In June 2025, Nairobi, Kenya, played host to a landmark event that set the tone for a greener, more inclusive African future. The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) Africa 2025, convened by The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) Africa 2025, hosted by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), a global leader in forestry and agroforestry research, brought together more than 2,300 participants in-person attendees from 118 countries. The online participants were Nine million!.
The landmark gathering brought together scientists, innovators, indigenous leaders, policymakers, youth, and investors, united by a shared commitment to turn Africa’s landscapes into powerful engines of prosperity, climate resilience, and sustainable development.
Themed “Innovate, Restore, Prosper,” the forum explored how Africa’s natural capital, its forests, water bodies, soils, biodiversity, and landscapes can drive sustainable development, green job creation, and effective climate action. As part of the larger GLF vision of “defining the next decade of action,” the Nairobi event amplified Africa’s unique role in global climate discourse by placing nature at the center of economic and environmental planning.
Reimagining Africa’s Relationship with Nature
Africa holds approximately 24 percent of the world’s arable land and vast stores of biodiversity, water, and forests, assets that contribute to more than 60% of the continent’s GDP. Yet this wealth is underutilised and under threat. From land degradation and biodiversity loss to climate shocks, the continent faces a triple environmental crisis. At the same time, however, the GLF forum emphasized that Africa’s natural capital is also its most strategic opportunity.
Participants explored four cross-cutting themes, forest and landscape restoration, land and tree-use rights and livelihoods, natural capital and sustainable finance, AI, technology, and data for intelligent landscapes.
These themes were not abstract policy discussions. They translated into grounded conversations about how communities across Africa and more so in Sub-Saharan; a region highly impacted by effects of climate change are already restoring ecosystems, defending land rights, tapping into green economies, and harnessing innovation to shape their own futures.
Knowledge, Rights, and Innovation as Enablers
Noting that there is need to achieve prosperity through working with nature, CIFOR-ICRAF’s Africa Director, Peter Minang, called for a paradigm shift in how Africa values its biomass and non-timber resources, criticizing the current model of exporting raw materials. “The restoration community is only capturing and valuing 6–10% of biomass,” he noted. “We export everything raw, timber, coffee, cashew, macadamia, yet these are products we could process locally and build value from,” added Minang.
Other experts and speakers also gave views of what African countries such as Kenya with human resources and vast landscapes, forests, marine and aquatic resources can offer and harness available and emerging opportunities. Éliane Ubalijoro, CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF, highlighted the importance of turning data into wisdom to power a thriving nature economy. “When raw data is given meaning, it becomes information. When information is contextualized, it becomes knowledge. And when knowledge is applied, it becomes wisdom. That’s the journey Africa must take,” she said.
Views related to Minang’s were expressed by Kate Kallot, CEO of Amini AI, who emphasized how artificial intelligence and data transparency can unlock massive investments in Africa’s nature-based solutions. “Data creates transparency, transparency builds trust, and trust accelerates investment. But we must treat natural capital as a core economic driver,” she said, arguing that trillions of dollars in potential capital could be unlocked.
Land Rights and Local Ownership
Land remains a contested and crucial issue in Africa’s nature economy. Speakers thus pitched for ensuring protection of Africa’s land rights already threatened by external interests. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, President of the Rights and Resources Group, stressed that land rights are foundational. She raised concern over the growing blatant appropriation by authorities of land from marginalized and vulnerable indigenous communities and granting it to multinational companies. “The West has the technology; we have the resources. That puts Africa in a powerful position,if we assert our rights,” she said. Solange warned against the continued appropriation of community lands by governments and multinationals.
Indeed, emphasizing the need for recognition of indigenous and local communities land rights, Joshua Laizer, a Maasai Community leader and conservationist from Tanzania, reminded participants of the indigenous knowledge systems that have sustained communities for generations. “Dryland communities understand the environment intuitively. Their insights are crucial to climate resilience,” he stated.
From Aid to Investment
Aid coffers are drying up as evidenced by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) aid cuts that have significantly impacting climate action efforts globally, particularly in developing countries such as those in Africa.
As a result the recurring message throughout the forum was the need to shift from foreign aid to investment-led development. Sellah Bogonko, CEO of Jacob’s Ladder Africa, underscored that Africa is not a charity case. “With $6.5 trillion in natural resources, 60% of global renewable energy potential, and a rapidly growing population, Africa is a compelling investment case the world cannot afford to ignore,” she said.
Steve Misati of Youth Pawa echoed this, calling for Africans to recognize themselves as their own best resource. “We must invest in ourselves. Our forests, soils, and waters can drive growth, if we value them properly,” he said.
Restoration with People at the Center
Melyn Abisa, a youth restoration leader, urged governments and donors to create enabling environments for grassroots restoration. “Policies without people are just poetry,” she said, emphasizing the need for inclusive ecosystems that support youth, women, and indigenous groups as central actors in restoring nature and building green economies.
Ensuring a thriving nature economy was equally debated. An estimated 70% of communities in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on forests and woodlands for their livelihood. As Africa’s population surges toward 2.5 billion by 2050, pressure on food, land, and livelihoods will grow exponentially. Yet, as shown at GLF Africa 2025, this challenge is also an opportunity. With over 65% of productive landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa degraded, the time for action is now.
Kenya, with its vast forests, water towers, marine ecosystems, and a young, tech-savvy population, is uniquely positioned to lead in building a nature-based economy. By investing in restoration, securing land rights, leveraging AI and indigenous knowledge, and attracting climate-smart finance, Kenya and its neighbors can transform natural resources into lasting natural capital.
The forum brought to the fore the reality that Africa’s prosperity will not come by extracting from nature, but by regenerating it. Sub-Saharan Africa, with its resilience, creativity, and ecological wealth, stands at a historic crossroads.
Indeed, there is an increasing recognition of the role of nature in offering solutions for addressing some of the problems affecting humanity. For a continent impacted by land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate threats nature is increasingly being seen as source of solution . Thus has seen natural capital, science, traditional knowledge, and innovation identified as key in addressing the challenges the continent which is highly affected by climate change faces.
Africa can build a thriving nature economy that works for both people and the planet. The path forward lies in valuing nature not as a resource to be consumed, but as a partner in building a just, green, and prosperous future for all.
Justus Wanzala is a Journalist, a Communication, Development and Climate Change Governance Expert currently pursuing a PhD in Climate Change at the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA).
