A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation

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🗞️ Driving the news: A rewilding project at South Africa’s Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is showing how carbon finance can help fund large-scale ecosystem restoration, with managers using carbon credits to support wildlife recovery and long-term conservation.

🔭 The context: Over decades, Tswalu has expanded to 118,000 hectares by restoring former livestock rangelands and reintroducing native wildlife
• The reserve is now also measuring how rewilding affects soil carbon storage in this dry savanna landscape, with evidence suggesting that herbivores, predators and restored ecological processes can help lock more carbon into the ground

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: This case highlights the potential for nature-based climate solutions to address biodiversity loss and climate change together
• Unlike forests, which can lose carbon through fire or clearance, soils may offer a more durable carbon store, especially in degraded drylands where rewilding can rebuild resilience and ecosystem function

⏭️ What’s next: Tswalu plans to continue monitoring its soil carbon dynamics while expanding its conservation model through carbon credit revenues
• Scientists say more data is still needed, but projects like this could help shape future rewilding, land restoration and climate finance strategies across arid regions

💬 One quote: “Carbon markets could be a catalyst that funds conservation without relying on philanthropic sources.” — Matthew Child, CEO and co-founder of Rewild Capital

📈 One stat: Tswalu has already issued more than 34,000 carbon credits and expects to generate over 275,000 in total from its wildlife-based carbon project

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