African Wildlife Economy Institute - AWEI

Have you ever picked a wild fruit or flower growing along a path, field, or stream? If so, you are a forager, and you are not alone.

A new article by researcher Mallika Sardeshpande examines who forages around the world and why it matters. Foraging connects people to nature, supports physical and mental health, and helps sustain the biodiversity around us. For many households, it also saves and earns money.

That value is now being recognised by governments as the wildlife (or biodiversity) economy. South Africa is updating its National Biodiversity Economy Strategy to include the harvesting of wild plants, aiming to grow a formal sector tenfold over the next decade. But the plan leans heavily towards cultivation and says little about wild species and the foragers who depend on natural habitats.

The article makes a practical case: community-owned foraging areas, with clear rules on who can forage, how much, and when, can protect both livelihoods and nature.

Read the full article: https://wildlifeeconomy.info/article/foraging-of-wild-plants

Avela Makoyi is investigating the socio-economic impacts and environmental sustainability of edible insect harvesting and trade as part of our insect markets research project.

Avela's research explores how edible insect harvesting supports income and food security in rural communities — and what it means for the insect populations being harvested. With a particular focus on women’s participation and the sustainability of wild-harvesting, Avela hopes to show how livelihoods and conservation can be balanced rather than traded off.

Read more about the project here: https://wildlifeeconomy.info/projects/mapping-south-africa-edible-insect-markets

Two more spotlights coming!

🌊 Happy World Ocean Day! 🐧

This year’s theme is “Strong Marine Protected Areas for Our Blue Planet” – but what about strong MPAs for people too?

Africa has hundreds of marine protected areas, and South Africa alone has over 40. They protect penguins, turtles, and fish, and they also support real livelihoods: jobs in tourism, fishing, and whale watching, as well as local communities.

Our new article explores how Africans benefit from their MPAs and why strengthening them is a win for both nature and people.

📖 Read it here: https://wildlifeeconomy.info/article/african-marine-protected-areas-benefits

Research is only as strong as the team behind it. Introducing the project leaders steering our new initiative in Limpopo.

Dr Wiseman Ndlovu, Deputy Director, African Wildlife Economy Institute, Stellenbosch University
Dr Agnes Mathaulula, Institute for Rural Development, University of Venda

Together, they bring expertise across wildlife economics, entomology, law, and policy advocacy. We're proud to have them leading this work.

The team has already held one data-gathering workshop and begins another tomorrow!

We’re pleased to share news of a new AWEI research project: “Mapping South Africa’s Insect Markets and Trade Policy Imperatives.”

Working with the University of Venda and Stellenbosch University, and supported by the Atlas Network, we’ll map the edible insect trade across three districts in Limpopo to generate the evidence policymakers need to better support this sector.

The insect trade supports many traders across Limpopo, particularly women, yet it operates largely without legal recognition or formal market data. This project aims to change that.

Stay tuned for more.

What can a praying mantis teach us about conservation?

Our AWEI team recently spent a day at !Khwa ttu, home to the San people of Southern Africa, and it changed how we think about the wildlife economy.

We heard stories about the praying mantis, the Moon and the Hare, and the stars. We learned how wild melons were buried under trees to be retrieved during droughts, shared with animals when water was scarce. We discovered that the confetti bush was used as a perfume and a hunting aid, masking human scent on windy days.

What struck us most was this: for the San, humans, animals, and plants exist in a living, interconnected system. Use without relationship becomes extraction. And that's a lesson the modern wildlife economy urgently needs to hear.

As we head toward 2035, AWEI is committed to broadening what we mean by the "wildlife economy" to include plants, knowledge systems, and cultural practices as foundational, not optional.

Read the full story on our website 👇
https://wildlifeeconomy.info/article/Reimagining-the-wildlife-economy-through-indigenous-knowledge

Did you know that the baobab oil in your moisturiser, or the frankincense in your perfume, may have been harvested by hand from wild trees in Africa?

Today is International Biodiversity Day, and this year’s theme is “acting locally for global impact.”
In the spirit of that theme, we’ve profiled six remarkable African companies that are doing exactly that: sustainably sourcing wild ingredients from their local landscapes and selling them to the global cosmetics industry.

From shea butter co-operatives in Ghana to myrrh resins from Somalia, these entrepreneurs are proving that protecting biodiversity and building a business don’t have to be in conflict.

🌿 Read the full story here: https://wildlifeeconomy.info/article/Africas-biodiversity-entrepreneurs


Bubune Africa Namib Desert Oils Kaza Natural Oils FairWild

A 2025 study asked a hard question: Should rangers shoot at suspected criminals to protect wildlife?

Researchers surveyed people across eight countries to find out how the world feels about armed enforcement inside protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa, and the findings may surprise you.

Overall, most people found it unacceptable. But acceptability was higher for self-defence situations and preventing poaching. Perhaps most striking: people living far from these protected areas were more accepting of shooting than those living near them.

It’s a powerful reminder that conservation decisions made in distant boardrooms may not reflect the values of the communities most affected.

This research is essential reading for conservationists, policymakers, and anyone who cares about the future of wildlife and the people who share landscapes with it.

👉 Read the research: https://wildlifeeconomy.info/research/acceptability-of-shooting-suspected-criminals-in-protected-areas

What happens when conservation systems don’t talk to each other?

AWEI's Lydia Bhebe was in Vienna last month for the 72nd CIC - The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation General Assembly, where she shared an African perspective on wildlife economies.

Her key takeaway? The challenge isn’t building new systems. It’s connecting the ones that already exist.
From game meat regulation to community participation to cross-border wildlife monitoring, many of the right structures are already in place across Africa. What’s missing is coordination across actors, sectors, and scales.

Read Lydia’s full reflection on the AWEI website.
https://wildlifeeconomy.info/articles/towards-transformative-wildlife-economies

Africa's wildlife feeds people. So why are we not taking it more seriously?

Wild meat is not a footnote in Africa's food security story. For millions of people across the continent, it is nutrition, livelihood, and cultural heritage rolled into one. Yet the sector remains largely informal, under-researched, and too often reduced to a headline about poaching.

There is a bigger, more nuanced conversation to be had, and the African Wildlife Economy Institute and Mountains of the Moon University (MMU) in Uganda are having it on 28 May. Join them as they convene researchers and practitioners for a focused webinar on the real opportunities present in wild meat value chains across Africa.

📅 28 May 2026 | 15:00 SAST | Online (Google Meet)

What does a well-regulated wild meat market actually look like? What would it take to get there? And who stands to benefit when we get it right? These are the questions on the table.

Speakers include:

Prof. Francis Vorhies, AWEI Director
Dr Wiseman Ndlovu, AWEI Deputy Director
Mr Kumbirai Takawira, AWEI Research Associate
Ms Lydia Daring Bhebe, AWEI PhD Candidate & Programmes Assistant
Co-hosted by Dr Taddeo Rusoke & Ms Lucy Basemera K, MMU

If you care about conservation, rural economies, food systems, or evidence-based policy in Africa, pull up a chair.

🔗 For more, see https://wildlifeeconomy.info/events/2026-05/opportunities-in-wild-meat-value-chains-africa-webinar