The Whitley Fund for Nature has unveiled the winners of the 2026 Whitley Awards widely dubbed the “Green Oscars” placing African-led conservation innovation firmly at the centre of the global environmental agenda.
This year’s cohort spans Latin America, Asia and Africa, but it is three African conservationists, Moreangels Mbizah, Seidu Issah and Marina Kameni, whose work is commanding international attention for its scale, scientific rigour and community-first execution.
Each winner receives £50,000 in project funding, targeting urgent biodiversity threats while simultaneously addressing livelihoods, a dual imperative increasingly defining conservation finance flows into Africa.
Africa’s Lion Defender: Mbizah’s Community Model Rewrites Conversation
In Zimbabwe’s lower Zambezi Valley, where human-wildlife conflict has long defined rural survival, Moreangels Mbizah is reshaping conservation orthodoxy.
Founder of Wildlife Conservation Action, Mbizah has built a data-driven, community-anchored system that is delivering measurable results in one of Africa’s most volatile conservation corridors.
“This recognition means so much, not just to me but to a journey shaped by listening first and working side by side with communities at the heart of conservation,” Mbizah said following her win.
The numbers are stark, lions have lost 90% of their historical range, with fewer than 19,000 remaining in the wild across Africa. In Zimbabwe’s Mbire District, bordering Mana Pools National Park, conflict between farmers and predators has historically triggered retaliatory killings, accelerating species decline.
Mbizah’s intervention flips the model.
Her locally trained “Batabilili” that is Tonga for “protectors,” monitor lion movement, issue early warnings and deploy deterrents including predator-proof enclosures and solar-powered “lion lights.” The results are decisive, human-carnivore conflict reduced by up to 98% in some wards.
Operating across 2.6 million hectares, the programme integrates real-time data through the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), enabling predictive conflict mitigation.
With Whitley funding, Mbizah will:
- Expand into three additional conflict hotspots.
- Train six new Community Guardians
- Scale livestock protection systems
- Build a comprehensive wildlife-conflict database
Critically, the model is delivering both ecological and economic returns, safeguarding lions while stabilising rural livelihoods in a climate-stressed landscape.
Zimbabwe remains one of the few African countries with viable lion populations across protected landscapes making Mbizah’s work central to continental conservation strategy.
Ghana’s Ocean Guardian: Issah Targets a Silent Extinction Crisis
Along Ghana’s 550km coastline, Seidu Issah is tackling one of marine conservation’s least visible emergencies, the collapse of guitarfish populations.
Through AquaLife Conservancy, Issah is confronting overfishing pressures that have pushed multiple species toward extinction.
“Once abundant, guitarfish show how easily a species can decline when it is poorly understood and undervalued.”
Classified among the most threatened marine vertebrates globally, guitarfish are uniquely vulnerable. They inhabit shallow coastal waters, mature slowly and produce few offspring. At least 55 species exist worldwide, with several now critically endangered.
Issah’s project focuses on four species: Common guitarfish, White-spotted guitarfish, Blackchin guitarfish and Spineback guitarfish.
The ecological stakes are high. As coastal predators, their disappearance destabilises marine food webs with cascading impacts on fisheries and food security.
Ghana’s fisheries sector supports millions, yet industrial depletion has pushed artisanal fishers to target high-value species like sharks and rays, intensifying pressure on already fragile populations.
Issah’s response is both scientific and socio-economic:
- Training fishers in safe release practices
- Mapping critical habitats using GPS
- Expanding into nine coastal communities
- Promoting alternative livelihoods such as snail farming
His “fisher biologist model” integrates indigenous knowledge with formal science a hybrid approach gaining traction in global conservation circles.
The initiative has already reduced the number of fishers harvesting guitarfish by more than 200, a significant behavioural shift in a sector often resistant to change.
Issah is also working toward establishing Ghana’s first Locally Managed Marine Area, a governance model seen as key to sustainable ocean economies across Africa.
Cameroon’s Amphibian Crisis: Kameni Projects a Fragile Ecosystem
In Cameroon’s Mount Manengouba a 500 km² biodiversity “sky island”, Marina Kameni is leading a high-stakes battle to save amphibians from collapse.
Through Herp Cameroon, Kameni is addressing a crisis where nearly 30% of frog species are threatened, with populations declining by over 70% since 2000.
The region, part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, hosts over 100 amphibian species, nearly half of Cameroon’s known amphibians and multiple critically endangered endemic species
Her targets include Manengouba frog, Nsounga long-fingered frog, Redbelly egg frog, Perret’s squeaker frog and Merten’s egg frog.
Amphibians are critical bioindicators, reflecting freshwater health and ecosystem stability. Their decline signals broader environmental degradation driven by slash-and-burn agriculture, deforestation, livestock grazing, pesticide use, invasive species and chytridiomycosis a deadly fungal disease.
Kameni’s strategy is deeply localised. Across 16 villages, where over 90% of residents are farmers, her team has:
- Engaged 5,000+ community members
- Trained 1,500 children
- Supported 200 households with sustainable livelihoods
Notably, 95% of interventions originate from community proposals aligning conservation incentives with local economic realities.
With Whitley funding, Kameni will:
- Train 500 farmers (half women) in agroecology
- Reduce slash-and-burn practices by 40%
- Restore 200 hectares of habitat
- Establish 10 new monitoring stations
- Advocate for a 500-hectare protected area expansion
Her long-term target is to safeguard 70% of endemic amphibians in the region.
Conservation Meets Economic Reality
The 2026 Whitley Awards arrive at a critical juncture.
Africa hosts roughly 25% of global biodiversity, yet receives a fraction of global conservation finance. At the same time, nature-based economies from eco-tourism to sustainable agriculture, are emerging as key growth sectors.
The Whitley model reflects a broader shift, funding locally led, data-driven solutions that integrate conservation with livelihoods a departure from legacy top-down approaches.
In addition to the African trio, the 2026 winners include:
- Paola Sangolquí – Jocotoco Foundation
- Parveen Shaikh – Bombay Natural History Society
- Barkha Subba – FOSEP
The 2026 Whitley Gold Award, the programme’s top honour was awarded to Farwiza Farhan of HAkA Sumatra.
Africa’s Rising Conservation Economy
What distinguishes this year’s African winners is not only ecological impact, but execution discipline, blending science, community systems and scalable models.
From Zimbabwe’s lion corridors to Ghana’s coastal fisheries and Cameroon’s volcanic highlands, these initiatives demonstrate a clear thesis where Africa’s conservation future will be built locally or not at all.
In an era where biodiversity loss increasingly intersects with food systems, climate resilience and economic stability, the work of Mbizah, Issah and Kameni signals a decisive shift from preservation to productive, people-centred conservation.
