African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)

WHAT: Protecting Africa’s wildlife and natural landscapes.
IN DETAIL: AWF is engaged with the conservation of ecosystems alongside the protection of wildlife and resolution of human-wildlife conflict.
WHERE: Africa

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.^[1]

AWF’s programs and conservation strategies are designed to protect the wildlife and wild lands of Africa and ensure a more sustainable future for Africa’s people. AWF stops the degradation of animals and the world’s environment.

Since its inception, the organization has protected endangered species and land, promoted conservation enterprises that benefit local African communities, and trained hundreds of African nationals in conservation—all to ensure the survival of Africa’s unparalleled wildlife heritage.

Priority landscapes

AWF used to call the landscapes that it supports “heartlands”; now, the organization employs a “priority landscape” approach.^[18] Heartlands include:^[19]

Countries	Priority landscape	Start	Notes
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Congo	2003	Moist tropical forest between the Lopori and Maringa Rivers. Home of the endangered bonobo
Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe	Kazungula	2001	Woodland-grassland mosaic with important wildlife migration corridors around the Zambezi River
Kenya & Tanzania	Kilimanjaro	1999	Wetlands and savanna surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro
Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe	Limpopo	2002	Savannahs, woodlands, rivers and floodplains around the Limpopo River
Tanzania	Maasai Steppe	1999	Savannah including Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Park
Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin	Parc W	2010	Protected savanna in West Africa.
Kenya	Samburu	1999	Acacia grassland near to Mount Kenya
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
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Bili Uele	2013	Savanna mosaic north of the Uele River and lowland primary forest to the south. Home of the chimpanzee and forest elephant
Namibia	Etosha-Skeleton Coast	2013	Vast salt pan, woodland, and savanna ecosystems
South Africa	Great Fish River	2013	A 45,000-hectare reserve in the Great Fish River valley, home to increasingly vulnerable population of critically endangered black rhino.
Zimbabwe	Save Valley		Save Valley Conservancy, home to endangered rhinos
Cameroon	Faro	2012	In addition to hosting the largest population of hippos in Cameroon, Faro National Park is home to elephants, black rhinos, cheetahs, hyenas, and other wildlife.
Kenya	Mau Forest	2011	The Mau Forest Complex sits within Kenya’s Rift Valley and is the largest indigenous montane forest in East Africa.
Tanzania	Ruaha	2012	The Ruaha area will intersect with an agriculture corridor that the Tanzanian government wants to develop in southern Tanzania.