Partners

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. It currently manages 15 national parks and protected areas in nine countries covering over ten million hectares: Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Zambia. Founded in 2000 in response to the dramatic decline of protected areas due to poor management and lack of funding, African Parks utilizes a pioneering public-private-partnership approach to conserving Africa’s wildlife and remaining wild areas. 

Founded in 2012, BCP Trust is a mission-driven, community-based forest conservation non-profit organization. BCP Trust's mission is to make forest conservation valuable to people.  BCP Trust’s role is to support community projects linked to BioCarbon Partners overall forest protection efforts in wildlife-rich areas of Zambia.  BCP Trust works with community stakeholders to address the root causes of deforestation, and to design and implement projects to make forest conservation valuable to people. 

Big Life was co-founded by photographer Nick Brandt and award-winning conservationist Richard Bonham in September 2010. Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers—with more than 40 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 13 vehicles, tracker dogs, and aerial surveillance—protecting 2 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa. Big Life was the first organization in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations.

Started by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, with their son Will Travers, the Born Free Foundation is a renowned international wildlife charity that aims to conserve and protect wild animals, natural habitats and functioning ecosystems in perpetuity, and to end the exploitation of wild animals whether free-living or in captivity. Born Free opposes the exploitation of wild animals in captivity, campaigns to keep wildlife in the wild and promotes Compassionate Conservation.

The Center on Illicit Networks and Transnational Organized Crime (CINTOC) is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping governments and communities find more efficient ways to counter illicit networks and crime syndicates engaging in illegal activities. Its work focuses on points of convergence, finding links between transnational crime and terror networks smuggling narcotics, people, wildlife and weapons. CINTOC believes criminal organizations function like businesses, moving commodities along transnational supply chains. By following the money and identifying individuals involved in trafficking illicit goods transnationally, it believes it can identify key strategic vulnerabilities in the crime syndicates.

Conservation Lake Tanganyika (CLT) came about with the realization that the decline of biodiversity in and around Nsumbu National Park was substantial and detrimental. CLT was formed in early 2012 to provide an accountable and transparent organization to raise funds and mobilize action towards reducing this decline and ultimately preserve the value of the combined resources of Lake Tanganyika and Nsumbu National Park. Registered as a not for profit in Zambia, CLT has concentrated its efforts on Nsumbu National Park and the areas surrounding it, focusing on protecting the beleaguered and isolated elephant population of Nsumbu.

Founded in 1994, Conservation Lower Zambezi is a Zambian non-governmental organization committed to the conservation and sustainable use of the local wildlife and natural resources of the Lower Zambezi through wildlife protection, environmental education and community support. Conservation Lower Zambezi assists the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in their wildlife protection activities and assists in the treatment and rehabilitation of injured and snared animals while also providing environmental education and community development; promoting the local community’s understanding of the benefits of protecting the environment.

ElephantVoices engages in research, conservation and advocacy to advance the understanding of elephant cognition, communication and social behavior and to promote the sound and ethical management and care of elephants. ElephantVoices uses knowledge based on decades of study to educate and to act as a voice for elephants.

Elephants Alive (formerly known as Save the Elephants-South Africa) is a non-profit organization based in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Its mission is to secure a future for elephants and sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places they live, to promote man's delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species. Its scientists track elephants, identify individuals, study population dynamics, habitat use and examine the effects of elephants on key tree species. 

EIA is an independent campaigning organization committed to bringing about change that protects the natural world from environmental crime and abuse. EIA’s vision is a future where humanity respects, protects and celebrates the natural world for the benefit of all. Since 1984 it has gathered evidence and used it to crack down on timber barons, ivory dealers, chemical traders and skin traders to change opinions and laws around the world.

Founded in 1903, Fauna & Flora International's aim is to create a sustainable future for the planet, where endangered species are effectively conserved by the people who live closest to them, with the support of the global community. To achieve this, it acts to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take into account human needs. Fauna & Flora International's work spans across the globe, with over 140 projects in more than 40 countries, mostly in the developing world.

Forgotten Parks Foundation’s vision is a world where national parks, biodiversity, and healthy ecosystems are valued and protected as an integral part of the lives and well-being of a global society. Over the next decade, our mission is to identify the world’s 25 most important Forgotten National Parks and Protected Areas, and in partnership with governments and local communities ensure their long term protection. This will be achieved through the provision of management support, community development and the implementation of sustainable financing mechanisms. 

Frankfurt Zoological Society is an independent, non-profit organization established in 1858, based in Frankfurt/Main (Germany). Its work is committed to conserving wildlife and ecosystems focusing on protected areas and outstanding wild places. The common goals of all projects are conserving biodiversity and protecting wilderness areas: large grasslands, forests, wetlands and mountains. Frankfurt Zoological Society works together with nature conservation authorities, non-profit organizations and local communities in 29 conservation projects and programmes in 18 countries.

Founded in 2002, Freeland is a non-profit international organization dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking and human slavery. Head-quartered in Bangkok, it works throughout Asia and beyond. Freeland programs include support for law enforcement agencies through training and tip-offs; support to vulnerable communities through alternative livelihoods; and public education through mass media campaigns and grassroots outreach.

The Gabonese National Parks Agency (ANPN - Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux)

ANPN was created in 2007 by the law that created 13 National Parks covering 11% of Gabon’s land territory. Today it counts 700 staff and is responsible for the management of 9 RAMSAR sites, an arboretum and the Wonga Wongué Wildlife Reserve, in addition to the National Parks and their buffer zones. ANPN is responsible for protecting, managing and developing the national parks network and recently has been given new responsibilities to work with the forestry ministry to manage human wildlife conflict nationally, and to participate in the policing of illegal forestry, as well as poaching and ivory trafficking.

Gorongosa National Park is Mozambique's flagship national park - a hub for ecotourism, science research, conservation, and community engagement. The park is perhaps Africa’s greatest wildlife restoration story: a 20-year Public-Private Partnership between the Government of Mozambique and the Gorongosa Project, a U.S. non-profit organization. By adopting a 21st Century conservation model of balancing the needs of wildlife and people, it is protecting and saving this beautiful wilderness, returning it to its rightful place as one of Africa’s greatest parks.   The Park is one of the few places left in Mozambique where the elephant population is actually on the increase, making this a strategically critical area for conservation.

Game Rangers International (GRI) is a Zambian conservation organization, working alongside the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to protect the wildlife in Zambia. The organization has been active in Kafue National Park (KNP) since 2008, originally founded to protect the threatened elephant population in KNP through law-enforcement, animal welfare, education and outreach. GRI has developed over the years and to encompass the following themes; Resource Protection, Community outreach and Education and Wildlife Rescue.

Founded in 1969, IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) rescues and protects animals around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals, and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org and follow on social at @action4ifaw and Facebook/IFAW.

The LAC's main objective is to protect the human rights of all Namibians. It is the only organization of its kind in Namibia. It has a head office in Windhoek, Namibia's capital. It is funded by national and international donor organizations as well as individuals. Its work is supervised by the Legal Assistance Trust, whose trustees include legal practitioners, other professionals and community leaders. It works in five broad areas: Litigation, Legal Information and Advice, Education and Training, Research, Law Reform and Advocacy.

Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) is an award winning conservation charity working to protect the wildlife and habitats of Malawi. It runs various rescue and rehabilitation, environmental education, advocacy and enforcement, research and community conservation projects. LWT’s founding project, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre (LWC), remains Malawi’s only accredited wildlife sanctuary. Since LWC’s completion, LWT has extended its reach and impact across Malawi and has been at the forefront of Malawi’s efforts to combat the illicit trade in wildlife products.

The Lukuru Foundation works entirely on-the-ground as an organization at the frontline preserving large-scale forest habitats of the République Démocratique du Congo.  Our program includes the documentation, scientific study, and safeguarding of landscapes which harbor critical populations of wildlife with highest conservation concern and/or scientific importance.  Covering the watershed of the Tshuapa, Lomami, and Lualaba Rivers, we identify presence and indices of abundance for key species including the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis).  In partnership with local, regional, and national enforcement bodies as well as local support from affected communities, we work to combat the criminal-led elephant poaching groups who have encroached into the forests of the Lomami National Park and the broad adjacent landscapes, contrary to traditional land ownership conservation efforts and legalities of the national park statutes.   

Maisha specializes in the prevention of environmental and wildlife crime. They develop and implement strategic solutions against poaching, illicit trafficking and other crimes in cooperation with government and non-government entities. Their unique methodology integrates efficient, state-of-the-art technology with high-level intelligence practices. Maisha’s holistic team combines rich experience in the worlds of intelligence, operations, cyber security, K9 training and field work. 

The award winning Mali Elephant Project (MEP) is a joint initiative between the WILD Foundation and the International Conservation Fund of Canada that protects the unique population of desert-adapted elephants over a range of 32,000km2 in the Gourma region of central Mali, West Africa. The MEP empowers local communities in “elephant-centred” sustainable resource management that promotes peaceable coexistence through providing benefits from elephant conservation for local people.  It also works with government to protect elephants in a zone suffering, since 2012, from insecurity and lawlessness surrounding a separatist rebellion, jihadist insurgency and government coup. With support from the ECF and other partners, the MEP has successfully halted a sudden escalation in poaching activity through a combination of community-based approaches and the training, equipping and deployment of Mali’s first government anti-poaching unit (trained by Chengeta Wildlife). 

Mara Elephant Project protects elephants in the greater Mara ecosystem as a keystone species for conservation.  It manages human-elephant conflict by collaring and tracking elephant movement, deploying anti-poaching patrols and rapid response units and other innovative approaches to eliminate the illegal killing of elephants in collaboration with partners, landowners and government.  MEP engages with local communities and other key stakeholders to participate in a variety of ways to inspire and advance conservation of all wildlife and the habitat upon which they depend.  Working with others, MEP strives to achieve best land use practices, including for livestock, throughout the greater Mara ecosystem resulting in sustainable economic benefit for its communities and the people of Kenya.

Mareja in northern Mozambique covers nearly 40,000 hectares of miombo coastal forest - a rare biodiversity hotspot . The project works hand in hand with the Makua tribe to protect and nurture these habitats, its game and wildlife. It has been working for 20 years to try to find sustainable alternatives to poaching and illegal logging, through daily ranger patrols and a system of rewards and tourism, Mareja has achieved many small successes. On average their rangers collect 1,500 snares a year and capture around 50 poaching groups. 

NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC was founded in 1970 by a group of law students and attorneys at the forefront of the environmental movement. Today's leadership team and board of trustees makes sure the organization continues to work to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC combines the power of more than two million members and online activists with the expertise of some 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.

The Northern Rangelands Trust is a community led, non-governmental conservancy organization that was set up in 2004 in northern Kenya by a coalition of local leaders, politicians and conservation interests. Its mission is to develop resilient community conservancies, which transform people’s lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources. The 33 member conservancies work across 44,000 square kilometers of northern and coastal Kenya. With support from its donors, NRT is supporting and empowering communities to develop locally-led governance structures, run peace and security programs, take the lead in natural resource management, and manage sustainable businesses linked to conservation.

The PAMS Foundation is a not for profit conservation organization registered in Tanzania. Its mission is to help sustain and conserve biodiversity, wilderness, habitats and ecological processes through actions that benefit nature and communities. Goals include: Playing a leading role in the effective protection of elephants and in addressing illegal wildlife trade, building the capacity of rangers in the areas of our influence, helping to ensure appropriate management of conservation areas in Tanzania, and playing a leading role towards helping improve management effectiveness of protected areas.

At times it is necessary for a grant to be channeled through Save the Elephants. Save the Elephants (STE), founded in 1993, works to secure a future for elephants in a rapidly changing world. To battle the current surge in ivory poaching, the STE/WCN Elephant Crisis Fund is identifying and supporting the most effective global partners to stop poaching, thwart traffickers and end demand for ivory. Leaders in elephant science, STE also provides cutting-edge scientific insights into elephant behavior, intelligence, and long-distance movement and applies them to the long-term challenges of elephant conservation.

Space for Giants is an international conservation charity that protects Africa’s elephants from immediate threats like poaching while working to secure their habitats forever in landscapes facing ever-increasing pressures. Everywhere they work, in Kenya, Gabon, Uganda, and Botswana, Space for Giants uses science and best-practice to develop and deliver anti-poaching initiatives, secure protected landscapes for elephants, work to lessen the problems that arise where people and elephants live alongside each other, and provide conservation training and education. Space for Giants is based in Kenya, and registered as a charity in the UK and a non-profit in the US.

Stop Ivory is an independent non-government organization which aims to protect elephants and stop the ivory trade by implementing the Elephant Protection Initiative with support from Conservation International. Stop Ivory was introduced to the world at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade by five African Elephant Range States when it helped launch the Elephant Protection Initiative. Stop Ivory is now working with these range States - Botswana, Tanzania, Gabon, Ethiopia and Chad - to achieve the aims of the Elephant Protection Initiative, and put an end to the poaching crisis and the illegal trade in ivory.

Against the backdrop of highly intensified poaching scourge for ivory, rhino horn, bushmeat and fish, Tashinga Initiative Trust addresses the lack of operational capacity, illegal activity, unsustainable resource use and the needs of Wildlife Ranger communities who are key to the ultimate protection of each National Park and Safari Area across the vastness of Zambezi Valley's wildlife protected areas system. The Trust has operated for 11 years, fundraising from donors globally, and implementing project grants directly into the field against identified and vital needs. 

At the heart of the global wilderness community for over 40 years, the WILD Foundation protects wilderness while meeting the needs of human communities, working across cultures and boundaries by collaborating with local peoples, organizations, the private sector, and governments to create dynamic practical projects, inspiring solutions and communications initiatives. WILD’s work advances a reciprocal, balanced relationship between people and nature. Its aim is to ensure that enough wild land and seascapes are protected and interconnected to maintain nature’s life-supporting systems and the diversity of life on Earth. 

Founded in 2009, Wild Zambezi promotes travel opportunities to the wild areas of the Zambezi River, including Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba and the Matusadona and Mana Pools National Parks. It is a Zimbabwe-based, independent, reliable online source of local knowledge and on-the-ground travel information, providing comprehensive listings of accommodation, activities and services in these magnificent wildlife and wilderness areas.

The Tikki Hywood Foundation strives to bring awareness and sound conservation practice to the plight of lesser known and endangered animals globally. It aims to increase awareness of the conservation tool that is legislation and are constantly seeking ways of improving and upholding the laws that protect fauna and flora. It operates as a 24 hour wildlife rescue centre and are also available to advise or assist wild animal cases around Africa and the globe. In addition to these conservation efforts it runs successful captive breeding and release programs throughout Zimbabwe, in an effort to augment dwindling wild populations.

The Tsavo Trust is an action orientated, field-based, Kenyan not-for-profit conservation organisation that works to give the wildlife and people of the Tsavo Conservation Area (TCA) the right to a future. The TCA holds significant wildlife populations, both inside and outside the National Parks, including extremely large numbers of high value species - elephant and black rhino. The Trust is working towards protecting wildlife and its habitat as well as promoting community engagement in conservation challenges. The Tsavo Trust is committed to working in partnership with governmental, nongovernmental, community and private stakeholders to attain a shared vision for a sustainable future for the TCA. 

The Uganda Conservation Foundation is a UK charity and Uganda non-profit which aims to safeguard natural heritage via practical conservation and community interventions in and around Uganda. It currently has projects in Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, and Kidepo Valley National Parks, as well as at a national level. It works closely with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), their partners and local communities to achieve its goals in the protection of Uganda's wildlife, the development of park-adjacent communities, and the enforcement of the criminal justice system in tackling wildlife crime.

IsoForensics is combining radiocarbon ivory dating and strontium isotope ratios with genetic analysis to provide a picture of when and where poachers are killing elephants; together these methods are useful tools in the ongoing battle against illegal animal product trade.  The combination of genetics with isotopes provides geographic information on the origins of ivory that previously had not been used in the illegal wildlife trade; likewise, using 14C to determine the time of death had not previously been used in wildlife forensics. Lesley Chesson is the President of IsoForensics. Thure Cerling is a Senior Scientist at IsoForensics and a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah.

The Center for Conservation Biology’s mission is to develop and apply noninvasive field, lab and analytical methods to address pressing conservation problems worldwide. Their DNA-based forensics tools are helping wildlife authorities combat the rampant illegal elephant ivory trade across Africa. Dr. Samuel Wasser, Director of the Centre for Conservation Biology, is acknowledged worldwide as a pioneer of non-invasive wildlife monitoring methods.  

WildAid, a registered non-profit based in San Francisco, is the only organization focused on reducing the demand for endangered species products. WildAid's mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection. While most wildlife conservation groups focus on protecting animals from poaching, WildAid works to reduce global consumption of wildlife products by persuading consumers and strengthening enforcement. With an unrivaled portfolio of celebrity ambassadors and global network of media partners, WildAid leverages nearly $289 million in annual pro-bono media support. WildAid’s message reaches up to 1 billion people every week.

The Wildlife Action Group (WAG) is an NGO, who co-manage two governmental protected areas Thuma Forest Reserve and Dedza-Salima Forest Reserves. Its mission is to protect Malawi’s wildlife and environment and to assist and support the Malawi government in the protection of areas like national parks, game and forest reserves.

Wildlife Conservation Global, Inc. operates the Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) which works in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) and local communities throughout the Okapi Wildlife Reserve – a 13,700-sq-km protected area in the heart of Africa – to ensure the protection of many species in this remarkably diverse equatorial rainforest including the largest populations of forest elephants, okapi and chimpanzees in DRC. Protecting the forest also allows a unique human culture to thrive, as the Reserve is also the home of indigenous Mbuti pygmies who have lived in the Ituri Forest for over 40,000 years. To ensure the survival of the okapi, OCP relies profoundly on zoos around the globe to educate the international public about this unique, forest giraffe and the importance of its role as a symbol of the boundless diversity of life found in the vast rainforests of DR Congo.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), founded in 1895, saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. WCS is working to conserve the world's largest wild places in 15 priority regions, home to more than 50% of the world's biodiversity, and our four zoos and aquarium in New York City inspire four million people each year.

Wildlife Crime Prevention is dedicated to working alongside public and private partners to create a Zambia free from illegal wildlife trade through law enforcement, support to wildlife crime prosecution, awareness and research.

Since its inception in 2017, Wildlife Traxx Consultancy has led the effort to train first responders (rangers and community scouts) across conservancies in Kenya in order to enhance the prosecution of wildlife crime offenders and thus protect the future of endangered species. Through the use of forensic science, the overall mission of the Consultancy is to enhance the monitoring of illegal ivory trafficking and increase the prosecution of ivory poachers and traffickers across Africa. 

In partnership with Wildlife Works, The Elephant Protection Trust raises funds to support the 100+ rangers who protect a vital area of 500,000 acres between Tsavo East and West National Parks called The Kasigau Wildlife Corridor. There are over 11,000 elephants and other endangered species in that eco system threatened by human-wildlife conflict. Its mission is to build a future where elephants and all wild animals can live in peace with their human counterparts. 

WildlifeDirect is a Kenya and US registered charitable organization founded in 2004 by the prominent Kenyan conservationist and paleoanthropologist, Dr. Richard Leakey, and former World Bank Representative to Kenya, Harold Wackman. WildlifeDirect was initially conceived as an online platform to provide a voice to African conservationists to protect wildlife as an important global heritage. WildlifeDirect mission is changing hearts, minds and laws to ensure Africa’s critical species endures forever. WildlifeDirect is also well known for its flagship campaign, Hands Off Our Elephants, under the patronage of the First Lady of Kenya, Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta. 

Working Dogs for Conservation is the world’s leading conservation detection dog organization and are pioneers in using dogs’ extraordinary sense of smell to further conservation. Its founders were the first to train dogs to detect wide-ranging carnivores non-invasively, to uncover illegal snares in Africa, and to find invasive plants, insects, and fish. Its dogs can detect weeds before they break the surface, animals that live below ground, and aquatic organisms invisible to the human eye. It is also at the forefront of the fight against wildlife trafficking, training dogs to detect ammunition, guns, poisons, snares, ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales.  

For 50 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by more than one million members in the United States and close to five million globally. WWF's unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.

Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity whose mission is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. Its mission is realized through its groundbreaking science, its active conservation projects in more than 50 countries and its two Zoos, ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Its belief is that a diverse and healthy natural world is valuable in its own right and is essential for ensuring secure and healthy lives for people.