Africa plays a key role in conserving some of the priority species and places identified in WWF’s global programme framework. A list of these is provided below.

Global Priority Places
African Rift Lakes Region
Coastal East Africa
Congo Basin
Fynbos
Madagascar
Miombo Woodlands
Namib-Karoo-Kaokoveld and
West Africa Marine ecoregion

Global Priority Species
African Elephant
African Rhino
African Great Apes
Marine Turtles
Marine Cetaceans

Africa also plays a key role in reducing the global ecological footprint resulting from human activity through 5 global initiatives namely; China for a Global Shift, Forest – based Carbon, Global Climate & Energy Initiative, Market Transformation Initiative and Smart Fishing Initiative.

WWF in Africa is represented by the two hubs: Nairobi, Kenya and Yaounde, Cameroon provides support and oversight to country offices in their respective regions as well as to transboundary programmes and Global Initiatives (GIs). GIs are long term initiatives working to accelerate and magnify large scale conservation wins across priority species, places and footprint issues. GIs in Africa are the Coastal East Africa Initiative and until April 2013 the Green Heart of Africa Initiative. Africa offices are also involved in varying degrees with implementation of other thematic GIs that are non-geographical such as the China for a global shift initiative.

The establishment of the WWF Regional Office for Africa (ROA) integrates the roles played previously by 4 Programme Offices which included: WWF Eastern and Southern Africa Programme Office (ESARPO), WWF Central Africa Regional Programme Office (CARPO), WWF West Africa Marine Programme Office (WAMPO); and the WWF Western Indian Ocean Programme Office (MWIOPO).

WWF ROA will continue playing a central role in the conservation of wildlife and help spark broader efforts to maintain Africa’s extraordinary places.