Forests and Water Resources

Africa hosts 17% of the world’s forests and 31% of woodlands. These landscapes deliver numerous products and services, including food, fuel, shelter, and fresh water, they protect against natural hazards and provide habitats for wildlife including critical pollinators. These forests are home to more than half of all species found on land, a rich variety of life that maintains many of our most vital natural systems. Worryingly, however, these natural assets are undergoing structural changes due to degradation and fragmentation as the result of both natural processes and human activities. As much as 65% of productive land in Africa is degraded, and desertification affects 45% of the continent’s land area. Every year, nearly three million hectares of Africa’s forests are lost, leading to a 3% loss of GDP associated with soil and nutrient depletion. Equally, the health of our rivers and lakes are threatened as thirsty crops soak up water, industrial runoff and sewage pollutes rivers, natural habitats are destroyed for development, and dams and infrastructure fragment our river watersheds and basins. Rural smallholders suffer the most from degraded lands and water resources because their activities directly depend on healthy soils, tree cover and clean water. Natural resources should be used in a way that sustains and improves their capacity for productive use, and avoids degradation and over-exploitation.

Regenerate Africa will strive to protect, revive and restore forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands that sustain both people and nature. This will be done in collaboration with governments, businesses and communities to design and implement nature-based solutions and enterprises tailored to address challenges such as climate change and provide human well-being and biodiversity benefits by protecting, sustainably managing, and restoring ecosystems. Regenerate Africa prioritises social justice, equity, transparency, inclusion, rights-based and socially inclusive approaches to conservation for effective natural resource management and its contribution to human wellbeing and biodiversity.