Credits: ANI
The Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI) protects and rewilds Nigeria’s wildness, specifically Gashaka Gumti and Okomu National Parks. Through a Public-Private Partnership model, ANI co-manages these areas with the government, channeling private investment into robust ranger patrols and biodiversity management. ANI prioritizes community empowerment, providing micro-finance, education, and sustainable livelihood support to foster local ownership and resilience. Their long-term vision involves reintroducing charismatic fauna and establishing financial sustainability via carbon finance and eco-tourism, ensuring a future where nature and local communities flourish together, proving rewilding is both ecologically and economically viable.
Gashaka Gumti National Park Mountains. Credit: ANI
“A lost world, a jewel”. A landscape that vibrates with wild abundant life, with healthy ecosystems. A landscape that takes your breath away.
As they stepped into Gashaka Gumti National Park, these are the emotions that overcame the Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI) team. In 2017, faced with the reality that this place had 5 more years to go before it would succumb to the challenges it faced, ANI got to work.
Our Alliance Partner, ANI, approaches rewilding with the belief that nature and people can thrive together.
Before delving into their work, to understand the wide scope of the team’s work, take a look at their rescue of an orphan baby Forest Elephant!
Newly trained rangers in Okomu National Park Credit: ANI
Safeguarding precious ecosystems
ANI operates in two of Nigeria’s most biodiverse landscapes: Gashaka Gumti National Park and Okomu National Park.
Gashaka Gumti National Park is one of the largest parks in West Africa. It holds diverse landscapes from savanna and lowland rainforests to cloud forests and montane grasslands. It also holds a wide array of wildlife: the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee, white-bellied and giant Pangolin, yellow-backed Duiker, African golden Cat, forest Buffalo and a wide range of other primates and antelopes. The park is one of the most important watersheds of the mighty Benue river, the second largest river in West Africa upon which millions of people and wildlife depend.
An innovative model
Through its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, ANI co-manages protected areas alongside the Nigerian government, pioneering a framework that channels private sector investment towards national park management.
Their innovative model not only strengthens law enforcement and biodiversity management but also fosters local economic development, reducing dependence on philanthropy and government funding.
In 2017, ANI signed a 30-year Public Private Partnership Co-management agreement with the National Park Service to protect and rewild Gashaka Gumti National Park. Since then, they have been able to support the park as it faces multiple challenges; notably that of deployment of well trained and well equipped ranger patrols to curb the illegal logging of Rosewood, illegal cattle grazing (and associated forest fires), poaching for urban bushmeat markets and artisanal mining.
They also support livelihoods in the 70 communities around the park with various interventions including beekeeping, micro-finance loans for agri-processing enterprises, education, cattle vaccination, scholarships and rural electrification.
ANI hopes in time to be able to bring back missing charismatic fauna to the park including Elephants, Giraffes, giant Eland, Lions and Hippos. Today, they can say Gashaka Gumti National Park and its wildlife faces a much brighter future for the first time in decades!
Women attending one of the GGNP Saving and Loans Group: Credit: ANI
Okomu National Park in Edo State, southwestern Nigeria, is one of the last rainforests of Nigeria with rare species including African forest Elephants, white-bellied Pangolins, white-threated Guenon, red-capped Mangabey and West Africa’s largest population of African grey Parrots. The park faces severe threats from illegal logging, agricultural expansion and bushmeat hunting, driven by poverty and weak law enforcement.
In response, ANI signed a 30-year partnership agreement with Nigeria’s National Park Service in May 2022 to co-manage and rewild the park.
ANI’s initiatives include ranger-led law enforcement to protect the park’s forests and animals, as well as community engagement and development with similar initiatives to those in Gashaka Gumti including micro-finance loans to support agri-processing enterprises and environmental education all aimed at rewilding and fostering healthy rainforest ecosystems.
Children learning about wildlife on an excursion in Gashaka Gumti National Park. Credit: ANI
Empowering Communities
ANI recognizes that true rewilding success lies in the hands of local communities. By involving community members as rangers and land stewards, ANI ensures that rewilding efforts are locally driven and culturally relevant. This inclusive approach not only enhances the effectiveness of their initiatives but also provides communities with tangible benefits, such as employment opportunities and improved livelihoods. This is essential to give local communities a stake in the protection of these two national parks.
Through agri-processing enterprises, education, sustainable agriculture, and pastoralism programs, ANI supports communities in building economic and climate resilience. These initiatives also empower individuals to become active participants in park protection, fostering a sense of ownership and pride in their natural heritage.
Red River Hogs. Credit: ANI