In this first article, you’ll get to know Björn Donnars, who talks about his love for meerkats. As a veterinary and wildlife photographer, he has quite an exciting job! His work is combined with conservation through a community-based project, and he shares all of that, including how you can visit the meerkats yourself, in this article.
From Botswana, we jump to Costa Rica to talk to Ifigenia Garita. She is a tropical biologist, conservationist, and naturalist guide who runs Osa Wild in her daily life. She knows people, locals, and tourists, and she knows how beautiful nature is, and she combines that with volunteering at Escuna. Besides talking about her work, Ifigenia also shares more about the impact of overtourism in a country like Costa Rica.
If we want to keep enjoying nature in the future, we need to do our best to live sustainably. Sarah Ritzen takes us into the world of ‘Zero Waste’ and how she applies that at home. It might seem daunting at first – especially when you consider how much plastic and packaging we use daily – but with the tips from Sarah, you’re one step closer to a zero-waste lifestyle.
Angela Bogui transports us to Romania, where nature can be found everywhere. With over 6 million hectares of forest, it is a haven for nature conservation. Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC) wants to create a new, world-class wilderness reserve in the Southern Romanian Carpathians for the benefit of biodiversity and the local people. Angela explains how you start such a big endeavour and which animals are going to play a key role in their plans.
We go back to Africa to talk to Christina Tholander. Although of Danish origin, you can find her in South Africa among the elephants most of the time. She works with the AERU (African Elephant Research Unit) to understand more about the well-being of elephants in a captive environment. Although Knysna Elephant Park is nothing like a zoo, they don’t have endless grounds to roam either.
We take a deep dive with Latoya in the Philippines to discover more about life there and about the treasure and joy of diving. Diving with sharks is one of the many things you can do in Malapascua, so we will take a better look at the sustainability of this experience. How can one make sure no animals are harmed if more and more tourists come to dive with them?
Frank Landman shares his thoughts in a column about Ubuntu – “I am, because we are” – and how this feeling is engrained in townships in South Africa. Alongside that, he has a deepened interest in the SDG’s and he’s actively working to implement them in his work. “You can never start with implementing just ‘a couple’ of SDGs … As soon as you start, you have to commit to all of them.”, he states.
Did you know that the African Wild Dog is also called the Painted Dog? Ron van der Aa tells us all about the species and why they’re in decline. In Dete, Zimbabwe, Painted Dog Conservation is doing all it can to mitigate threats to make sure this enigmatic species can thrive forever.
In every story, humans and wildlife need to find a way to thrive together. That isn’t always easy, and Silvio Marchini knows all about that. He calls himself a bridge-builder in human- wildlife coexistence, so we talk to him to understand more about the positions of conservationists in these coexistences. Are we biased, for example?
Second to last, we learn about Ana Santacruz, who was born and raised in Ecuador and is now a full-time naturalist guide in the Amazon Rainforest. With her profound love for and knowledge of nature, she teaches everyone she guides about the landscape around them. From the plants to the insects and more.
Lastly, we talk to Fernanda Abra from Via Fauna in Brazil. She works tirelessly on the mitigation of roadkill, especially through her project ‘Reconecta’. In this project, she collaborates with local communities to understand more about why roadkill is so abundant, and she builds canopy bridges to try and mitigate the threats by guiding wildlife over the bridge so they don’t have to cross the dangerous highways.
Have you gotten curious about any of these people and organizations? Then go check out issue 1!
