopo
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
.
It includes savanna, woodland, rivers and floodplains.
Fauna include sable antelope, rhinos, hippos, and many species of birds, insects and aquatic life.
The AWF has started the Leopard Conservation Science Project in this heartland .
The AWF is particularly involved in the Banhine National Park
Banhine National Park
Banhine National Park is a protected area in the district of Chigubo, northern Gaza Province, Mozambique.The park was proclaimed on 26 June 1973.-Location:...
in Mozambique, which covers 7000 square kilometres (2,702.7 sq mi).
Until recently this park had little or no infrastructure or staff to ensure that the environment was protected.
The AWF has built a conservation research center, which it is marketing to the international scientific community.
Fees from researchers will pay for staff to run the center and to manage the park.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35,000 km² peace park that is in the process of being formed. It will link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as the...
(GLTP) is a 35000 square kilometres (13,513.6 sq mi) park that is being established to connect the Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
in South Africa, the Limpopo National Park
Limpopo National Park
The Limpopo National Park was born when the status of Coutada 16 Wildlife Utilisation Area in Gaza Province, Mozambique, was changed from a hunting concession to a protected area....
in Mozambique, the Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park is a National Park located in south-eastern Zimbabwe. It is situated in a relatively remote corner of Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the Mozambique border. The park is a lowveld region of baobabs, scrublands and sandstone cliffs...
in Zimbabwe and other protected areas.
It is almost as big as the Netherlands and more than three times larger than the Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
.
The GLTP is home to many of the species most popular with tourists, including lion, white and black rhinoceros, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo.
The AWF says the megapark will result in "creating new jobs and fortifying a tourism base not yet meeting its full potential".
The AWF is a major sponsor of the project that is setting up this park.
Maasai Steppe
Lake Manyara
Lake Manyara is a shallow lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania. Said by Ernest Hemingway to be the "loveliest [lake] .....
in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
.
This is a pioneering conservation and tourism project supported by the African Wildlife Foundation, the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust and the Manyara Ranch Conservancy. While not a park, the conservancy is frequented by resident and migrating wildlife including elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and the more common plains game. Rarely seen in the parks but a common resident on the Conservancy is the Lesser Kudu.
Parc W
This 1823280 hectares (7,039.7 sq mi) region is located around the point where NigerNiger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
and Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
meet.
It consists of three national protected parks that form a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
, the trans-national W National Park
W National Park
The W National Park is a major national park in West Africa around a meander in the River Niger shaped like a "W". The park includes areas of the three countries Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso, and is governed by the three governments...
, as well as several adjacent reserves and buffer zones.
The complex includes savanna woodlands, gallery forests and flooded plains where the Mekrou
Mekrou River
The Mékrou River is a river of Benin and Niger. It flows through the W National Park.A tributary of the Niger River, it forms a border between Benin and Niger. The proposed construction of the Dyondyonga electricity dam on the river has caused some concern amongst environmentalists....
and Niver
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
rivers meet.
It is home to large and diverse wildlife populations including the largest population of elephants in the region and the only remaining West African Giraffe
West African Giraffe
The West African Giraffe, Niger Giraffe or Nigerian Giraffe is a subspecies of giraffe distinguished by its light colored spots, which is found in the Sahel regions of West Africa...
s.
Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA research shows that this is a distinct and genetically healthy subspecies that diverged from the Rothschild's giraffe about 350,000 years ago.
In Parc W, AWF and other International NGOs such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
and Africa 70
Africa '70 (NGO)
Africa '70 is an Italian non-governmental organization working on urban planning and problems in Africa, the Middle East and Central America. If was created in 1970 and the headquarters are in Monza, Italy....
play a central role in communication, education and organization of local communities and their leaders, and help collect socio-economic and technical data.
AWF is helping fund tree nurseries in Niger and Burkino Faso for replantings to provide fodder for the giraffes. Conservation threats are human population growth and desertification. AWF partners in the region include the Association pour la Sauvegarde des Girafes du Niger, Centre National de Gestion des Réserves de Faune (CENAGREF), Benin and the Ministries of the Environment in Burkina Faso and Niger.
Samburu
The EarthWatch Institute operates a program where volunteers are given basic accommodations at their Center for Drylands Research in WambaWamba, Kenya
Wamba is a small town in Samburu District, Rift Valley Province in central Kenya. It is located south-southwest edge of the Mathews Range, and northwest of the Samburu National Reserve...
. The volunteers count and photograph endangered Grevy's zebra
Grevy's Zebra
The Grévy's zebra , also known as the Imperial zebra, is the largest extant wild equid and one of three species of zebra, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Named after Jules Grévy, it is the sole extant member of the subgenus Dolichohippus. The Grévy's zebra is found in...
s, of which there are about 2,000 in the region, and record GIS locations, activities and other observations of wildlife, livestock and people.
The data is used to prepare GIS maps that show the distribution of zebras in relation to predators, humans, and habitat, which are shared with the AWF and the local communities.
A highly critical film by the British journalist Oliver Steeds named "Conservation's Dirty Secrets" was aired on June 20 on the United Kingdom's Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. It portrays the alleged role of the AWF in forcible displacement of Kenyan Samburu pastoralists.
Steeds interviewed evicted Samburu elders while the film showed their homes being burned down and Kenyan police trying to arrest his Samburu guides.
Virunga
The VirungaVirunga Mountains
The Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu...
landscape is an area of volcanic highlands around the point where Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
meet, Virunga is home to the last 700 mountain gorilla
Mountain Gorilla
The Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic...
s in the world.
It includes the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is a national park in the far south-west of Uganda near the town of Kisoro.-Location:The park is located in the Virunga Mountains and is contiguous with the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
in Uganda, where AWF opened a visitor center in July 2006.
The Virunga ecosystem is highly diverse, and also shelters chimpanzees, golden monkeys, forest elephants, and many species of birds, reptiles and amphibians.
The region is overpopulated, intensely poor and politically unstable, placing severe threats on the environment.
The AWF helped Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...
study Rwandan mountain gorillas in the 1960s.
AWF President Robinson McIlvaine
Robinson McIlvaine
Robinson McIlvaine was a career US diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.-Early years:McIlvaine was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College....
later said that "There would be no mountain gorillas in the Virungas today ... were it not for Dian Fossey's tireless efforts over many years".
McIlvaine initiated formation of a consortium to protect the threatened Rwandan mountain gorillas while he was president of the AWF between 1978 and 1982.
More recently, the AWF coordinated fundraising and construction of a lodge overlooking the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, home of about half the worlds population of mountain gorillas.
According the Farley Mowat
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, , born May 12, 1921 is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian North, such as People of the...
in his book Woman in the Mists
Woman in the Mists
Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa is a 1987 biography of the conservationist Dian Fossey, who studied and lived among the mountain gorillas of Rwanda....
, in the late 1970s Fossey asked McIlvaine to temporarily serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund
Digit Fund
The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching of the endangered mountain gorillas Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda...
while he was AWF President.
She had created the fund to finance patrols against poachers seeking to kill mountain gorillas. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
International Primate Protection League
The International Primate Protection League , founded in 1973 in Thailand by Dr. Shirley McGreal, is represented in 31 countries and has offices in the UK and the US, and works toward the well being of non-human primates...
, the Digit Fund, and his own AWF asking for funds, to be made out to the AWF.
The Digit Fund received none of the money. When McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWF, Fossey declined and McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the fund.
The AWF is a co-sponsor of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) in Virunga, the others being Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
(WWF). Among other activities, the IGCP works with Virunga Artisans, which markets hand-made products of artisans who live near the Volcanoes
Volcanoes National Park
For the park in Hawaii, see Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.Volcanoes National Park lies in northwestern Rwanda and borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. The national park is known as a haven for the mountain gorilla...
, Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks.
A census of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Massif in March and April 2010 showed that there had been a 26.3% increase in the population over the past seven years, an encouraging sign that conservation efforts were succeeding.
Organization
The African Wildlife Foundation headquarters are in Washington, DC, and the AWF has offices in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.The organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
As of 2009 there were 36 members of the Board and 132 paid staff.
Funds are raised through direct mail, grant proposals, Internet appeals, planned giving, cause-related marketing, and membership appeals.
The executive heads of the foundation have been:
| |Start | |End | | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell E. Train Russell E. Train Russell Errol Train was the second Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , from September 1973 to January 1977, and the Founder Chairman Emeritus of World Wildlife Fund . As head of the EPA under U.S... |
1961 | 1969 | Chairman and President | Lawyer and judge |
| Col. John B. George | 1963 | 1968 | Executive Director | |
| Gordon Wilson | 1968 | 1971 | Executive Director | Attorney |
| Nick Arundel Nick Arundel Arthur W. "Nick" Arundel was a Harvard graduate and former United States Marine Corps combat officer in the Korean and Vietnam War. Arundel covered Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for CBS News and later The White House for United Press International... |
1969 | President | Journalist and publisher | |
| John E. Rhea | 1971 | 1975 | Executive Director | Business man and big game hunter |
| Robinson McIlvaine Robinson McIlvaine Robinson McIlvaine was a career US diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.-Early years:McIlvaine was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College.... |
1975 | 1982 | Executive Director, then President | Former US Ambassador to Kenya |
| Robert Smith | 1982 | 1985 | President | US Foreign Service officer |
| Paul Schindler | 1985 | 1994 | President | Professor of sociology |
| R. Michael Wright | 1994 | 2001 | President | Former vice-president of World Wildlife Fund |
| Patrick J. Bergin | 2001 | 2007 | President | Conservationist with AWF from 1990 |
| Helen Gichohi Helen Gichohi Helen Wanjiru Gichohi is a Kenyan ecologist who was elected President of the African Wildlife Foundation in January 2007.-Education:Helen Gichohi was born into an agricultural community in central Kenya, where animals were seen as something to be exploited rather then to be protected.She earned a... |
2007 | President, | Kenyan conservationist |
The AWF is a member of International Conservation Caucus Foundation's
International Conservation Caucus Foundation
The International Conservation Caucus Foundation is a non-partisan 501 educational foundation based in Washington, D.C. which works with corporations and NGOs committed to achieving market-oriented solutions in conservation and sustainability, to educate U.S...
Conservation Council.
It is also a member of EarthShare, a national federation that supports leading American environmental and conservation charities.