February 5, 2026
NAIROBI (Feb. 5, 2026) – Conservation International’s Managing Director for East Africa, Seif Hamisi, recently delivered a talk for TED Countdown, an initiative from TED focused on climate solutions.
The talk, released today, traces the origins of Indigenous knowledge in Africa and explores how restoring these traditions can create robust economic opportunities that relieve poverty while placing more value on nature.
“We’ve been applying ecological solutions to fix what are inherently economic problems,” said Hamisi, who is based in Nairobi with Conservation International’s Africa Field Division.
“We have to grow capitalist solutions in conservation. Not the exploitative type — but models where nature drives business, where healthy ecosystems bring real incomes, where nature conservation and economic growth go hand in hand.”
In his presentation, Hamisi highlights a successful but under-the-radar approach to grassland restoration. Conservation International’s Herding for Health program partners with African pastoralists to restore biodiverse grasslands, savannas and shrublands. In some communities the program also unlocks market access, increasing income for communities and creating green jobs. It is now being applied to restore and improve the management of 7 million hectares of rangelands across seven countries in Africa.
“This is why it works: because the model is not top-down. It’s built on what communities already know and practice,” Hamisi said. “Wildlife is getting restored one grazing cycle at a time.”
Conservation International has been engaged in Africa since 1990, when it began work in the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar. The organization’s various programs and partnerships now reach across 28 of the 54 countries on the continent and range from savanna rangelands to coastal fisheries to forested farmland.
Another initiative highlighted in Hamisi’s TED Talk is the African Conservancies Facility, a dedicated financing mechanism that supports community owned conservancies in East and Southern Africa, to protect biodiversity and secure landowners’ livelihoods. The model has put around 180,000 hectares under community protection – doubling the space for wildlife – and has provided over $2.7 million in financial support to participating landowners.
“In a place where jobs are scarce and the future is uncertain, nature is not only surviving but it’s paying bills,” said Hamisi. “These are the kind of 21st-century conservation approaches that we must accelerate.”
TED Countdown is TED’s first issue-specific initiative. It aims to champion and accelerate the bold ideas and underinvested solutions that can bring us closer to achieving a zero-carbon world. Previous Countdown lecturers include Conservation International’s Chief Scientist Johan Rockström and former Senior Advisor for One Health Neil Vora.
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About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through Science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
About TED: : TED is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to discovering, debating and spreading ideas that spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives. Follow TED on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X.