Africa is home to a quarter of the world's remaining biodiversity, making conservation efforts on the continent essential for creating global climate resilience and for our overall planetary health. The effective management of Africa's remaining natural systems not only helps mitigate climate change but also ensures that local people continue to benefit from the ecosystem services these systems provide. Due to the continent's increasing threats of habitat loss and poaching, what is not currently managed is being lost; yet hopeful initiatives are being undertaken that are working. This session will discuss solutions to the biodiversity and related climate crisis, specifically a unique public-private partnership model for managing Protected Areas in partnership with African governments, local communities and African Parks, an NGO that manages 22 parks in 12 countries amounting to over 77,000 square miles in Africa. This discussion will explore what conservation at scale means, how that is achieved, how we know it's working, and the role the private sector can play in achieving conservation outcomes.

African Parks is a 2024 Concordia Annual Summit Core Programming Partner.