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IMPACT PROMISE
Our Partners are carefully selected due to their high conservation impact
Partner Snapshot
Partner Name
Location:
Djalelo Protected Area, Djibouti, Africa
Appeal Category:
- Endangered Species
- Community Support and Development
- Wildlife Conservation
Key Species:
- Gerenuk (Near Threatened)
- Dorcas gazelle (Vulnerable)
- Soemmerring’s gazelle (Vulnerable)
Challenges And Threats:
- Drought, irregular rainfall, and rangeland degradation
- Conflict over scarce resources between pastoralists, managers, and wildlife
- Biodiversity loss threatening species and livelihoods alike
Actions:
- Restore rangelands through improved rainwater management
- Build inclusive dialogue platforms between herders and Protected Area managers
- Monitor and protect threatened wildlife through community-based conservation
The Challenge
The Djalelo Protected Area in Djibouti’s Arta Region is a cornerstone of the country’s natural heritage—and one of its most stressed. The site shelters emblematic and threatened species including the Gerenuk (Near Threatened), Dorcas gazelle (Vulnerable), and Soemmerring’s gazelle (Vulnerable). Its global scientific value was underscored by the 2019 rediscovery of the Somali sengi—long thought extinct and now recognized as a new genus for science—and by the 2023 confirmation of cheetahs in Djibouti for the first time in more than three decades.
But the same landscape now faces converging threats. Recurrent droughts, increasingly irregular rainfall, and the degradation of rangelands are eroding ecological resilience and pushing fragile pastures toward irreversible collapse. As water and grazing become scarce, tensions rise—between pastoralist communities, Protected Area managers, and wildlife—over access to dwindling natural resources. And without dedicated species monitoring and community-based conservation, Djalelo’s rare and elusive mammals—including the maned rat, caracal, leopard, and the cheetahs rediscovered nearby—risk being lost before science has fully documented them.
Urgent Solutions
Association Djibouti Nature is leading three integrated lines of work at Djalelo, designed to address the Protected Area’s ecological, social, and biological challenges together. Donations to this appeal will directly support:
- Restoration of degraded rangelands through improved rainwater management, including the deployment of half-moon digging techniques that curb soil erosion, capture rainfall, and regenerate vegetation for both wildlife and livestock
- Establishment of inclusive dialogue platforms bringing pastoralist communities, Protected Area managers, and traditional and local authorities together to resolve resource-access tensions and co-design conservation measures
- Systematic biodiversity monitoring of Djalelo’s threatened species—including the Gerenuk, Dorcas gazelle, and Soemmerring’s gazelle—alongside the rare carnivores and elusive mammals documented in the area
- Public awareness and environmental education campaigns to build local stewardship and ensure long-term community engagement
- ADN team capacity, field equipment, and operations to sustain the work across the full project period
Why Your Donation Matters
Djalelo sits at the intersection of three of the hardest problems in modern conservation: a deepening climate crisis, contested access to natural resources, and a biodiversity register that is only beginning to be fully understood. None of these problems can be solved in isolation—and none of them will be solved without sustained investment in the people, the science, and the Protected Area itself.
Your donation funds exactly that work. Through Conservation Allies, 100% of every dollar flows directly to ADN’s program—to the rangeland restoration, the community dialogue platforms, the species monitoring, and the on-the-ground engagement that together can secure Djalelo for the next generation of wildlife and the communities that share the landscape with them.
For one of the most strategically important biodiversity sites in the Horn of Africa, this is the moment to act.