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Botswana’s President, Duma Boko, has formally declared his country’s endorsement of the Africa Biodiversity Fund during the closing session of the first-ever Africa Biodiversity Summit, held in Gaborone from 2–5 November 2025. Delivering a keynote address, President Boko urged African nations to redefine their models of economic growth to fully acknowledge the intrinsic and systemic value of biodiversity as a foundation for sustainable prosperity.
Held under the theme “Leveraging Biodiversity for Africa’s Prosperity,” the summit gathered regional leaders, policymakers, scientists, economists, and civil society representatives to strengthen Africa’s unified stance within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to advance the African Union’s Biodiversity Strategy. The meeting culminated in the adoption of the Africa Biodiversity Summit Declaration, representing a pivotal moment for continental collaboration on ecological governance.
President Boko highlighted the severe funding shortfall hindering Africa’s conservation efforts and called for innovative and cooperative financial solutions. He emphasized that Africa’s concept of prosperity must expand beyond GDP to encompass environmental resilience, food security, access to clean water, and the protection of natural ecosystems that safeguard communities from climate-related shocks.“Africa faces mounting ecological pressures—biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, invasive species, and human-wildlife conflicts. These are not marginal issues; they lie at the heart of our well-being, sovereignty, and future security,” he stated.
The proposed Africa Biodiversity Fund aims to serve as a continent-wide financing platform, mobilising both domestic and international capital for conservation, restoration, and ecosystem management projects. Beyond traditional donor aid, the fund is envisioned to stimulate private sector participation through biodiversity credits, green bonds, and nature-based investments, creating a new financial architecture that rewards ecological stewardship.
This initiative reflects a growing recognition that environmental degradation is not merely an ecological crisis but a development challenge with far-reaching social and economic consequences. It calls for financial models that integrate conservation incentives into Africa’s broader development frameworks.
Supporting the initiative, Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, reaffirmed the AU’s commitment to helping member states align their national biodiversity strategies with continental and global frameworks under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
The summit marked a decisive shift in Africa’s environmental discourse—positioning biodiversity as a driver of development sovereignty rather than a peripheral conservation concern. Leaders emphasised the importance of locally grounded, community-driven approaches that integrate biodiversity value into macroeconomic policy, land governance, and sustainable financing.
As Africa confronts the historical legacies of extractive economies and ecological marginalisation, the Africa Biodiversity Fund signals a continental consensus rooted in self-determination: that true development must be ecologically sustainable, socially inclusive, and financially innovative.
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The summit’s outcomes—including Botswana’s endorsement and the adoption of the declaration—reinforce Africa’s commitment to restoring ecological integrity while unlocking new avenues for socio-economic transformation. Success will depend on the mobilisation of domestic capital, the strengthening of international partnerships, and innovative private sector engagement. The Africa Biodiversity Summit positions the continent not as a passive beneficiary of global environmental agendas, but as an active architect of its ecological future—one that centres African landscapes, knowledge systems, and communities at the heart of global sustainability efforts.