Zimbabwe holds both promise and challenge. Its intact landscapes, iconic wildlife, and deep-rooted community stewardship make it ecologically unique. At the same time, conservation efforts must navigate a dynamic political and economic context. This makes Zimbabwe a vital testing ground for nature finance – a place to shape solutions that are both visionary and grounded.
A protected areas network built for scale
Over 28% of Zimbabwe’s land is under formal environmental protection – including national parks, safari areas, and conservancies. This creates a rare opportunity to test and scale conservation finance solutions at the national level.
Our pilot project in Chewore South provides a practical space to develop the tools, partnerships, and governance models that could be adapted across the wider network.
A collaborative conservation environment
Zimbabwe is home to a number of experienced conservation experts, including African Parks and Peace Parks Foundation, who work in close coordination with government. This collaborative environment creates opportunities for shared learning and aligned investment.
Government engagement in innovation
There is active interest from national institutions to explore new approaches to funding conservation.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) and the Ministry of Environment are partnering with AWE to test biodiversity credits, improved monitoring systems, and the integration of nature into climate policy frameworks.
A biodiversity credit committee has already been established within ZPWMA to support this process.
An urgent funding gap
Zimbabwe’s conservation sector faces a growing funding shortfall, particularly as income from trophy hunting declines. This shortfall has created both the urgency and the political will to explore alternative, sustainable finance mechanisms.
Natural capital with global relevance
Zimbabwe’s landscapes hold globally significant biodiversity and ecosystems, with value for climate resilience, rewilding, and nature-positive development. From elephant corridors and endangered antelope to carbon-rich forests and World Heritage sites, Zimbabwe’s natural assets are of international importance.
Locally built solutions for global challenges
While countries in the Global North have made progress in regulating corporate impact on nature, these models cannot be directly applied in African contexts, where politics, economies, and land use realities are fundamentally different.
While the Global North has made progress in regulating corporate impacts on nature, these models don’t easily translate to African contexts, where political, economic, and land use dynamics are fundamentally different. For nature finance to succeed in Africa, it must be designed for African conditions, led by African institutions, and accountable to local communities.
CCT is pioneering new conservation finance models tailored to Zimbabwe’s protected areas – including alternatives to trophy hunting revenues, which have long underpinned conservation budgets.
To succeed, nature finance must be designed in Africa, for Africa – rooted in local conditions and driven by regional leadership.
By testing outcome-based financing mechanisms, CCT aims to create sustainable, scalable income streams that reward real conservation impact. One of its major ambitions is to restore viable conditions for rhino reintroduction – a bold step towards long-term ecological recovery.
These locally led innovations offer a blueprint for practical, high-integrity nature finance that works in the Global South.
Partnering with local communities
Across Zimbabwe, there is growing pressure for nature to support both people and biodiversity. As communities expand into wilderness areas, the need for fuel, water, and agricultural land often leads to conflicts with surrounding wildlife. Climate change is further compounding these pressures, with increasingly unpredictable weather and shrinking natural resources. Limited economic opportunities heighten dependence on the land, increasing the strain on ecosystems and biodiversity.
At the heart of this landscape are local communities – the rightful owners and stewards of their land. Through the Community Conservation Trust (CCT), communities are positioned as key actors in protecting and managing their natural surroundings. CCT provides paid opportunities for local people to participate directly in conservation, from supporting biodiversity monitoring to helping mitigate human–wildlife conflict – all tied to the delivery of nature finance.
AWE’s role is to enable this approach by providing long-term, place-based nature finance that is tested and implemented by CCT in line with local governance systems and indigenous knowledge. The goal is to develop locally grounded systems that enhance community resilience, mitigate pressure on ecosystems, and ensure that those who coexist with nature benefit from it.
