Letter from the Director

Letters from the Field

Dear Adopt an Acre Supporter,

Thank you for helping create a lasting legacy for future generations in Africa’s grasslands and savannas!

Through your support of the Adopt an Acre program, The Nature Conservancy has strengthened our conservation partnerships with like-minded organizations and local communities. Together, we are working to protect key grassland and savanna habitats and helping preserve traditional cultures and livelihoods.

Trouble in Paradise

From Kenya’s acacia-rich savannas to Zambia’s lush wet grasslands, these vibrant habitats are home to the greatest mammal migrations on Earth. Elephants, wildebeest and the endangered Grevy’s zebra are among the herds of animals that crisscross eastern and southern Africa's patchwork of preserves, communal lands and private ranches as they travel between seasonal ranges.

Millions of people, including the Maasai, coexist with wildlife and rely on these landscapes for food, water and income. Around the world, lush grasslands have sustained human life for millennia and today are home to some 800 million people. Unfortunately, grasslands are the most imperiled, least protected terrestrial habitat on our planet.

Significant areas in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana have been designated as national parks and reserves. But even these conservation areas are beset by inadequate resources, from staffing to management tools. Outside these protected areas, animals face even greater risks. A growing human population intermingling with animal habitat means increased competition—and conflict. Elephants may trample an entire year’s harvest in one night, or lions may prey on valuable livestock.

How Your Support is Helping

Thanks to your support of the Adopt an Acre program, the Conservancy and our partners have made major strides in conserving Africa’s grasslands and balancing the needs of wildlife and people. Perhaps most notably, working with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), we have secured nearly 20,000 acres to protect a key wildlife corridor on Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau.

In addition, a recent Conservancy grant supporting community-conservation work by the Northern Rangelands Trust helps protect 1.2 million acres. With technical and financial support from the Conservancy, AWF signed conservation leases to protect nearly 8,000 acres of highly threatened grasslands east of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park.

Your support makes these successes possible. Thank you again for supporting the Adopt an Acre program in Africa during the last year, and for all you do to help protect nature and preserve life, each and every day.

Sincerely,

David Banks
Director
Africa Program

p.s. You can also send e-cards from Africa to all your friends and family. Our beautiful nature e-cards are perfect for any occasion!

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Lion in Maasai Mara, Kenya, Africa. Photo © Kenneth K. Coe

Adopt an Acre in Africa today and you help protect the habitat where lions, cheetahs, elephants and wildebeests roam free through the majestic grasslands and savannas of eastern and southern Africa.