The vast and highly biodiverse savannas, grasslands and shrublands of southern Africa are crucial for people and nature. They support more than 50 million indigenous and local pastoralists, offer habitats for iconic wildlife and store large quantities of planet-warming carbon.
But half of Africa’s native rangelands are degraded due to encroaching settlements, land tenure policies, climate change and overgrazing. As a result, land degradation and the loss of wildlife are on the rise.
Our Solution
The Herding for Health program — a partnership between Conservation International and Peace Parks Foundation — is a community-driven livestock management model that supports the livelihoods of rural communities living in and around protected areas — while restoring rangelands and conserving biodiversity through herding, capacity building and collective governance.
Herding for Health is underpinned by four key pillars:
- healthy rangelands,
- healthy animals,
- thriving people, and
- a strong enabling policy environment.
The programme champions community-driven participation, sustainable native rangeland management, integrated disease risk and food safety control, and rural development principles.
One of the key mechanisms in implementing Herding for Health is voluntary stewardship agreements signed with communities as the custodians of the land. Pastoralist communities voluntarily commit to implementing planned grazing of their livestock to minimise overgrazing, remove invasive vegetation that hampers grass growth and water availability, and adopt wildlife-friendly practices, among other measures. In turn, they receive support to improve the quality of their livestock, reduce animal losses from wildlife predators and diseases, and access facilitated livestock markets, among other benefits.
The Herding for Health model has been successfully tested across all key rangeland ecosystems (semi-arid shrublands, mountain grasslands, and subtropical savannas) and is now being applied to restore and improve the management of 7 million hectares of rangelands across seven countries in Africa, supported by USD150 million in site-based investments.
Our Approach
Our Vision
To enable the co-existence of people and nature in and around protected areas.
Our Mission
To restore rangelands, improve animal health and provide market access — while promoting biodiversity conservation in and around protected areas in Africa.
Our Footprint
South Africa
- Namaqualand
- Eastern Cape
- Kruger to Canyons
Mozambique
- Maputo National Park
- Limpopo National Park
- Banhine National Park
Madagascar
- Atsimo-Andrefana Region
Zimbabwe
- Maramani
Botswana
- Bobirwa
- Kgalagadi District
- Ngamiland
- Habu
- Eretsha
Zambia
- Simalaha Community Conservancy
Kenya
- Mara
- Chyulu Hills
Our Roadmap to 2030
- 7 million hectares under Herding for Health management by 2027
- 3.5 million direct and indirect beneficiaries
- 10,000 people accessing nature-positive jobs
- 20,000 farmers accessing markets
- 7 million tons of greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere.
One of the key mechanisms in implementing Herding for Health is voluntary stewardship agreements signed with communities as the custodians of the land. Pastoralist communities voluntarily commit to implementing planned grazing of their livestock to minimise overgrazing, remove invasive vegetation that hampers grass growth and water availability, and adopt wildlife-friendly practices, among other measures. In turn, they receive support to improve the quality of their livestock, reduce animal losses from wildlife predators and diseases, and access facilitated livestock markets, among other benefits.
