Group of global conservation funders, convened by Earthshot Prize, Royal Foundation of Prince and Princess of Wales, and Conservation International, has announced financial packages, totalling $90 million, to conserve Africa’s landscapes.

The commitments follow months of talks by leading global philanthropists, which culminated in a roundtable during Earthshot Week, which took place in Cape Town last week.

Facilitated by the Royal Foundation and Earthshot Prize, in partnership with Conservation International, the conversation highlighted the importance of African conservation and explored collaborative opportunities to promote and support holistic, integrated, inclusive and African-led strategies.

Under the new commitments, the Peace Parks Foundation will launch the Partners4Nature Fund to scale nature conservation partnerships, supporting the 30×30 targets by protecting 98 million hectares in Southern Africa by 2050.

The talks led to four founding funders pledging the first $40 million to the fund, aimed at raising $100 million by 2027 to catalyse partnerships and scale up investment, expertise and implementation capacity in large trans-boundary landscapes in Southern Africa.

Also, the COmON Foundation committed to investing an additional $30 million in large landscape conservation in the next 10 years, building on an existing $20 million investment to support the South African landscapes and its people.

After nearly two years of collaboration, the Living Landscape Collective, including Oak Foundation, is launching Wild5, a pooled fund aiming to place $50 million over the next five years to support initiatives around the world (with at least $20 million allocated to Africa) that weave together social and ecological outcomes. 

Similarly, next year, one of the fund’s flagship grants support the community conservation work in South Africa’s Eastern Cape mega-living landscape. 

Chief Executive Officer, Earthshot Prize, Hannah Jones, said: “This is the Earthshot decade, where urgent action is needed to protect 30 per cent of our lands and oceans by 2030. We are delighted that by bringing together mission-aligned donors during Earthshot Week in Cape Town, nature has a seat at the table. This unprecedented commitment shows that when we come together, we can move mountains.”

Executive Director of Conservation at The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, Dr Tom Clements, said: “Two years ago, COP15 saw 195 countries committed to delivering “30×30”, the global agreement to protect 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030, the biggest conservation commitment the world has ever seen.

“Delivering on 30×30 will require a massive scaling of action. This unprecedented collaboration between global funders and the significant commitments made in Earthshot Week will play an important role in helping to advance the world-leading initiatives across Africa.”