São Tomé and Príncipe, a tiny remote island nation off the coast of West Central Africa, is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots today.

It is the first country in the world to have 100% of its territory declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, mainly due to its high density of endemic flora and fauna species.

With five of the world’s seven sea turtle species, including the green turtle, Olive ridley, Hawsbill, Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles either coming to nest on its beaches, or visiting the surrounding waters, protecting these areas has become even more crucial.

As such, instead of simply protecting isolated natural areas, the country has implemented a new conservation model, which makes it a core part of the islands’ functioning and integrates it with sustainable development, communities and economic activity.

Conservation Through Sustainable Economic Activity

One of the biggest ways São Tomé and Príncipe is differentiating itself is by ensuring that conservation is rooted as deeply as possible in all aspects of sustainable economic activity.

A key way to do this is by replacing extractive practices in the informal economy like illegal timber harvesting, charcoal production and turtle or shark poaching with lower-impact alternative livelihoods.

Under regional restoration initiatives, sustainable harvesting and processing of local delicacies like the búzio forest snail have been turned into micro-enterprises that incentivize keeping the surrounding forests intact.

Similarly, eco-tourism and agroforestry developer HBD Príncipe’s Vida Nón Project has surveyed fishing villages and financed multiple community micro-businesses like poultry handling and sustainable livestock, to reduce fishing pressure on sensitive marine zones.

HBD, which is Príncipe’s largest employer, also trains communities in sustainable agriculture, with locals producing high-value organic cocoa, coffee and aromatic herbs, among other crops. Some of this produce, such as local cocoa, is used to make chocolate and body products, ensuring profits stay within the community.

The company acts as a major cocoa buyer as well, incentivizing smallholder farmers to become certified and providing them with an avenue to sell whatever they can grow, in contrast to other buyers, who may only buy above a certain quantity.

Its own cocoa plantations on Príncipe island are Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified, due to the plantations making use of agroforestry methods such as intercropping cacao trees with native flora and protecting secondary forests to preserve the Príncipe Biosphere Reserve and local endemic bird species.

This conservation mindset has also extended to the country’s cultural heritage and landscape restoration as well.

The islands which were once a Portuguese colony also have a number of historic, colonial-era plantations, known as roças. Six of these are now declared UNESCO World Heritage sites.

HBD, which owns two of these, Belo Monte, now a boutique hotel and Roça Sundy on Príncipe Island, is currently restoring and renovating the latter.

These restorations allow descendants of plantation workers to maintain their living spaces within or adjacent to the estates, while gaining access to hospitality training, infrastructure upgrades and decentralized community governance.

Across its eco-lodges, HBD levies a €25 ($28.2) fee per person per night, as part of its Conservation & Communities Contribution, which goes entirely towards financing local ecological monitoring and community development projects.

The Role Of Community And Government Partnerships

Due to the entire territory of São Tomé and Príncipe being included in the Biosphere Reserve certification, it is incredibly vital for local communities to work alongside regional and national government initiatives to ensure continued protection of these areas.

The country has recently committed to a national network of eight marine protected areas covering around 93 square kilometers, out of which two have already formally been established so far. The remaining six are awaiting final approvals.

This project is coordinated with organizations like Fauna & Flora, along with Oikos, MARAPA and Fundação Príncipe. However, it also explicitly relies on 15 co-managing fishing communities.

One of the main reasons for establishing these marine protected areas is that they act as nurseries for a variety of fish and other marine life.

They are also important habitats for sharks and manta rays, while including mangrove ecosystems and vital nesting beaches for the five turtle species outlined above as well. These MPAs help support local food security as well.

These areas include restricted no-fishing zones alongside sustainable use zones designed for local artisanal fishermen who use legal gear.

As such, it is absolutely key for fishermen and other locals to cooperate with these regulations in order to ensure fishing and other coastal activities are kept as sustainable as possible.

Local fishermen act as the first line of defence against destructive foreign industrial fleets, while also mapping habitats and self-regulating catches to protect coral reef health.

Regional NGOs like Fundação Príncipe also hire community members and train them as scientific monitors. Some former turtle poachers now also work as beach guards protecting nesting sea turtles, while others monitor endemic tree seedlings and endangered bird populations.

Another conservation fund, the EcoTéla, which involves partnerships between the national government, UNDP and conservation groups aims to provide stable, long-term financing for biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and climate action.

Similarly, programs like Condos da Floresta are actively mentoring and training a new generation of female conservation leaders to bridge the gap between rural community knowledge, biodiversity science and formal project financing.

Although São Tomé and Príncipe has made considerable progress in integrating conservation into every level of national and regional governance, some key challenges remain.

One of these is climate vulnerability and coastal erosion, due to the majority of the country’s infrastructure lying on low-level coastal areas. This makes it incredibly vulnerable to rising sea levels, shifting weather patterns and intense flash floods.

Deforestation from small-scale agriculture can cause more soil erosion too. There is also still very little data on the population of some species, which can make it harder to estimate the impact of this deforestation of them.

In many cases, although national and regional regulations may be strong, weak enforcement may still decrease their impact, with corruption being an ongoing issue.

Inadequate waste and pollution management, as well as a lack of specialized hazardous or chemical processing facilities mean that waste can enter coastal waters and harm fragile marine ecosystems.

The country’s remoteness also makes eco-tourism a challenge, although it helps preserve its extreme endemism.

Currently, it is one of the least-visited countries in Africa and is only accessible from Europe via Lisbon through TAP Air Portugal and through a few other regional carriers like Afrijet, ASKY Airlines and TAAG Angola Airlines from Gabon, Togo, Angola and Ghana.

This makes it very challenging for the country to sustain any kind of consistent tourism or rely on this economy as a major income generator. It also makes it much harder to source skilled talent, produce, most resources and international aid.

Towards Stronger Conservation

São Tomé and Príncipe’s conservation model highlights the importance of moving away from protecting isolated natural areas to building conservation into every level of national and regional regulation.

By focusing on sustainable development and strengthening partnerships with local communities, it ensures that conservation becomes part of economic development, rather than a separate nice-to-have goal.

However, while regulatory advancement is vital, stronger enforcement, transparency and accountability is also required to ensure long-term protection and positive environmental impact.