Globally, there is a growing interest from the younger or present future generation, commonly known as the early-career researchers (ECRs), in engaging in SPPIs. This is driven by several factors, including but not limited to the need to contribute to positive societal change, understand policy processes, and career development, among others (Filyushkina et al., 2022). In most regions, such as Africa, the barriers among the Next Gen of Leaders to effectively contribute to and strengthen SPPI include a lack of adequate understanding about involvement channels, limited knowledge of engagement platforms and opportunities, funding constraints, inadequate and/or sometimes inappropriate training, and, many times, low credibility perceptions of emerging capacity by other actors across the SPPI.

Despite the ongoing efforts to address the drivers of change and achieve the biodiversity-climate-society connectivity goal, little attention is placed on bringing together inter-generational think-tanks, policy-actors, and grassroots players from various disciplines and spaces. Africa is experiencing a deficit or lack of deliberate programs that are designed to leverage the inter-generational SPPI research talents and skills, expertise, innovation, and lived experiences to help upend the curves of change and achieve biodiversity-climate-society connectivity. The NextGen of SPPI Leaders on Biodiversity, Climate, and Society seeks to consolidate and transfer, through a regional stock-take, inter-generational SPPI capacity and leadership in Africa. It will co-create, implement, and evaluate SPPI initiatives that seek to address, through fostering partnerships and collaborations, the triple-challenge of biodiversity loss, climate crisis, and the need to meet socio-economic needs.