The Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of the wildlife and ecosystems of the Sahara Desert and the adjacent Sahelian grasslands. The organization was founded in 2004 by a group of conservation biologists, and its operational headquarters are in N’Djamena, Chad, with U.S. fundraising and administration based in New York.
SCF’s work focuses on three program areas: species recovery (notably the Scimitar-horned oryx, the addax, the dama gazelle, and the Saharan cheetah — all of which have been pushed to the edge of extinction in the wild), the effective management of critical conservation landscapes including the Ouadi Rimé–Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve in Chad and the Termit & Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve in Niger, and capacity building through the Sahelo-Saharan Interest Group, which SCF has helped coordinate for more than 25 years. SCF has released more than 300 animals into the wild as part of reintroduction programs since 2016 and has supported the production of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific publications on Saharan wildlife.
SCF partners closely with the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group and the IUCN Saharan Biodiversity Working Group, and is a leading voice for the Sahara in international conservation policy. In 2026, SCF helped convene the 25th anniversary meeting of the Sahelo-Saharan Interest Group in Cairo. The organization’s persistence in one of the world’s most under-resourced conservation regions makes it a distinctive contributor to IUCN’s global species and protected-area work.
