Species Saviour Initiative operates across priority landscapes in Somalia and Kenya, working with Indigenous and local communities to deliver community-led Nature-based Solutions. Our footprint reflects a combination of long-term engagement in core landscapes and recent regional expansion to support learning, partnerships, and replication across the Horn of Africa. Our work is grounded in place-based stewardship and designed to scale across similar ecosystems where community governance and biodiversity priorities converge
Rooted in Ancestral Territories
SSI’s journey and founding philosophy are inseparable from the indigenous stewardship systems of Somalia. From our earliest partnerships, we have worked alongside communities to strengthen customary governance, restore degraded ecosystems, and build regenerative livelihoods grounded in local knowledge and responsibility.
This approach now guides our collaborative work across Somali regions that host some of the Horn of Africa’s most critical and threatened ecosystems. Our engagement spans:
- Dryland forests and pastoral rangelands of Puntland, including frankincense landscapes
- Rangelands and montane refugia (Calmadow forest) of Somaliland and Puntland, home to endemic species and vital watersheds
- Coastal, marine, and riverine ecosystems of Jubaland, supporting fisheries, wetlands, and mangrove systems
In every location, our presence is defined by long-term partnership rather than short-term projects, and by local leadership rather than external control.
Kenya Country Office and Cross-Border Collaboration
SSI maintains a country office in Nairobi, Kenya, which supports regional coordination, partnerships, and institutional development across the Horn of Africa. Kenya also serves as an important landscape for learning, adaptation, and collaboration—particularly where shared ecosystems and transboundary species face accelerating pressure from climate change, land-use conversion, and biodiversity loss.
Through collaborative initiatives, learning partnerships, and targeted pilot engagements, we explore how our community-led conservation model can be adapted to strengthen stewardship, sustain livelihoods, and protect biodiversity within Kenyan landscapes. This work reinforces cross-border cooperation, enables shared learning, and helps refine conservation approaches that respond to common ecological and social challenges across the region.
