2024 turned out to be a landmark year for the PAW foundation as we finely tuned our mission, added two new grantees, witnessed first-hand the success of one of our closest partners and hosted a first PAW retreat for Southern African partners to come together to discuss all things conservation.
September 2024 marked our very first PAW Foundation retreat where we brought together many of our valued partners from Southern Africa on the banks of the Zambezi to talk conservation around the campfire. The retreat was expertly hosted at Goliath Camp in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe by the long-standing guide Stretch Ferreira and his fantastic team. We had a very successful three days of discussion, exploration, walking and relaxing in this beautiful environment, a truly great opportunity for some cross-pollination of conservation ideas and plans.
On the banks of the Zambezi for the PAW Retreat with our partners
Also in September, we had the very special opportunity to visit one of our partners (Care for Wild) in South Africa and witness the first step of the reintroduction of white rhinoceros back into the wild. Due to the decimation of the rhino population in nearby Kruger National Park, it was truly memorable to see all their hard work bearing fruit as these rhinos will now be safeguarded in a spectacular landscape. To Petronel, Chris and the whole team at Care for Wild, congratulations!
One of the most important features of 2024 was to double down our focus as a foundation on the conservation of large landscapes on the African continent. We want to have the greatest impact possible, and this is where we believe we can achieve this mission. To that end, we approved two new partners for PAW funding who perfectly fit this focus and share this core vision. Natural Capital is utilizing innovative financial models to pioneer a new approach to conservation by redefining nature as a viable investment opportunity. We visited the team in Zimbabwe at their first project site called Rifa and saw first-hand the incredible work being done. Over two days, a myriad of species including elephants, buffalo, lion and incredibly three leopards were spotted!
Natura is leading the restoration and protection of a 4,800 km2 sector of the Macossa-Tambara ecosystem in Central Mozambique in partnership with local communities and the government of Mozambique. Finally, we also began preliminary discussions on potentially playing a facilitator role in the nascent and currently informal Conservation Landscape Alliance (CLA) to help bring together organizations with similar landscape protection goals in Africa, including several of our partners.
All in all, a fantastic year that has set up 2025 to be another very productive year for the foundation. We will again convene partners in South Africa at Care for Wild for a second retreat this coming Autumn to push forward discussions of how best to safeguard critical large landscapes on the African continent for the benefit of both wildlife and local communities.
A lion spotted on the banks of the Zambezi during the PAW Retreat to Mana Pools