WWf Africa’s Linear Infrastructure program of work, under the Africa Ecological Futures program (AEF), focuses on dealing with the potential impacts of the physical infrastructure boom in Africa on its ecological infrastructure. Our theory of change lies in the postulation that the protection, maintenance and restoration of existing critical ecological infrastructure and the minimum impact of new physical infrastructure development on ecological infrastructure will lead to more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development on the African continent.

We aim to achieve this by using ecological futures thinking, capacity enhancement and partnerships to influence physical infrastructural investment decision-making and drive investment and increased financial flows into sustainable physical and ecological infrastructure.

More specifically, we aim to:

• Government Planning: Influence government planning, policy and devision-making processes and practices for the development of physical infrastructure.
• Financial Flows: Influence financial flows into physical infrastructure by mainstreaming futures thinking, tools and methods in planning authorities across Africa and in financial institutions that are investing in Africa
• Scale Up Investments: Scale up investments in the management, restoration and maintenance of ecological infrastructure to underpin resilient and sustainable economic development and livelihoods

To achieve success and implementation of these 3 Pillars, WWF has partnered with a number of key organisations: Luc Hoffman Institute, the UN-Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), UN-Habitat, the African Conservation Centre (ACC), Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), YMCA Africa Alliance and Stand Up Shout Out. 

The Development Corridors Partnership, led by UNEP-WCMC, is helping countries in East Africa to plan for a sustainable future. WWF and ACC have partnered to undertake research through a series of activities aimed at generating evidence of the impacts and making effective contribution towards sustainable design and implementation of eco-friendly linear infrastructure. Within this context, WWF and ACC with the help of the Kenya Wildlife Society have been doing research on “Mortality on rail and roads across Tsavo Conservation Area, South eastern Kenya”

To influence infrastructure development through ecological futures thinking and access to information, WWF developed an infrastructure web-map based on the WWF-SIGHT Africa platform. The Platform allows users to visualize key datasets on ecological infrastructure including the World Data Base on Protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), UNESCO Natural World Heritage Sites, RAMSAR sites, and more; built infrastructure including roads, railways, and extractive concessions; and other relevant datasets such as shipping, fires, and population density, etc.