2013 YEAR IN REVIEW AFRICA. Photo Ami Vitale THE NATURE OF INGENUITY. Photo Debby Thomas

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1 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW Photo Ami Vitale AFRICA THE NATURE OF INGENUITY Photo Debby Thomas

2 WHAT ARE COMMUNAL LANDS? Dear Friends, Your support of our work in Africa comes at a pivotal time. The continent s population is set to nearly quadruple by the end of the century, translating to soaring demands for food, water, energy and land. At the same time, other parts of the world are increasingly turning to Africa to meet their own resource shortfalls. The vast savannas of Kenya or the shores of Lake Tanganyika may seem a world away, but just like anywhere else, people there depend on nature for their health, their well-being and their prosperity. That s why we are bringing The Nature Conservancy s (TNC) experience to bear in Africa. For example, in Nairobi where most of the city s 4 million+ residents have access to non-potable running water only a few days each week we are building on a strategy we helped to develop in Latin America in which downstream water users direct payments to upstream communities to protect water at its source. In Africa we are demonstrating that development can go hand-in-hand with protecting the natural systems that sustain us all. With your help, we are charting a sustainable course for people and nature. Thank you very much for your support. Best regards, KENYA TANZANIA ZAMBIA MOZAMBIQUE NAMIBIA GABON MARK R. TERCEK, President & CEO, The Nature Conservancy DAVID BANKS, Managing Director, TNC Africa THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE I awake to the sound of the first short rains of November dripping off the thatch. The guinea fowl are chattering and a Hadada Ibis noisily plunks down on the roof. It s time to get up. After months of drought, the land is awakening. Pajama lilies burst forth on the hillsides and the animals have a different energy, smelling new green shoots in their savanna kitchen. I m sitting on an escarpment in Kenya, looking across to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a wildlife refuge that TNC helped protect. With the clear fresh air you can see the high peaks of the Mathews Range at the core of the Namunyak Conservancy. The land ahead of me makes up the expanding footprint of the Northern Rangelands Trust. The landscape is very wild. I see little human geometry no square scars or straight lines. The spirit of this place sings wildness. Honing strategy and focusing priorities will always be essential, but we must not lose touch with the spiritual and physical importance of wild places. Most of us now worry about Africa, its people and its wildlife. To me they are intricately linked. And it s scary to think Africa s population will rise from 1 to 4 billion people during my son s lifetime. Consumption will follow. In one generation, we could watch these wild places dissolve. It s crunch time. We have no more than 50 years to get it right. But looking out from this spot, I feel hopeful for the still pristine waters of Lake Tanganyika; for Zambia s big protected areas; for Gabon s densely forested and undammed Ogooué River Basin; for wild places important to both people and wildlife. I can see it now. I can hear its song. With your help, I have great hope the song lines of wild places will endure forever. Photo Firestick Productions THE NATURE OF INGENUITY Lions gaze through knowing amber eyes, lumbering elephants follow curious trunks, giraffes unwind long necks to touch treetops, and zebras flaunt swirling stripes creatures like nothing you ve seen before except in the pages of your favorite childhood picture book. You have landed on planet Africa where wildlife roams free through the rugged lands they have shared with people for ages. People living here often don t have access to necessities you can t imagine living without: taps with running water, schools for your children or a doctor when you are sick. To compensate, many live communally. Banded tightly together, they help and sustain one another. Despite their harsh circumstances, they are determined to give their families happy, healthy lives. And yet the wildlife that leaves you breathless can make people s difficult lives even harder. Wildlife threatens income raiding crops, killing livestock and personal safety. Parks alone do not do Photo Suzi Eszterhas Photo Kenneth K. Coe enough for wildlife or people. To build a brighter future, we need to write a new story that turns a threat into a benefit. Several years ago, thoughtful leaders, concerned communities and experienced partners launched a movement. They created a model where people can benefit from wildlife. In places like Northern Kenya, elephants are now more valuable alive than poached because residents understand that elephants bring tourists and tourists bring money to fund water pumps, schools and health care. Today, The Nature Conservancy is helping this idea to grow lending our smarts, our science and our resources to build momentum, remove obstacles and increase the impact of community-led conservation in the villages and at the capital. As you will see in the pages that follow, we are blending wise traditions with modern science. We are investing in African ingenuity to solve some of the greatest challenges facing people and wildlife today. Communal lands are either owned by national governments in Africa or a group of people rather than individuals. Their resources are meant to be shared by the people and wildlife that live within them. Historically, these communities have had little control over how the resources they depend on are managed. WHAT ARE COMMUNITY CONSERVANCIES? These are formal alliances that enable neighboring communities to work peacefully together to share and conserve the lands, waters and wildlife that bind them. These alliances go by many names from place to place, such as community wildlife conservancies, Wildlife Management Areas and Beach Management Units. PRACTICAL INGENUITY WATER By piloting agricultural practices that preserve water-filtering forests and decrease runoff, we are building a model that has the potential to improve water quality and quantity for rural communities and consumers in Kenya s capital, Nairobi. FOOD By protecting fish breeding habitat and promoting the use of sustainable fishing gear among Lake Tanganyika fishers, we are helping to increase fish catches a key source of protein for families living on the lakeshore. LIVELIHOODS By encouraging a return to grazing practices where cattle move to fresh pasture and give grazed areas time to recover, we are improving grassland, livestock and wildlife health in Kenya and Tanzania, fetching better livestock prices at market and attracting more income-generating tourists. KRISTIN MULLEN, Associate Director of Strategic Communications, TNC Africa Follow David on Learn more at nature.org/aboutafrica

3 THE NATURE OF RESILIENCE KENYA BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE I believe in the power of education to transform lives. There is a passion and commitment amongst the Il Ngwesi community that has been my inspiration to fund this school. I m excited to watch the future unfold in Lokusera. What a privilege! Anne Bent s support is helping to build the Il Ngwesi Conservancy s first secondary school and to protect Lewa. Many women in parts of Africa spend whole days walking to get water. But thanks to ecotourism, several communities now have water pumps and women have time to pursue activities that increase household income, such as selling handcrafted beadwork. TNC scientist Edward Game is testing cell phone surveys as a tool for measuring how conservation helps pastoralists. Knowing whether or not projects are delivering desired results will help us to improve our efforts and secure more funding. A community conservation movement, started at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, has fanned out across Northern Kenya. Thanks to the work of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), this movement now spans more than 6 million acres and touches more than 300,000 lives. NRT s successful and replicable model creates community wildlife conservancies and equips them to manage resources for the benefit of people and nature. Today even more communities are seeking NRT s support to start new conservancies. To secure the supplies needed to meet increasing demand, The Nature Conservancy is providing funding, science and business planning support to ensure that this extraordinary effort continues to grow. PEACE, SECURITY & PROSPERITY We have two tribes living in one location, Turkana and Borana. We had no peace. We raided cows. We fought for pasture. Finally our leaders came together and said we are fighting for nothing and losing our lives. But we see conservancy rangers helping our neighbors in Samburu County. The life they are living, it is so admirable. We went to NRT. They took us on a tour of West Gate Conservancy. First the Borana and the Turkana went in separate cars. At lunch the coordinator asked us all to greet each other and to mix in one vehicle. We will sit that way until we finish this journey, he said. After this experience, we came together and said let us start our own conservancy. My passion became educating people on the importance of wildlife and how poaching hurts our communities. Then I received a letter saying: Stay away from elephants. We are going to kill you. I challenged the leader of the poachers. I told him that the people owning the conservancies the people being employed are your brothers. You are fighting your brothers. These elephants brought these rangers that provide security. If we lose elephants, we lose everything. I convinced him and now I have convinced all of the poachers in our area. JOSEPHINE EKIRU, Chair, Nakuprat-Gotu Community Conservancy Africa Photos Ami Vitale The newly formed Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association is an engine for spreading this successful conservation model throughout Kenya and beyond. Together with the Kenya Wildlife Service, TNC has helped to create a platform that for the first time enables community and private landowners to engage directly with government, financiers and regulators on decisions about their land. CHARLES OLUCHINA, Director of Field Operations, TNC Africa Learn more at nature.org/kenya

4 $1,460,000 paid to 2,000 pastoralists, benefitting roughly 14,000 people FROM COWS TO FISH TNC is exploring ways to improve market access to promote sustainable fisheries management on Pate Island, one of six community wildlife conservancies under the NRT-Coastal umbrella an NRT spin-off supporting coastal Kenya. CLIMATE AND FORESTS A project in the Northern Rangelands of Tanzania is for the first time in the country s history paying one of Africa s last communities of hunter-gatherers, the Hadza, to protect its trees. We can t be Hadza without this land. Carbon Tanzania and Ujamaa Community Resource Team introduced us to this idea of valuing trees because of the carbon inside. They explained, using maps made by TNC scientists and pictures taken in the sky, that farmers from neighboring tribes are changing our land and that if we stop cutting trees we will get payments. The community guards and I are all paid directly from the carbon project. I have started a small shop with my money. Now others see us getting money and jobs and want to do the same. We are creating value on our land that others understand. PILI GOODO, Project Coordinator, Hadza Carbon Project Offset your emissions and benefit the Hadza at carbontanzania.com THE NATURE OF INNOVATION The key to lasting conservation success: strategies that generate meaningful benefits for people and sustainable sources of revenue. Drawing on solutions we are advancing globally, The Nature Conservancy is innovating market-based tools and adapting them to local challenges to create solutions with the potential to transform the future of Africa. Africa Photos Ami Vitale MOBILIZING MARKETS Pastoralists in Northern Kenya s remote rangelands must trek their cattle long, dangerous routes to access markets where middlemen earn most of the profit. Here, there is safety in numbers large herds are insurance against drought, disease and swindlers. But more cows need more grass. Poor grassland management leaves cattle and wildlife with little to eat. Unhealthy cows net lower prices at market and as wildlife numbers decline, so do tourism revenues. SMART INFRASTRUCTURE Gabon s leaders have laid out an ambitious agenda to grow their economy while conserving nature. TNC s Great Rivers Partnership is bringing expertise to help leaders make smart choices about mining, forestry and more on the Ogooué River. This program works because we re supporting a practice these pastoralists care about. It s exciting for us to make conservation so relevant for people. That s the future. MATT BROWN, Conservation Director, TNC Africa But the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) and its partners, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ol Pejeta Conservancy, engineered a solution that brings the market to the herders. In exchange for meeting stringent grazing, security and other community management standards, herders gain access to a mobile market, which travels to qualifying conservancies and moves cattle for eventual sale to Nairobi. Through better grazing standards, herders earn higher prices with healthier cows, and wildlife numbers increase. TNC helped to seed and aims to grow a revolving livestock purchase fund that is refilled during sales to Nairobi and reused the next time the mobile market makes its rounds. As we buy more cows, more people and more wildlife will benefit. Ten years ago TNC didn t have the toolbox for this emerging, bold opportunity in Gabon. We are now at a moment where we can in collaboration with many partners help Gabon achieve its goals for conservation, economic growth and people s well-being. MARIE-CLAIRE PAIZ, Gabon Program Manager, TNC Africa SECURING WATER African cities are growing at breakneck rates on the back of unprecedented economic development. Leaders have the opportunity of a generation: to show the world that successful economic development can also protect the spectacular nature the continent is endowed with. Through tools like the Nairobi Water Fund, TNC is working with governments, businesses, partners and communities to restore watersheds, guide sustainable development of rivers and ensure water security for all. GIULIO BOCCALETTI, Managing Director, TNC Global Freshwater Program Learn more at nature.org/nairobiwaterfund

5 TANZANIA IMPROVING LIVES 360 APPROACH THE NATURE OF PROGRESS In Western Tanzania we are pushing ourselves to think differently about conservation. For the first time, we have assembled a team of experts in health, education, business, governance and conservation to address interconnected challenges of population growth, poverty and resource consumption. Tuungane which means Let s Unite in Kiswahili describes our unprecedented, closely-knit collaboration with Pathfinder International, a global healthcare organization, and Frankfurt Zoological Society, established conservationists in the region. Together we are delivering a complex but essential blend of solutions to help this whole system the people, the forest, the lake heal and thrive far into the future. I m excited about Tuungane because it s not business as usual. It can be difficult because individual partners do things differently. Sure it s a little uncomfortable. But if we want future success, we need to be in a space that s a bit uncomfortable. Tuungane is pushing us in that direction. MATT BROWN, Director of Conservation, TNC Africa 360 DEGREE CHALLENGES HEALTH Villages are getting bigger, fast. This area has one of the highest birth rates in the world and limited access to reproductive health services. FOOD More people need more fish for food and income. As more fish are harvested, supplies dwindle and families turn to farming, haphazardly clearing forest. WATER Rain pulls soil into the lake, muddying habitat where fish feed and spawn. WILDLIFE As farms climb higher up the forested slopes, there is less habitat for wildlife, including Tanzania s largest chimpanzee population. POVERTY People here are utterly dependent on nature for income and sustenance, driving overfishing and deforestation. Learn more at nature.org/tuungane Africa Photos Ami Vitale 200 community members participated in Tuungane s Safe Motherhood Event, one of many efforts to lower infant and maternal mortality rates in the villages 62 scouts have been trained to patrol chimpanzee habitat near their villages 500 local fishermen joined Beach Management Units that protect village waters $350,000 in loans issued to 910 members of COCOBAs, micro-lending co-ops 900 people have signed up for literacy classes 200 village and ward officials trained in good governance practices Often when organizations support communities in low-income settings, they focus just on health, education, and/or livelihoods, and conservation is left behind. Conservation needs to be prioritized. I hope Tuungane s integrated approach can be spread to other places. If you can improve people s health and livelihoods and provide education, especially for girls, then communities can begin to think about stewarding resources. WENDY BENNETT, Board of Directors, TNC Minnesota Program PROTECT THE FORESTS For the villages to protect their own forest, they have to know how to do it. The scouts are very excited about learning how to use GPS units. Their excitement is contagious. It shows them that they are serving an important purpose: What you are doing helps you. You re doing your own science. FIONA STEWART, Primary Investigator, Ugalla Primate Project PROVIDE BETTER WAYS TO FISH Fishermen did not believe you could demarcate fish breeding sites like you would do in national parks. But after seeing how their friends protected breeding sites themselves, how they agreed on fishing cycles, even selling the fish themselves; this has given them hope. PETRO MASOLWA, Tuungane Program Manager, TNC Africa REDUCE POVERTY I m taking care of my family since my husband died. I bought an acre of rice farm and I m so proud to say that I built a house, which I rent now. I sent my son to vocational training and he is now a mason. I advise people, especially my fellow women, to join the COCOBA so that they can benefit as I did. TABU RASHID, Buhingu Village PROVIDE EDUCATION Around 19% of the people here are illiterate. We know that illiteracy is among the greatest hindrances to positive behavior change so we must help people learn how to read and reason. There is great enthusiasm in the villages for the classes. NELSON MMARI, Tuungane Education Lead, TNC Africa GROW LEADERS We re training village leaders on how to broker consensus and best serve their communities. Building strong local leadership is an important step toward building strong community conservation programs. MSAFIRI NZUNURI, Tuungane Governance Lead, TNC Africa

6 ALWAYS ELEPHANTS RHINO RANGERS More than 100 rhino were poached in South Africa in October 2013 alone, but only three rhino fell to poachers in Namibia s northwest all year. The reason: the Namibian government and its willingness to share power and benefits with communities that are protecting rhino, with steady mentorship from Save the Rhino Trust. THE NATURE OF DETERMINATION Photo Danielle Mussman ZAMBIA STEPPING UP The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) manages one of Africa s largest protected area networks. But the agency is seriously underfunded and frequent organizational changes have impaired its effectiveness. TNC and others are helping ZAWA wildlife police officers and newly recruited village scouts by providing training, communications equipment, scout housing and roads. Patrols can now cover more ground to better protect the roughly 3,300 elephants of Kafue National Park and its surrounding communal lands. Seeing our Chinese and African staff and volunteer leaders working together is inspiring. I m excited to see this kind of cross-regional and cross-programmatic work it s a distinguishing asset that TNC brings to one of the most complex challenges facing conservation today. BRIAN MCPEEK, Chief Operations Officer, TNC Poaching levels are at an all-time high 30,000 elephants per year driven by skyrocketing demand for ivory from Southeast Asia. We must step up. If we don t, we stand to lose much more than elephants. This epidemic is robbing African communities of one of their most valuable assets and diminishing the positive social, economic and environmental gains of community-led conservation. TNC is strongly positioned to address the supply and demand side of this crisis. With its influential Board of Directors, our China Program has unique potential to mobilize advocates at the highest levels of society and government, and to address widespread misinformation that confuses and misleads consumers. Simultaneously, TNC is working with partners in Africa to expand our onthe-ground efforts: improving security, increasing protection for critical migration corridors and maximizing our collective impact through science. We are also tackling the primary driver of poaching poverty through the simple ingenuity of programs like a beadwork micro-enterprise for women in Kenya. Learn more at nature.org/elephants Our approach to save rhino prioritizes values over violence. With TNC and the Minnesota Zoo, we revitalized our long-standing efforts to strengthen community wildlife patrols. What started as a push for better equipment and training has evolved into Rhino Rangers a 100% local effort that s effectively doubled patrol coverage. JEFF MUNTIFERING, Science Advisor, Save the Rhino Trust BABY BOOM Nineteen hirola calves have been born within Ishaqbini Conservancy s sanctuary in Kenya. Widely considered the first-ever community-run effort to save an endangered species, a team of partners, including TNC and Northern Rangelands Trust helped the community airlift 20 hirola into the sanctuary. These births are a tangible testament to the power of African ingenuity. Learn more at nature.org/hirola Photo Kenneth K. Coe Photo Ami Vitale PAMELA & NEVILLE ISDELL Photo Alex Arnett Pamela Isdell serves on The Nature Conservancy s Africa Council and the Board of Directors of the Georgia Program. In 2013 she and her husband Neville made a gift of 1 million dollars to support our efforts in Zambia. We spoke with her about the roots of her generosity. Africa is in our blood. My husband, Neville, and I met and married in Zambia. I grew up there. We ve since lived in 11 countries around the world, but we go back to Africa every year. There is something special about being in the bush, feeling so small and insignificant compared to the animals as they are going through their lives. I m fearful for the future of wildlife. We re in an era of losing species to extinction and it s increasing at a huge rate. I worry that we re not doing enough quickly enough. Now there s worry about lion. To see these beautiful animals that only want to get on with their own lives being decimated, it s heartbreaking. You can t just sit by. Neville and I feel that we must help. It s better to have tried and lost than to never have tried at all. Our circumstances have enabled us to give back. But everybody can help. No matter in how small a way. You have to find something that touches your heart and commit to it. See a slideshow of some of Pamela s favorite African birds at nature.org/isdell Photo Ian N. White The dogged determination of our generous supporters inspires us every day. Without you, none of this would be possible. THANK YOU. FORWARD GEAR ONLY We all know that conservation can be frustrating. Even small victories can seem elusive sometimes. During these times we must draw inspiration from the dogged determination of others. On a recent visit to Zambia s Kafue National Park, I had a long talk around the fire with our safari guide, Benson Siyawareva, about the daunting challenges ahead the coming shortage of clean water, illegal wildlife trafficking and even climate change. Daunting indeed, and I must have appeared deflated, as Benson expressed concern. That night was a restless one for me. Not only was my mind racing, there was a darn honey badger making a racket outside my chalet. The next morning I told Benson about the honey badger. He looked at me with these intense eyes and said in a quiet voice, Ken, in my native Shona, the honey badger is called chitcere. But the word has other connotations. It also means perseverance forward gear only. Now, you go be chitcere. Photo Ron Geatz We stared at each other. No other words were spoken. Chitcere then. Go be chitcere. KENNETH K. COE, Chair, TNC Africa Council See some of Ken s photos at nature.org/coe

7 The Nature Conservancy WorldWide Office 4245 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA AFRICA COUNCIL John Bernstein Michael Branham Kenneth K. Coe Pamela Isdell Connie Keller Tom Lalampaa Brian Makare Cynthia Ryan John Sall Richard Mark Sellschop The Nature Conservancy Africa Regional Office Bella Villa-Brookside Grove, Westlands P.O GPO Nairobi, Kenya LIKE US FOLLOW US nature.org/africa The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Wito wa The Nature Conservancy ni kuhifadhi ardhi na maji ambayo maisha yote hutegemea. La mission de The Nature Conservancy est de protéger les terres et les eaux dont toute vie depend. Photo Ami Vitale