Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Protected area / relocation · Niger · 2025–2026

Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, World Heritage in Danger: mining permits, gold panning and the funding gap

Nature's voice · report
The World Heritage Committee recorded in 2025 that gold panning and logging persist in me.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • The Committee recorded concern for the dama gazelle and the red-necked ostrich, species central to my value as a World Heritage property (2025). UNESCO World Heritage Committee
  • No poaching cases had been reported in me since 2022, according to the Committee (2025). UNESCO World Heritage Committee
  • The Committee noted in 2026 steps to revoke three mining permits on my south-eastern boundary, which has no buffer zone, and expressed renewed concern about gold panning. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 2 not disclosed · 1 not measured · 2 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Mining permits on the south-eastern boundary of the property
  • International bodies World Heritage Committee, decision 47 COM 7A.15 (2025): No current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary, with a risk of future allocation. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
  • International bodies World Heritage Committee, decision 48 COM 7A.53 (2026): Notes steps to revoke three mining permits on the south-eastern boundary and urges their cancellation; the type and holders are not named. UNESCO World Heritage Committee

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee kept the Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves in Niger on the Danger List in 2025 and 2026. Its 2025 decision recorded no current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary; its 2026 decision noted steps to revoke three permits there.

3Mining permits on the south-eastern boundary: steps to revoke (decision 48 COM 7A.53, 2026)
Decision 47 COM 7A.15 (2025) recorded no current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary but a risk of future allocation.

Status As of 2026 (decision 48 COM 7A.53): steps to revoke three mining permits noted, property kept on the Danger List, report due 1 February 2027.

What?
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee kept the Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves on the Danger List in 2025 and 2026, recording gold panning, logging, a funding shortage and, in 2026, steps to revoke three mining permits on the south-eastern boundary. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
Where?
Aïr massif and Ténéré desert, Agadez region, Niger; the south-eastern boundary has no buffer zone. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
When?
Decision 47 COM 7A.15 in 2025; decision 48 COM 7A.53 in 2026 (Busan); report due 1 February 2027. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
  • The property's management unit — A persistent shortage of financial resources; no funding for the Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan UNESCO World Heritage Committee
Harmed
Why?
The Committee keeps the property on the Danger List because of the threats it records, including gold panning, logging and mining permits. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
How?
The Committee notes steps to revoke three mining permits, urges their cancellation and appeals to the international community for support; Norway funds UNESCO for the property through Wild Africa Conservation. UNESCO World Heritage Committee
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In decision 47 COM 7A.15 (2025) the World Heritage Committee recorded that there were no current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary of the property but a risk of future allocation, that no poaching cases had been reported since 2022, that gold panning and logging persisted, and that the management plan expired in 2024. The property remained on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Committee also recorded concern for species central to the property's value, among them the dama gazelle and the red-necked ostrich.

In decision 48 COM 7A.53 (2026, Busan) the Committee noted steps to revoke three mining permits on the south-eastern boundary and urged their cancellation, expressed renewed concern about gold panning, kept the property on the Danger List and asked for a report by 1 February 2027. The south-eastern boundary has no buffer zone. The decision does not name the type or the holders of the three permits.

On funding, the 2026 decision records Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property through the partner Wild Africa Conservation, without an amount, a persistent shortage of financial resources at the management unit, and no funding for the Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan. It appeals to the international community for support.

  1. 2025Decision 47 COM 7A.15: no current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary; management plan expired in 2024; property stays on the Danger List
  2. 2026Decision 48 COM 7A.53 (Busan): steps to revoke three mining permits noted; property stays on the Danger List; report due 1 February 2027

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Mining permits on the south-eastern boundary of the property
International bodies
World Heritage Committee, decision 47 COM 7A.15 (2025)

No current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary, with a risk of future allocation.

UNESCO World Heritage Committee
International bodies
World Heritage Committee, decision 48 COM 7A.53 (2026)

Notes steps to revoke three mining permits on the south-eastern boundary and urges their cancellation; the type and holders are not named.

UNESCO World Heritage Committee

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • 2025: no current mining permits on the south-eastern boundary but a risk of future allocation; no poaching cases since 2022; gold panning and logging persist; the management plan expired in 2024.
      UNESCO World Heritage Committee
    • 2026: the Committee notes steps to revoke three mining permits on the south-eastern boundary, urges their cancellation and expresses renewed concern about gold panning.
      UNESCO World Heritage Committee
    • 2026: Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property through Wild Africa Conservation; a persistent shortage of financial resources at the management unit; no funding for the Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan.
      UNESCO World Heritage Committee
    • The south-eastern boundary has no buffer zone.
      UNESCO World Heritage Committee

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property, through Wild Africa Conservation—
    No amount stated on the decision page.
    Funding for the Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan—
    The Committee records that none is available.

    Gained elsewhere

    Not totalled
    Currency: USD · Window: 2025–2026. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    Mining permits on the south-eastern boundary
    3 to be revoked
    Decision 48 COM 7A.53, 2026; none current per decision 47 COM 7A.15, 2025
    Poaching cases reported
    None since 2022
    Decision 47 COM 7A.15, 2025
    Management plan
    Expired in 2024
    Decision 47 COM 7A.15, 2025
    Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan
    Unfunded
    Decision 48 COM 7A.53, 2026

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    Key earnings undisclosedNo court case

    Nature

    • Disputed Mining permits on the south-eastern boundary of the property

    Money

    • None on record Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property, through Wild Africa Conservation — No amount stated on the decision page.
    • None on record Funding for the Dama Gazelle Conservation Action Plan — The Committee records that none is available.

    Court

    Record

    • Disputed Disputed: mining permits on the south-eastern boundary; decision 47 COM 7A.15 (2025) records no current permits there, while decision 48 COM 7A.53 (2026) notes steps to revoke three.
    • Not disclosed Not disclosed: the type and the holders of the three mining permits (gold, uranium or other).
    • Not disclosed Not disclosed: the amount of the Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property.
    • Not measured Not measured: quantitative data on harm to the dama gazelle, the red-necked ostrich or the habitat; the decision pages give none.

    Did the harm stop?

    None on record.

    Who paid?

    Norwegian Government funding of UNESCO for the property is recorded without an amount; the Committee records a persistent shortage of financial resources at the management unit.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

    International bodies

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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