Kenya is putting $160 million behind a simple idea: nature pays back the people who guard it

At Tsavo West National Park this week, Kenya launched Thamani Asili — 'the value of nature' — a $160 million, ten-year conservation fund: $80 million from the government, matched by $80 million in philanthropy through The Nature Conservancy's Enduring Earth partnership. The plan covers 31 counties: 2.7 million hectares newly conserved, 11 million hectares better managed, and 6 million under community management — directly benefiting about 1.6 million people, with some 7,800 direct jobs expected. 'In Tsavo, conservation is not just about protecting wildlife; it is about protecting a way of life,' said Kenya Wildlife Service director-general Erastus Kanga. The model, called Project Finance for Permanence, pays for protection up front instead of lurching from grant to grant.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: funding & finance