Deforestation in the Angola Highlands could destroy the spectacular wildlife of the Okavango Delta.
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Species at Risk
White-backed Vulture (CR), African Savanna Elephant (EN), Bateleur Eagle (EN), African Wild Dog (EN), Cheetah (VU), African Lion (VU)
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Carbon stored
296,934,976 mT *
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
Fundação Lisima
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3,150,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Community Forest Concessions
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Project Cost: $4,467,574
3,150,000
Deforestation in the Angola Highlands could destroy the spectacular wildlife of the Okavango Delta.
-
Species at Risk
White-backed Vulture (CR), African Savanna Elephant (EN), Bateleur Eagle (EN), African Wild Dog (EN), Cheetah (VU), African Lion (VU)
-
Carbon stored
296,934,976 mT *
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
Fundação Lisima
-
3,150,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Community Forest Concessions
-
Project Cost: £3,545,693
3,150,000
2X THE IMPACT
For the next $100,000 donated, every $1 donated will be matched by $1—giving your gift 2X the impact—thanks to several generous donors.
DOUBLE YOUR DONATIONDOUBLE YOUR DONATIONDeforestation is advancing around the edges of the Angola Highlands Water Tower, an essential freshwater source and a lifeline for people and wildlife in southern Africa. If agriculture, mining, hunting, and other extraction continue, the world’s most important oasis for wildlife could dry up, and iconic animals could be lost forever.
The rivers that originate in the highlands course through arid lowlands to flood the wetlands of the Okavango Delta. Lions, Cheetahs, and African Savanna Elephants converge in this vast oasis, alongside rhinos, antelopes, and more than 400 types of birds. Many of these species are threatened, with declining populations, making the protection of the water tower that sustains the delta more important than ever.
With our local partner, Fundação Lisima, we will support the establishment of five Community Conservation Areas across 3.15 million acres in the highlands’ Lisima Landscape. This area overlaps with the traditional domains of local communities, where an added layer of protection will safeguard 250,000 acres of core conservation areas, including source lakes and sacred forests.
Header photo: African Lions © Tau5
The Angola Highlands Water Tower captures rainfall equal to
Olympic swimming pools, each year.
Explore the Angola Highlands Water Tower and the Okavango Delta
Young Cheetah, by Alexandr Junek Imaging
White-Backed Vulture, by Henk Bogaard
Lion, by Ondrej Chvatal
Cheetah with cubs, by Paul Tessier
African Savannah Elephant, by TravelerStock
African Wild Dogs, by slowmotiongli
Bateleur Eagle in flight, by Eddie F. Drost
Lisima project site in Angola © Antoine Marchal
Lisima project site in Angola © Antoine Marchal
Lisima project site in Angola © Antoine Marchal
Protect the headwaters of the Okavango Delta
Rising dramatically from an arid plateau, the Angola Highlands Water Tower captures an immense quantity of rain every year—trillions of gallons give rise to several major rivers, including the Congo and Zambezi Rivers. This unique watershed also supplies 95% of the water in the Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland oasis and a critical stronghold for African wildlife.
Upstream in the woodlands of the water tower, the Lisima landscape sustains an extraordinary amount of endemic species, including an estimated 200 species yet to be described. Endangered African Wild Dogs rely on habitats here, along with rare birds like the Critically Endangered White-backed Vulture and the Endangered Bateleur.
Help secure an essential water source for people and wildlife
Partnerships with local communities will be essential to achieving this expansive protection. Our collaborative strategy will ensure that long-term conservation will be solidly grounded in traditional, community-based landscape management. This project will be a springboard for further conservation in the highlands, and our long-range strategy envisions a network of more than 8 million acres to be protected and conserved.
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Conservation work is critical, challenging, and can be costly. We work hard to ensure we raise only the funds needed for each project. In the rare case we raise more money than needed or a project comes in under budget, excess monies will be transferred to the Conservation Action Fund. This fund supports our important conservation work throughout the tropics.
Project Modifications
Rainforest Trust conducts extensive research and due diligence on each of the projects that we support, so that once a project is offered for public support we believe it will succeed. We work closely with our project implementers, offer support, and regularly monitor their progress. Given the nature of the work, projects may not progress exactly as intended and may be unable to meet all objectives. To respond dynamically to the needs of our project implementers and the realities of the landscapes in which they operate, Rainforest Trust expressly reserves the right to modify a project as it deems necessary, provided that donor intent is honored by ensuring that that the original project objectives are diligently pursued and that project funds continue to benefit the landscape and species identified in the project overview. Project modifications that we may need to make in certain circumstances include the specific project implementer, the size of the landscape to be protected, the type of protection to be afforded to the landscape, and the development of sustainability mechanisms.
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