GLF Africa 2025

19 June 2025.   GLF Africa 2025 mapped a future for Africa that’s regenerative, investment-driven, and locally led, blending traditional wisdom, science, and innovation to steward landscapes and shape development on African terms.

1. Reframing Africa’s development through a nature‑based economy

GLF Africa 2025 convened over 2,300 participants from 122 countries, including 67 speakers and 77 partner organisations, both in-person and online—a reflection of its broad reach and diversity. The core message was clear: Africa must move beyond importing development models from the Global North. Instead, it needs to champion a regenerative, nature‑positive economy, leveraging its rich natural capital, youthful population, and traditional knowledge systems. Event leaders like Éliane Ubalijoro (CIFOR‑ICRAF) and Sellah Bogonko emphasized a transformative "Africa-made" blueprint—not an external adaptation—placing nature at the center of economies.

2. Transforming financing: from aid to investment

A major outcome was the consensus around transitioning away from traditional aid models toward blended finance—public, private, donor, and community-led investments with equitable return structures. Robert Nasi (CIFOR‑ICRAF), Solange Bandiaky‑Badji (Rights and Resources Initiative), and Lilian Macharia (Investment Bank for Earth) all stressed that Africa's natural ecosystems represent a compelling investment case—not a charity need. This signals a shift in narrative: positioning Africa’s landscapes as assets with measurable ROI to attract global capital and promote local inclusion.

3. Integrating knowledge, technology, and community power

Another key outcome was recognizing the synergy between indigenous knowledge, science, and responsible technology. Speakers like Kate Kallot (Amini AI) and Joshua Laizer (Maasai Steppe) underscored that restoration must be led from the ground up, co-created with local communities. Practical solutions like farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) were lauded as low-cost, high-impact approaches rooted in local tradition—fortifying both ecological resilience and livelihoods. The forum culminated in a vision to scale Africa’s own data and AI tools—designed for and by Africans—to nurture a regenerative, inclusive, and technologically savvy nature economy.