What if nature had its own currency? What if protecting ecosystems became more profitable than destroying them? This is the idea behind the Verifiable Nature Units (VNUs), a new financing tool being piloted by African Parks and supported by The Landbanking Group.

What is a VNU?
 A VNU represents 1 km² of conserved or restored nature over one year, measured using an ecological integrity score that tracks the maintenance or change in habitat intactness and indicator species.
 This score combines two dimensions:

  • Habitat intactness, which tracks changes in habitat degradation due to negative human pressures such as human settlement expansion, deforestation (for firewood or charcoal), or agricultural conversion;
  • The presence and / or abundance of indicator species, which provide insights into the overall health of the ecosystem.

A robust and adaptable approach
 Using these indicators, VNUs offer a transparent monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system that can be independently audited.
 The methodology can be applied across multiple nature-based financing instruments, including performance-based grants, green bonds, biodiversity credits, nature equity assets, or national payments for ecosystem services.

Why it matters
 VNUs are designed to be simple to understand and apply1, unlike other complex or costly financing mechanisms. Their strength lies in being replicable across different contexts: from a smallholder restoring degraded land, to a community protecting a few hectares of forest, or even a national park covering millions of hectares.

By focusing on real outcomes rather than activities, VNUs give funders confidence that their funding produces tangible, verified impact. In doing so, they provide a solution that rewards conservation and restoration efforts and helps make protective and regenerative land management a competitive and sustainable land-use option.

Majete: a first testing ground

Since 2003, African Parks has managed Majete Wildlife Reserve in Malawi in partnership with the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife, restoring wildlife through the reintroduction of numerous species and effective anti-poaching measures. The park now hosts thousands of animals, attracts growing tourism, and supports local communities through employment, education, health programs, beekeeping, and reforestation.
 Majete is also one of the first pilot sites for VNUs: in 2024, 239 units were issued to funders as pay-for-performance grants to support the development of nature financing mechanisms marking the first practical implementation of this new tool.

Following this success , “three additional large-scale projects are underway in Odzala-Kokoua, Garamba, and Zakouma national parks (…). VNUs for these parks, issued in 2025 and again in 2026, cover a combined area of 1.37 million hectares (13,700 km2)”.2

For more information: African Parks VNU 2-pager
 Contact African Parks: nbs@africanparks.org

Header image : Biodiversity & Conservation in Garamba National Park, DRC ©Marcus Westberg (17).

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1

African Parks aims to limit the cost of VNU related monitoring, reporting and verification to 5% of the management cost of the relevant area, so that the majority of resources remain dedicated to conservation. The pilot process is also exploring further opportunities for cost efficiency. Ultimately, the main goal is to ensure that the recommended sale price for a VNU covers both management and issuance costs, thereby ensuring full cost recovery.

2

Measuring Nature’s Value: The Verifiable Nature Unit (VNU),African Parks, 2025