WWF Tanzania: “Nature finance must never lose sight of the people”

Exclusive interview with Frank Damson, Biodiversity Credits & Sustainable Finance Specialist, WWF, Tanzania. At the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February in Cape Town, he will address attendees in the pre-conference “biodiversity credits” workshop.

Interview Summary:

Frank Damson of WWF Tanzania explains that his work focuses on designing finance models that support nature-positive activities, particularly in landscapes where communities, wildlife and productive land use intersect. He highlights that growing global pressure for transparency on nature-related risks, combined with local demands for fair conservation benefits, has fuelled interest in biodiversity credits and performance-based payments.

Africa’s rich natural assets position the continent at the centre of future carbon markets, provided strong safeguards, fair benefit sharing and clear regulatory frameworks are in place. Key challenges include policy uncertainty, questions of project integrity and the risk of markets moving faster than local governance systems. Damson envisions a future where carbon and biodiversity credits form part of integrated, community-driven landscape programmes that provide predictable income and recognise ecosystem stewardship. He stresses that nature finance must remain people-centred to build trust and create long-term, high-integrity conservation outcomes.

Q: Thank you for joining us. Please can we start with some background on you.
Thank you for having me. My name is Frank Damson and I’m a Biodiversity Credit and Sustainable Finance Specialist with the WWF in Tanzania. My background is in agricultural finance and conservation finance, and over the past decade I’ve worked at the interface of policy, community-based conservation, banking and private investment. A lot of my work has focused on designing innovative finance for the missing middle in the agri-finance sector as well as designing mechanisms that reward local communities, government and the private sector for protecting the ecosystem while still allowing them to build resilient livelihoods.

Q: Tell us more about your work as a biodiversity credits and sustainable finance specialist at the WWF in Tanzania and the projects you are involved in.
In my role at WWF, I help design and test models that channel finance into nature-positive activities, especially in landscapes where wildlife and productive land users intersect. These include work on biodiversity credits, results-based conservation payments and nature-positive value chains. So practically, that means working with communities, local government and private partners in landscape, especially in community–wildlife areas and corridors to ensure we measure biodiversity outcomes, agreed on benefit-sharing arrangements, and connect these emerging markets or investors. We are also piloting models that link sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation so that carbon and biodiversity benefits are generated together rather than in silo

Q: In your view, what have been the main drivers for these projects in the last five years?
In my view, several factors have come together. First, there is the growing recognition that traditional conservation funding, mainly grants and philanthropy, is not enough to match the scale of biodiversity loss and climate impact. Second, government and business are under increased pressure to report nature-related risks and dependencies, which is driving demand for credible, high-quality-based projects. At the same time, local communities in Africa are demanding more tangible and predictable benefits from conservation. This push on the ground, combined with the global interest in nature-positive investment and voluntary biodiversity and carbon markets, has created a window of opportunities to experiment with instruments like biodiversity credits and performance-based payments.

Q: How important is the continent for the future of carbon markets?
Africa is absolutely central to the future of carbon markets. The continent holds some of the world’s largest intact forests, peatlands, rangelands and marine ecosystems, many of which are critical global carbon sink. It’s also where climate vulnerability is high. So if well-designed, carbon projects can deliver both mitigation and urgent adaptation core benefits.

So, if carbon markets are to maintain environmental integrity and social legitimacy, they need to increasingly demonstrate real additional community-rooted impacting and results as well as benefit sharing. So, African landscapes, when approached with strong safeguards, fair benefit sharing, and local ownership, are uniquely positioned to offer that.

Q: You are working in a system that is constantly evolving and changing. What are the main challenges in your view?
One of the major challenge is policy and the regulatory uncertainty. Many countries are still developing frameworks, especially for Article 6 for voluntary markets and for how carbon and the biodiverse benefits are located between the states, community and project developers. So this uncertainty makes long-term investment more difficult.

The second challenge is quality and integrity. There is still mistrust around carbon markets, the question around additionalities, leakage, permanence, and fair benefit sharing. Ensuring that robust monitoring, reporting, verifications and generally putting community at the centre, require capacity, data and time. Finally, there is a risk that complex market instruments move faster than local governance, and the social safeguards, which can create conflicts if not carefully managed.

Q: How is Africa positioned to take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity?
Africa has a strong natural asset base and a growing body of experience in a community-based conservation and landscape approaches. In many countries, there are already examples of community conservancies, wild management areas, and forest programmes that can be upgraded or connected to result-based finance. However, to fully capture the opportunity, we need to invest more in three things. Number one, clear and stable national frameworks for both carbon and biodiversity credits. Number two is building local technical and institutional capacity, so Africans can design, own and govern the projects. And, number three is developing pipelines of genuine high-quality socially just projects, and not just isolated pilots.

Q: Which countries on the continent are doing the right things to prepare for carbon markets?
We are seeing encouraging steps in several countries like Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia. Some have moved far ahead with national or jurisdictional REDD+ frameworks, carbon trading regulations etc. Others are clarifying benefit sharing rules or establishing national registries to avoid double counting. A few are actively engaging with Article 6 pilots and voluntary market standards to align domestic rules with international demand. Article 6 is seen as very important to African countries, including Tanzania and Kenya, because they see this as a way to attract climate finance, monetise high-integrity nature-based credits, support local communities and conservation, and lastly linking carbon markets with biodiversity and wildlife credits.

The most promising examples are where the governments are not just only focusing on attracting finance, but are equally attentive to community rights, land tenure, transparency and long-term landscape planning. That combination of strong governance plus innovation is what will ultimately set countries up for success.

Q: What is your vision for this sector?
My vision is that biodiversity and carbon markets evolve from being niche, often confusing instruments, to being part of a broader, coherent system of nature-positive finance. That means fewer speculative, short-term projects and more integrated landscape programmes that combine climate, biodiversity and livelihoods. Ideally, in the next 5, 10, up to 15 years, communities who are still stewards of their critical ecosystems would have diversified into a predictable income stream from the mix bundle of carbon and biodiversity credits, sustainable value chain and public finance.

And global actors like the government, investors and companies would view these payments not as a charity, but as a fair and necessary compensation for the ecosystem services that underpin the global economy.

Q: At the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February in Cape Town you are a speaker in the pre-conference “biodiversity credits” workshop. Can you give us a preview of your message?
At Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February, I’ll focus on two core messages. First, biodiversity credits must be built on real ecological outcomes and real community benefits. If they are treated as simply another financial product, we risk repeating the mistakes seen in the past of the carbon market. And second, Africa in collaboration with IPLCs should not just be a supplier of credits, it should be a co-designer of the rules, methodology and the governance system. I’ll also share the lessons from our pilots in Tanzania and the broader region, like what has actually worked and where we face challenges, especially around markets, measurement, benefit scheme and aligning project-level initiatives with national policies with the markets. The aim is actually to be very practical and honest, so that we can collectively move from the hype to robust, scalable models.

Q: How important is such an event for the continent?
Events like Africa’s Green Economy Summit are important because they create a rare space where policymakers, community, financiers, NGOs and private sector can speak to each other directly rather than in separate silos. For emerging areas, the dialogue about  biodiversity credits is critical. So, we need a shared language, we need shared expectations and we need a shared understanding of risk and opportunities. They are also important for shifting narratives. Instead of seeing Africa only as a vulnerable or as a passive recipient of climate finance, forums like this highlight African leadership in innovative solutions. So if we use this space well, listen as much as we speak, then we can help shape a more just, credible and effective nature finance system for the continent.

Q: Anything you would like to add?
A final point I want to add is that nature finance, whether through carbon markets, biodiversity credits or blended landscape finance, must never lose the sight of the people. The long-term success of any mechanism depends on trust, equitable sharing and the genuine participation of indigenous and local communities who are actually the true custodians of the Africa’s ecosystem.

If the continent can build models that are science-based, community-driven, transparent and they align with national priorities, then Africa will not only supply high-integrity credits, but also shape the global standard and governance frameworks that others follow. So ultimately, this is an opportunity to not just unlock capital, but to rethink how we value nature and to ensure that conservation developments reinforce each other rather than compete.