BIOFUND participates this week in the Africa Protected Areas Congress – APAC (www.apacongress.africa) held in Kigali, Rwanda from 18-23 July, the opening ceremony was led by the Rt. Hon. Édouard Ngirente. This is the first-ever Pan-African Congress gathering of world leaders, citizens, private sector, academia donors and local communities focused on protected areas.

More than 2,000 participants from 52 African countries and beyond have come together at APAC to address challenges and drive action for Africa’s Protected and Conserved Areas.

The Congress raises a message of hope to do more for Africa. Discussions revolve around the key role of these areas in safeguarding the continent’s iconic wildlife, delivering vital ecosystem services, driving sustainable development and conserving Africa’s cultural heritage and traditions and also strengthening the participation of women and youth in the conservation agenda.

This Congress reiterates the need to change the current business model, to establish sustainable financing mechanisms across Africa to ensure the impact of biodiversity conservation, focusing on the role of Environmental Funds.

In its participation in 6 parallel sessions, the BIOFUND team disclosed the Foundation’s role in mobilizing sustainable funding to support biodiversity conservation in Mozambique, through its various programs, with emphasis on new innovative funding mechanisms such as the implementation of offsets biodiversity, the BIO card, partnerships with the private sector, among others.

This Congress has presented an excellent opportunity for exposing the Foundation’s work, networking and establishing multiple partnerships and collaboration at the African level in the various topics of great importance to BIOFUND.

The Delegation of Mozambique has the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Land and Environment (MTA), with emphasis on the ANAC and its National Director – Celmira da Silva, representatives of the Conservation Areas, the FNDS, and several NGOs in Mozambique such as WWF Mozambique, WCS, PPF, IUCN Mozambique, REGECOM and Rare, with whom there has been sharing of information and discussions on the various topics addressed, which require integrated actions and institutional collaboration.

Also participating in this Congress are 8 representatives of CAFÉ – Consortium of African Environmental Funds (https://cafeconsortium.org/), in which BIOFUND is a member, and they are also participating in this event in several sessions and interacting with each other. Also noteworthy at this Congress was the formal launch by former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of a new Pan-African Environmental Fund called APACT (the Pan-African Conservation Trust – for nature, for people), with the main objective of raising and channeling important financial resources to support biodiversity conservation in many of Africa’s protected areas.