Conservation International : Southern Africa Wilderness and Transfrontier Conservation Programme

Översikt

Conservation International (CI) was founded in 1987 by its current Chairman and CEO Peter Seligmann, and is headquartered in Washington D.C. Since then, CI has strategically positioned itself to focus on those parts of our planet where the most incisive conservation benefit can be achieved - hence the focus of CI on Biodiversity Hotspots and High-Biodiversity Wilderness Areas around the world. At present, CI employs about 1 000 people active in more than 40 countries, but achieves much of its work through partnerships and subcontracted expertise.

In southern Africa CI has The Southern Africa Wilderness and Transfrontier Conservation Programme operating out of its Cape Town Base.

This Programme was initiated in 2000, in response to the widespread recognition that the historical approach of conserving isolated protected area “islands” does not offer resilience and long-term sustainability. The Programme therefore assists in the creation of corridors and linkages which are considered necessary to achieve larger scale benefits and longer term resilience within ecosystems.

The aim is to achieve viable ecosystems that embrace the full spectrum of ecological processes that historically shaped biodiversity in that system, and to achieve the support of local people for these conservation areas. They firmly believe that ultimate success in conserving natural resources within conservation areas can only be achieved if those local communities also derive tangible benefit from such conservation areas, but in a sustainable way.

They adopt a regional approach within Southern Africa which promotes and implements strategies for corridors and linkages across political and other boundaries in order to achieve complementary and integrated conservation-management across the region.

They believe that optimum results can only be achieved if we work in partnership with others, including local communities, NGOs, Governments, and any other affected stakeholders.

Cape Town Green Map
updated 08/2009 by urban sprout