Community leadership is vital to lasting conservation. Are you At #COP17? Join @AWF_Official and the African Regional Directors Platform to explore African approaches to community-led conservation. 27 Oct | 12:00–13:00 GMT+4 FPWC Blue Zone Pavilion, Yerevan @emtambara, @DHalleson, @ElikanaManumbu, @juliemulonga

Happy #WorldTeachersDay! Meet Patrick Kiminza, a teacher and Wildlife Club Patron at Ngwata Comprehensive School in Makueni County, near Tsavo. He's turning conservation lessons into action. 🧵

A new $49m Smart Green Village in Musanze will provide families with improved housing, infrastructure and basic services, alongside support to build sustainable livelihoods. The first phase is expected to accommodate 547 households. @nsapatric, @AWF_Official Country Coordinator in Rwanda, says residents will be connected to business support, skills training, financing and markets before relocating. AWF is partnering with the @RwandaGov on the broader programme, drawing on more than 40 years of work in the country. Read more from the article in @NewTimesRwanda: newtimes.co.rw/article/39446…

2/4 - Kidepo spans Karamoja and Acholi, with ecological links to Kenya and South Sudan. Elephants, buffalo, giraffes and other wildlife move across protected areas, community lands, farms and corridors.

1/4 What does conservation look like when wildlife moves beyond the park boundary? In Uganda’s Kidepo landscape, it means looking at the connections between protected areas, community lands and livelihoods. Here are four things shaping that work: 🧵

As the countdown to #COP17 begins, 50 young leaders gathered in Kigali for Rwanda’s Pre-COP17 National Youth Consultation. They explored how youth leadership and community action can advance biodiversity conservation. Their message is clear: young people must help shape decisions affecting Africa’s wildlife, wild lands and communities. Participants developed a Rwanda Youth Position Document to share with the Ministry of Environment ahead of #COP17.

2/2 - The plan introduces a vision, ecotourism to grow local income, management closer to the ground, and stronger transboundary programmes with wildlife corridors. Delivery requires the budget to rise from FCFA 6bn to 9bn. Planning funded by @UNEP_Francais through @theGEF .

1/2 - A shared conservation vision begins with shared decisions. @AWF_Official joined MINFOF to sign Campo Ma’an’s 2027–2031 management plan, shaped by 3 years of consultation with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, authorities, the private sector and partners.

2/2 - AWF’s Geospatial Leaders Fellowship builds skills; APAD strengthens peer learning; Conservation GeoHubs with @Esri make evidence accessible to inform development decisions. Read David Williams’ perspective: awf.org/news/mapping-what-ma…

1/2 - Africa’s biodiversity commitments depend on decisions about land, infrastructure and investment. At #CBDCOP17, evidence must shape those choices. AWF’s approach connects geospatial intelligence with African leadership to turn commitments into action.

1/6 - Black or white? Neither. On #WorldRhinoDay, join us in this thread 🧵 as we explore what really sets Africa’s two rhino species apart.

As Rwanda prepares for #KwitaIzina, the spotlight turns to the mountain gorilla. But conservation success must go beyond species recovery. It means landscapes where people, wildlife, and economies thrive together — through locally led conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and long-term investment. Read how Rwanda is helping shape this next chapter: awf.org/news/beyond-gorilla-… @nsapatric

3/5 More water sources can mean more space for wildlife to move and less pressure concentrated around a single water point. With AWF support, Amaka is strengthening water infrastructure alongside ranger capacity and protection—investing in the landscape elephants depend on. Because conservation happens beyond the photograph of the elephant.

2/5 At Amaka Conservancy in Kenya’s Tsavo landscape, as many as 250 elephants can visit a single borehole in one day. That tells us something important: protecting elephants is not only about protecting the animal. It is about securing the systems that allow them to remain wild. #AfricanElephants #Tsavo

5/5 For more than 60 years, AWF has worked toward an Africa where people and wildlife thrive. At Amaka, that future is being built through water, protected habitat, committed rangers and communities invested in conservation. This #WorldElephantDay, meet the people showing us what it means to be true Friends of Elephants. Read their story: awf.org/news/friends-elephan… #AfricanWildlifeFoundation #Elephants

4/5 And this is where coexistence becomes tangible. Amaka sits within an important wildlife corridor connecting Tsavo East National Park and Tanzania’s Mkomazi National Park. Keeping landscapes like this connected, functional and resilient gives wildlife room to move while supporting the communities that share these spaces. #Conservation #Coexistence

1/5 🐘 WORLD ELEPHANT DAY Did you know an elephant can drink up to 200 litres of water a day? In a landscape like Tsavo, that makes access to water fundamental to the survival of elephants—and to how they move through landscapes shared with people. But there is a bigger story behind that number. 🧵 #WorldElephantDay