The future of conservation is here

And it doesn’t rely on charismatic NGO leaders in small airplanes

February 12, 2026

Welcome to Green Rising – Let’s say goodbye to the old image of a (European) conservation leader in Africa. It is romantic, sure, but utterly outdated: Nature needs so much more than scientist-savants a la Jane Goodall, who worked alone in the bush. Modern conservationists use a different tool kit, to put it mildly. For better and worse they’re hunched over laptops. They’re professionals who connect with industry and leverage finance. We celebrate that. Impact beats romance. 

South Africa’s Kruger National Park last week began piloting a recycling initiative that includes the installation of clearly marked waste-separation bins across parts of the park. The move is part of a broader trend across Africa, where protected areas are going beyond waste collection to implement recycling and improved waste-management systems.

  • As visitor numbers grow, parks are increasingly aware of the material footprint tourism brings, prompting efforts to redesign waste systems to balance conservation goals with the realities of modern travel and consumption.

  • Treating pollution prevention and resource recovery as integral to conservation, rather than as a separate task, is helping parks protect biodiversity while managing the pressures of growing tourism.

  • Our take: Sustainability of these initiatives will depend on how well upstream material flows are governed… Read more (2 min)

Private carbon buyers have for the first time paid communities to restore degraded land at scale and under high-integrity standards. A community-focused grassland restoration project in South Africa issued the world’s first Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) carbon credits, marking a milestone for conservation finance.

  • The issuance of 266,255 verified carbon units by Tasc, a carbon project developer on January 23rd followed closely after Rubicon Carbon signed a nine-year agreement to supply Microsoft with two million tonnes of carbon credits from trees planted on degraded farmland in Uganda.

  • Low and unstable rural incomes across Africa are a major barrier to effective conservation. In both projects, carbon finance is channelled directly to smallholder farmers, turning degraded land into income-generating conservation assets.

  • Our take: Corporate offtake agreements provide communities with a steady and predictable source of conservation funding… Read more (2 min)

Richard Vigne is the Executive Director of the School of Wildlife Conservation at the Africa Leadership University and was previously the CEO of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa. He is organising the Business of Conservation Conference in Nairobi (March 4-7). His take from more than 20 years in conservation? 

  • Biodiversity loss, climate instability and economic inequality are no longer separate crises. In Africa, they are converging on the same landscapes, the same communities, and the same political decisions. 

  • Wildlife-rich areas are under pressure not because their value is unrecognised, but because that value rarely translates into livelihoods, revenues, or fiscal relevance at scale. Conservation, in too many places, still sits at the margins of the economy.

  • Click here to read the rest of his opinion article… Read more

Number of the week

… is the number of solar cell imports to Africa in 2025, a more than fourfold surge from 2024. Ethiopia leads with 2.4 GW, followed by Nigeria with 837 MW. Wafer and cell imports hit 7.5 GW overall, up sixfold.

Network corner

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👉 Seriti Green appoints Chabisi Motloung as its first COO to take renewable energy projects from development to operation.

👉 Ghana's Dr John Abdulai Jinapor wins the SMRP International Leadership Award for transformative leadership reshaping Africa's energy landscape.

Top green jobs from…

EVENTS UPDATE 

📆 Join Africa Green Economy Summit in South Africa (Feb 19)

📆 Attend the Clean Energy & Environment Trade Fair in Nigeria (March 17)

📆 Sign Up for the Nordic Africa EV Summit in Egypt (May 6)

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