| Wednesday, March 4, 2026 |
| Opening remarks and welcome | | 8:30 AM - 8:45 AM | |
| Parallel Session 1 - Sustainable Finance Coalition - Sustainable Finance 101 | Learn what it takes to build viable finance solutions and achieve impact at scale for conservation and livelihoods. | 2:55 PM - 4:10 PM | |
| Parallel Session - Baotree - If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Market It: How Tourism Becomes the Engine for Real Impact | Tourism has one of the most direct routes to delivering sustainability and community impact — yet 90% of lodges and eco-camps still rely on scattered spreadsheets and self-reported claims. The result? Great stories, but little proof.
In this session, Dimitri Syrris, Founder & CEO of Baotree, explores how tourism organisations can turn data into their most valuable currency — credibility. Drawing from Baotree’s work across Africa, he reveals how verifiable sustainability data enables lodges, eco-destinations, and their Foundations or Trusts to measure and communicate authentic impact without greenwashing.
Discover how Baotree’s technology is revolutionising impact tracking through education, gamification, and engagement tools embedded in their software, enabling staff and communities to participate, learn, and report on sustainability initiatives in real-time.
Join us to discover how verifiable impact, powered by people and data, is reimagining the future of responsible travel | 2:55 PM - 4:10 PM | |
| Parallel Session - IIED - Insurance to promote Human-Wildlife Co-Existence | This session will demonstrate the opportunities and challenges for private insurance to facilitate human wildlife co-existence. It will hear from actual pilots in Kenya, Zambia, Thailand, Nepal and elsewhere. Practitioners from the private and public sector will share lessons and recommendations on scaling up through sustainable finance, risk pooling and alliance building. | 2:55 PM - 4:10 PM | |
| Parallel Session - Zambia National Community Resources Board Association (ZNCRBA) - Crafting economies that benefit nature and deliver value to communities | To achieve sustainable conservation solutions, we must rethink the business of conservation. This session aims to engage attendees in exploring, with experts, how local communities can manage conservancies with modest budgets while ensuring that people and livelihoods remain central to conservation efforts. | 2:55 PM - 4:10 PM | |
| Parallel Session - African BioTrade Advisory Group - The Business of BioTrade: Communities, Commerce and Conservation | BioTrade is where business meets biodiversity. As demand for sustainable, ethical, and natural products soars, this vibrant sector is taking off. Africa, home to some of the world’s oldest BioTrade value chains, is now stepping into the spotlight. Hosted by the African BioTrade Advisory Group, this session dives into bold new opportunities and innovations driving conservation through commerce and empowering rural communities. | 4:40 PM - 6:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - ALU students - Next Gen leaders & future-proofing conservation: From ideas to action in Africa’s Wildlife Economy | This session will spotlight the critical role of young people in reshaping Africa’s conservation landscape, moving from ideas and theory to actionable strategies. The session will explore how youth-driven innovations are advancing inclusive, sustainable solutions that empower communities and safeguard wildlife, ensuring long-term economic and conservation benefits. | 4:40 PM - 6:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - Carbon Tanzania - Carbon finance at scale, building the next generation of projects and evidencing the social impact | With the voluntary carbon market within Africa showing early signs of exponential growth it is critical that scaling takes place with a community-led approach and greater levels of integrity. Join Carbon Tanzania, developer of award winning projects, to learn how equitable revenue sharing is benefiting participating communities and local governments in Tanzania. Then envision what additional opportunities for sustainable development, land and resource rights and conservation could arise when access to carbon finance is scaled. | 4:40 PM - 6:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - Conserve Global - How agency, resources, governance, and capacity lead the way in building nature-based livelihoods in rural communities | African carbon projects have the potential to deliver the best quality carbon credits in the world. How do we ensure this happens?
| 4:40 PM - 6:00 PM | |
| Thursday, March 5, 2026 |
| Parallel Session 2 - Sustainable Finance Coalition - Connected Finance | Igniting the conversation at the intersection of sustainable finance and community-led conservation- ensuring that finance flows to where it matters the most. | 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - African Parks - Community income from conservation: African PArks’ experience of working with community micro-enterprises to build a conservation-compatible economy in Rwanda | Rwanda has developed a successful model of cooperatives which supports various revenue-generating activities. As part of African Parks’ community development programme in Rwanda, the organisation partners with and supports 108 cooperatives with over 20 thousand members. The members are engaged in income-generating activities around the protected areas and different employment/service activities within Nyungwe and Akagera. Building on the work the park teams have done within this structure thus far, African Parks is now keen to apply the lessons learned across the other countries where it manages protected areas. | 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - ReGeCom - Are we neglecting investment in community governance for conservation? | Good governance is vital for the success of community-led conservation initiatives, and global conservation efforts in general. This session will delve into the necessary investments and ongoing practices required to maintain effective governance, ensuring long-term success and community engagement. | 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session - !Xau Conservation - Nature as an asset: A bold approach to funding conservation initiatives | Only a paradigm shift can save us. This session will explore how innovative Nature Asset models can help NGOs secure capital from their existing work while offering high-net-worth individuals and corporations a chance to impact conservation at compound interest levels. Whether through biodiversity credits or other models, the value of ecosystem services is undeniable; it's about effectively measuring and harnessing that value. Join us to explore the most effective Nature Asset methodologies for safeguarding Africa’s biodiversity and learn how we can achieve significant returns for both land stewards and investors. | 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM | |
| Parallel Session 3 - Sustainable Finance Coalition - Solution Showcase - Blue Finance Solutions | A deep dive into African finance solutions geared for the Blue Economy. | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM | |
| Parallel Session - AWF & ALU SOWC - Decision and investment support toolkit for assessing and developing wildlife economies | This session will spotlight the critical importance of African countries adopting a structured and standardized approach to assessing and building wildlife economies through an innovative decision support toolkit. Through a dynamic discussion with experts, policymakers, and stakeholders, we aim to draw valuable feedback and insights to help refine the toolkit to ensure its fit for purpose. | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM | |
| Parallel Session - Nature Finance - Scaling the bioeconomy at the nature and climate nexus | The bioeconomy can be the lever for the African continent to be a global leader on an economy and society wide just transition but requires major investment to realise that vision. This session will unpack what is needed to realise a sustainable bioeconomy in Africa. | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM | |
| Parallel Session - WIOMSA - Beyond blue rhetoric: Redesigning ocean conservation as an economic system | This session will challenge conventional thinking about the Blue Economy and ask the hard questions: What would it take to make protecting the ocean the most profitable choice? It will unpack the value of blue carbon, biodiversity credits, blended finance, and blue bonds, and examine how seagrass, coral reefs, and mangroves can anchor real economic transformation for coastal communities. | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM | |