African Parks has announced a five-year, $100 million pledge from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation in support of the organization's endowment.

The commitment will help to expand African Parks' impact to thirty parks over the next decade and preserve a significant portion of Africa's biodiversity for the long-term benefit of local communities. The commitment includes $75 million to create the Rob and Melani Walton Endowment, the largest endowment gift in African Parks' history, which will support the organization's long-term resilience and growth and $25 million to address the needs of parks under its management that need the most assistance. A portion of these funds will be used for five-year matching grants in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund, one to Iona National Park in Angola, and one to Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, which will leverage an additional $10 million for each park over the subsequent ten years.

"As global citizens, we have a responsibility to protect our planet and the people and species that create our dynamic, fragile ecosystems," said Melani Walton, who serves as an African Parks board member. "We are honored to continue to work alongside African Parks, governments across the continent, and community leaders in support of their sustainability goals."

"Rob and Melani Walton's commitment is uniquely visionary in providing a source of stable long-term funding that will contribute enduring protection for some of the most biodiverse, threatened landscapes on the planet. This could not come at a more important time, when investment in intact protected areas is urgently needed to address biodiversity loss, mitigate climate change, preserve invaluable ecosystem services, and create sustainable economic opportunities for people," said African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead. "This extraordinary gift will help to realize our vision of protecting vast ecosystems and their ecological functions for humanity in perpetuity."

(Photo credit: Scott Ramsay)