The first African biodiversity accelerator has picked two initial winners, both forestry projects in the process of exploring options in the biodiversity credit market.
The Biodiversity Investments – Researcher & Accelerator (BIRA) programme announced Tuesday it had selected its first two winners – Kijani Pamoja’s Kilimanjaro Project in Tanzania and the Forgotten Parks Foundation’s Upemba National Park initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
BIRA was set up in September to attract investment in high-quality biodiversity projects in Africa, hosted by the African Leadership University School of Wildlife Conservation and co-funded by entrepreneurs Dalberg and the UK government’s FSD Africa Investments, with biodiversity specialist firms CreditNature and Xilva also involved.
“BIRA [has] the goal of enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem measurements and cultivating a robust pipeline of nature-based solutions for increased conservation investments in Africa. Congratulations to the winners. We’re looking forward to embarking on a transformative journey together,” BIRA said in a LinkedIn post.
The Kilimanjaro Project, which previously received funding from The Nature Conservancy, has been working since 2020 to secure funding to work with smallholder farmers on the slopes of Africa’s tallest mountain on ecosystem restoration, primarily through the global carbon market.
However, working with the International Small Group and Tree Planting Program this year, the project has sought to bring a stronger biodiversity lens to its model, it said in a LinkedIn post.
“Restoring and preserving biodiversity is complex, measuring it, packaging it and selling it, is even more complex. In Africa, people, particularly smallholder farmers are intrinsically linked to the land; we believe that in partnership with smallholder farmers, lies a key to help restore and protect ecosystems,” it said.
The Upemba National Park in the DRC, meanwhile, is a registered Biodiversity Hot Spot and considered one of the highest freshwater conservation areas in the Congo basin.
The Forgotten Parks Foundation is considering biodiversity credits and eco-tourism as potential tools to raise funds for forest restoration activities in the park.
“Together with an amazing consortium of partners … we are working with the projects to establish the appropriate methodology, monitoring and measuring activities, etc., and supporting them to be investor-ready,” Xilva, a digital infrastructure firm for forestry investments, said.
“In addition to generating the first wave of biodiversity credits from Africa, this effort will demonstrate proof of concept for such projects and open up the space for other potential investors.”
BIRA selected the two projects after expressing some disappointment by the financial viability of many of the applicants submitting proposals to the programme back in October.
Since then, BIRA has deepened its cooperation with CreditNature, a UK firm also involved in creating infrastructure for a voluntary biodiversity market in Scotland, and partnered with Baotree, a software development company.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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