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 Peace Parks Foundation and African Parks (an AWE partner) who work in close coordination with the national authorities in the Zambezi Valley. 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.
We are therefore engaging with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) and the Ministry of Environment 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 local challenge reflects a far broader crisis: globally, there is an estimated annual funding gap of over $700 billion to protect and restore nature. This shortfall has created both the urgency and the political will to explore alternative, sustainable finance mechanisms that can secure the future of Zimbabwe’s wildlife and landscapes.
Natural capital with global relevance
Zimbabwe’s landscapes hold globally significant biodiverse ecosystems, with value for climate resilience 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 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.
We are pioneering new conservation finance models tailored to Zimbabwe’s protected areas – including alternatives to trophy hunting revenues, which have long underpinned conservation budgets. 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.
To succeed, nature finance must be designed in Africa, for Africa – rooted in local conditions and driven by regional leadership.
Partnering with local communities
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 essential stewards of the land they call home. AWE works in close partnership with these communities, recognising their central role in protecting and sustaining this globally important wilderness.
Through blended finance models – combining nature finance and philanthropy – AWE supports locally led initiatives that strengthen community resilience and well-being, from safe water access to human–wildlife conflict mitigation. This work is delivered in collaboration with the Community Conservation Trust (CCT), which enables local participation and employment in conservation activities, such as biodiversity monitoring and ecosystem protection.
By helping to maintain healthy, biodiverse ecosystems, AWE supports efforts to ensure people can sustainably live off their natural resources – and, in doing so, become long-term stewards of the landscapes that sustain them.
Our goal is to build locally grounded systems where conservation delivers tangible benefits, reduces pressure on ecosystems, and enables people and nature to thrive together.
