The African Conservation Development Group

ACDG is an experienced developer of integrated land-use projects in Africa, specialising in climate-smart, conservation-led development. The foundation of our approach is the optimisation of land-use. We design land-use plans at significant scale with the objective of promoting commercial, social and ecological prosperity.

ACDG’s flagship project, Grande Mayumba, is based in southern Gabon. Through the Grande Mayumba Development Company (GMDC), ACDG holds the rights to sustainably develop a land area of 730,000 hectares for commercial agriculture, sustainable forestry and ecotourism, accompanied by new transport, power and municipal infrastructure for the region. One third of the project area has been set aside as a conservation arc, covering coastal, estuarine, montane and savannah ecosystems, to ensure that valuable biodiversity is protected.

forestLAB will proof-test its research findings through Grande Mayumba’s integrated programmes, ensuring the real world application of climate-smart solutions to developmental challenges in Africa.

THE MAJOR FORESTLAB RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS FOR ACDG IN Gabon ARE

Sustainable land-use planning

ensuring optimal land-use development
Carbon monitoring and mapping

involving advanced Tier 3 carbon measurement
Biodiversity monitoring

ensuring conservation of high biodiversity value areas
Sustainable forestry and agriculture

involving reduced impact logging and climate smart agriculture
Conservation-based tourism

creating immersive science based tourism experiences
Natural capital valuation

underpinning innovative sustainable finance models

"The strength of forestLAB is its ability to convene best-in-class expertise across diverse disciplines to answer complex developmental questions in a holistic way. We believe the discoveries that flow from forestLAB will catalyse new sustainable ventures and reallocate capital towards projects and operating models that safeguard our collective future."

— Alan Bernstein