The second meeting of the African NGOs Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (ANAES) took place in Kigali from June 5 to 7, 2024. This followed the inaugural meeting held in October 2023. The event was organized by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS), which promotes ANAES.

The major components of this meeting included an Executive Committee session on the first day. The second day was dedicated to capacity building for member NGOs, featuring participatory presentations and experience sharing on landscape restoration. Participants also visited the Rwandan Genocide Memorial to pay their respects.

ANAES, an alliance of experienced NGOs from across Africa, is committed to restoring over 3 million hectares of forests on the continent. The selected leaders have hands-on experience in various forest landscape restoration projects.

Participants to the meeting included:  Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS), Amis de l’Afrique Francophone (AMAF), Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS), Association Burundaise pour la Protection de la Nature (ABN), Réseau Burundi 2000 (RBU), Foundation for Environment & Development (FEDEV), La plate-forme Diobass du Kivu, Nature Kenya, Action for Environmental Sustainability (AIES), Nature Uganda, along with 23 other members from different countries.

Members reinforced their commitment to ANAES's mission, implementing practical and verifiable mechanisms to achieve its ambitious goals.  “It was an opportunity for us to showcase the commendable work we are doing with partners on mangrove restoration in the Douala Edea landscape,” says Dr. Gordon Ajonina Coordinator of the Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society.  “We renewed our commitments to restore over 3million ha in African continent within the framework of pan African commitment to the Bonn challenge of AF100 with 34 countries committed to restore 129 million hectares and over 1 billion dollar mobilized,” Dr. Gordon said.