A Practical Necessity
Welcome to the first issue of Africa in Fact for 2025. The year has begun amid mounting global instability: widening inequality, escalating climate threats, and relentless conflicts. For Africa, these challenges underscore the urgent need to remain committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Good Governance Africa believes that inclusive conservation has a pivotal role to play in meeting SDG targets. Rooted in the recognition that local communities must be active participants in the stewardship of natural resources, inclusive conservation offers an opportunity to harmonise ecological protection and human well-being. Ecological sustainability remains the foundation for human prosperity, and humanity has already overstepped six of our nine planetary boundaries.
This issue of Africa in Fact argues that inclusive conservation becomes even more important when considered alongside continental-wide efforts to develop a sustainable blue economy, a concept that emphasises the responsible use of aquatic resources for economic growth while ensuring environmental health.
At its core, inclusive conservation acknowledges the interdependence between people and ecosystems. Africa’s land and seascapes are home to a rich diversity of species, many of which are under threat from climate change, habitat loss, and overexploitation. They also provide livelihoods for millions of people, from subsistence farmers and fishers to eco-tourism operators.
In contrast, the fortress conservation model, which dominated much of Africa’s early conservation efforts, often excluded local communities from protected areas and denied them access to the resources they had historically relied upon. Making a case against green militarisation and fortress conservation, GGA’s own director of research, Dr Ross Harvey, argues that “those living near parks or wildlife (in unprotected areas) need to have a direct interest in the preservation of wild landscapes. We need to make appropriate incentives available towards this end, and not only monetary ones.”
“South Africa’s recently gazetted Draft National Biodiversity Economy Strategy is an example of both what to do and what not to do,” Harvey writes. “Preserving our natural heritage and expanding wild landscapes will require a fundamental reorientation of how we think about humanity’s relationship with nature.”
Conservationists Ashwell Glasson and Naomi Haupt also make a case for inclusive conservation. “Local communities should be regarded as co-managers of conservation efforts rather than mere beneficiaries, as they play a crucial role in bridging the knowledge exchange between scientists and indigenous groups, fostering solutions that integrate both traditional and modern approaches,” they write.
Fortress conservation followed the creation of national parks and wildlife reserves in Africa during the colonial and post-colonial periods. These protected areas were often established with little regard for the rights and traditions of indigenous and local populations. While these parks have helped safeguard iconic species like elephants and rhinos, they have also sown deep-seated resentment. In some cases, fortress conservation has had unintended consequences as disenfranchised communities turn to illegal activities such as poaching out of necessity or defiance.
Researcher Neil Ford’s article offers Tanzania as an example. He writes, “The track record of inclusive conservation varies enormously…. and visitors are often sold a vision of an African wilderness devoid of people that is at odds with historical reality.”
Ford writes that any resettlement must be undertaken compassionately. “This has clearly not been the case in northern Tanzania,” he says, where the government aims to relocate 82,000 Maasai from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and surrounding areas by 2027 for “conservation and tourism purposes”.
Elsewhere in this issue, several contributors from across West Africa illustrate how policy vacuums and governments seeking new revenue have seen fishing and agricultural communities lose livelihoods due to exclusion, environmental degradation, and illegal activity.
Issa Sikiti da Silva’s article highlights the potential devastation to the Conkouati-Douli National Park, a 795.500-hectare (7,955 km ²) area of south-western Congo-Brazzaville on the border with Gabon, which is set to become a drilling site, as a Chinese company prepares to move in heavy equipment and launch intensive oil exploration. The Sassou Nguesso administration granted the company a permit barely six weeks after accepting $50 million from the EU and the Bezos Fund to protect its forests.
Adejumo Kabir, meanwhile, reveals how oil spills in Nigeria have devasted the country’s once-thriving fishing industry. “Before the discovery of oil in the 1960s, the country had a thriving fishing industry, providing livelihoods for millions of people,” he writes. “Ongoing oil spills kill fish and endanger the lives of residents in coastal communities. Spills often occur due to pipeline sabotage, and inadequate clean-up efforts have turned what was once a vibrant ecosystem into a toxic wasteland.”
From Togo, Blamé Ekoue writes that West Africa’s blue economy is also being undermined by illegal fishing on an industrial scale. “Foreign fleets, predominantly Chinese and South Korean, dominate West African waters, reaping profits while local economies suffer,” he says. “Chinese vessels are the most prolific offenders, catching an estimated 2.35 million tonnes annually in the region – half of China’s distant-water fleet catch, valued at $5 billion.” In Ghana, artisanal fishers have seen a 40% decline in income per canoe over the past 15 years.
Regular contributor Ronak Gopaldas examines how Africa’s blue economy has emerged as a strategic frontier for economic development and a vital arena for geopolitical manoeuvring. “This has created a pressing need for African countries to adopt sophisticated diplomatic approaches across economic, environmental, and geopolitical domains to ensure that the continent can benefit from the complex web of global interests in its blue economy,” he writes.
Our writers make it clear that conservation efforts that exclude or marginalise communities are unlikely to succeed in the long term. On the other hand, approaches that prioritise inclusion, equity, and collaboration can create a virtuous cycle of ecological and economic benefits. This is especially important for a continent where climate change and global economic pressures demand innovative solutions that leave no one behind.
Susan Russell is the editor of Good Governance Africa’s quarterly journal, Africa in Fact. She has worked in the media industry for more than 30 years as a journalist, editor, publisher, and as a general manager. Career highlights include several years working for Business Day and more than a decade as a reporter, editor and General Manager at the Sunday Times in Johannesburg.
