FOCUS AREAS

FEFA  is advancing scientific research and knowledge on African ecosystems through six core focus areas, each designed to enhance ecosystem resilience, biodiversity conservation, and improve the wellbeing of Africa’s people. 

The various strands of work, often from very different disciplinary backgrounds, interweave to enable us to produce integrated, impactful outcomes across a range of contexts.

CLICK ON THE ICONS ABOVE AND READ MORE ABOUT OUR KEY ACTIVITIES BELOW 

Futures Thinking

FEFA envisions diverse and desirable futures for human-nature relationships across Africa through four interconnected pillars:

  1. Nature’s Futures Framework – Our foundational methodology integrating Indigenous Local Knowledge with cutting-edge research to reimagine African ecosystems – read more here
  2. Participatory Visioning and Pathways Workshops – Community-engaged sessions co-creating future scenarios across African ecosystems, including Mono Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, The Barotse Cultural Landscape, Ngoni Kingdom Malawi and a Regional Workshop in Rwanda
  3. Creative Storytelling & Arts – Collaborative anthologies that translate workshop visions into speculative fiction, art, and multimedia storytelling
  4. African Futures Community of Practice – A growing network of practitioners, researchers, and communities implementing and sharing innovations across the continent

Partners: SORALO (South Rift Association of Land Owner), Exeter University, Mzimba Heritage Association, Mabilabo Social Support Forum, University of Cape Coast – Ghana, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Université d’Abomey-Calavi – Benin Republic, IAPRI (Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute)

Guiding Policy & Investment

Our work provides insights to support evidence-based policy and investment decisions for sustainable land management and climate action in Africa. We combine rigorous research with practical applications to help foster sustainable development, improved wellbeing, conservation and climate adaptation across African landscapes. 

Our Activities include:

  • Collaborating with the African Group of Negotiators Expert Systems (AGNES) to develop an evidence base for climate action on land and ocean that can help drive and coordinate African position statements at the Climate and Biodiversity Conference of the Parties 
  • Collaborating with Conservation International on an African Roadmap for People and Nature, which will help harness climate funding to drive positive change on the continent. The roadmap merges a continent-wide initiative mapping natural climate solutions with that work for both Africa’s people and nature.
  • Working with national governments and forestry departments to help with IPCC reporting requirements and sustainable woodland management.
  • Synthesising Blue Carbon, Marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods data under the ASCEND Blue Africa synthesis project
  • Disseminating important FEFA research findings via policy briefs, media pieces, and high-profile panel discussions at international meetings.

Partners: Department of Science and Innovation, UNESCO IOC, Pretoria University, ASCEND, University of Cape Town, WIOMSA, Conservation International, TAFORI, SEOSAW, Shangani Ranch, Edinburgh University, GGG, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Pretoria, AWEI

Implementation Projects & Network Building

The FEFA data and principles are being used to inform implementation projects across eight countries in Africa, where we are collaborating with local partners to implement sustainable land management practices while building robust continental networks. Workshops, capacity building, and shared methodologies and tools all create a foundation for collaborative action across these diverse projects to enable people to both nurture and benefit from nature.

Find out more about our project implementation by viewing our Future Ecosystems for Africa Implementation Projects Map – Click Here

Projects include:

  • Moxico, Angola: Fire regimes, peatland agriculture and biodiversity
  • Niassa, Mozambique: Fire, honey hunting, biodiversity
  • Kitulungalo, Tanzania: Grazing, honey production, biodiversity
  • Lowveld, South Africa: Grazing, carbon, biodiversity
  • Mpala Ranch, Kenya: Grazing and land degradation
  • Mkwera, Zambia: Fire, biodiversity, ABC (African Biodiversity Challenge)
  • Gwaai, Zimbabwe: Timber production
  • Shangani Ranch, Zimbabwe: Grazing, biodiversity, carbon, fire
  • Barotse Cultural Landscape, Zambia: Multiple values and perspectives of biodiversity and climate futures
  • Mono Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Benin: Desirable futures for indigenous and local peoples and mangrove ecosystems
  • Shompole, Ol’Kirimatian, Mombasa Kenya 

Partners: Shangani Ranch, Edinburgh University, Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI), TAFORI, SEOSAW, GGG, Conservation International, Gonarezhou Conservation Trust, CBU, Kitwe Herbarium, University of Cape Town, Niassa Carnivore Project, WCS, Chinhoyi University, ReWild Capital, ISPT, Lubango, WildBird Trust, National Geographic, SAEON, NorthWest University, Kew Gardens, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, SLiNCA, OPALS, Karatina University, Mpala Research Centre, ZFC, SORALO,

Nature Finance

Finance is one of the key limitations to achieving policy goals linked to people and nature. FEFA explores public and private sector priorities for investment, conservation responsibilities and private sector engagement in nature-positive investments. Our work analyses public biodiversity finance and explores how private sector capital can better contribute to sustainability efforts, creating pathways for sustainable conservation funding.

Activities include:

Partners: Edinburgh University, ISPT, Oxford University, Lubango, uBoomi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Pretoria, AWEI, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, Karatina University, Conservation International

Ecosystem functioning and Biodiversity

We focus on building strong networks of empowered scientists and advancing science that is informed by local contexts and knowledge systems. We fund partners studying: 

  1. Whether and how African grasslands can recover from ploughing
  2. The impacts of different livestock and wildlife regimes on soil organic carbon 
  3. Drought and resilience of rangelands under different grazing and wildlife regimes.  
  4. Tree demographic processes and bottlenecks in savannas and woodlands 
  5. The determinants and biogeography of African grasslands

All of these research projects guide policy engagements, implementation projects, and decision tools: the primary peer-reviewed research is translated into policy briefs, infographics, media reports, VERA standards, and interactive databases. 

Products include:

  • The Africa Data Drive (ADD) is an interactive tool that integrates African biodiversity datasets with spatial estimates of development potential and the likelihood of future land transformation. This will help to identify potential conflict hotspots between GDP growth, carbon management and biodiversity. 
  • The Landscape Decision Dashboard is an interactive tool for empowering land owners, local communities, and society as a whole to visualise the interdependencies between actions to store carbon and restore ecosystem functioning: helping us to find the sweet spot between what is preferable and what is possible.  
  • Tree growth rates shiny app provides data on tree growth rates across the full range of southern African species and environmental conditions to enable accurate estimates of C-sequestration potential and sustainable harvesting rates. 
  • The Socio Ecological Observatory for African Woodlands (SEOSAW) plot network helps African data owners share and collect data in standardised formats in order to produce high quality science that also supports national Carbon accounting projects and sustainable land use. *
  • The Global Grassy Group (GGG) plot network works with partners across the world to collect ground layer biodiversity data in standardised formats, essential for demonstrating their unique biodiversity and conservation value of grasslands and grassy ecosystems  *

* FEFA is a supporter, not a creator of these platforms 

Partners: ZFC, Karatina University, SEOSAW, Mpala Research Centre, NorthWest University, Exeter University, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, SLINCA, Oxford University, Edinburgh University, ReWild Capital

An Africa-led, Africa-centred program to influence thinking and action in new ways.