Conservation Landscapes Institute

About Conservation Landscapes Institute

By uniting landowners, conservationists, and communities, Conservation Landscapes Institute is creating a network of protected, contiguous habitats where wildlife can thrive and people can benefit through a growing nature-based economy.

At the heart of Conservation Landscapes Institutes’s work is a commitment to inclusive collaboration. Through partnerships with diverse regional stakeholders, Conservation Landscapes Institute is facilitating the creation of a landscape-scale conservation corridor that supports biodiversity, resilience, and opportunity.

Conservation Landscapes Institute’s Vision

To unite landowners, conservationists, and communities to secure biodiversity and foster a thriving nature-based economy.

Conservation Landscapes Institute’s Mission

To restore vital conservation landscapes between Great Fish River Nature Reserve and Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa’s Eastern Cape — benefiting both people and wildlife for generations to come.

The Challenge

In the last two decades, growing pressure on wild spaces from an expanding human population has placed many species of flora and fauna at increasing risk. Fragmented protected areas limit wildlife’s ability to migrate naturally across landscapes. This disruption is having a devastating effect on ecosystems and biodiversity, threatening the long-term survival of both wildlife and the habitats they depend on.

One of the major threats to rhinos, particularly the black rhino, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is a lack of available land, leading to growing competition between expanding populations. By unlocking accessible, habitable land for rhinos, this initiative also supports conservation efforts for African elephants, leopards, birds of prey, and countless other species.

Restoring connectivity between current private conservation areas through the Bushman’s River Corridor will create a 175,000-acre contiguous conservation landscape. This connected ecosystem has the potential to grow to an extraordinary 15 million acres—making it one of the most diverse conservation areas on the planet.

This work not only secures the future of threatened species but also combats climate change by protecting and restoring resilient ecosystems that contribute to global carbon reduction goals. It safeguards a globally significant biodiversity hotspot for generations to come.

Our Impact

The Conservation Landscapes Institute is working in partnership with Helping Rhinos, along with international conservation organisations and national and local government, to establish one of South Africa’s most ambitious and impactful conservation initiatives.

Through the Bushman’s River Conservation Corridor, we are creating a connected landscape between the Great Fish River Nature Reserve and the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape. This corridor will unite multiple properties under conservation stewardship, linking fragmented private conservation areas and establishing a contiguous protected landscape of 175,000 acres.

This landscape-scale conservation approach will dramatically increase the safe, habitable range for rhinos and other key species, while securing ecosystem resilience and biodiversity in one of the world’s most unique and threatened regions.