CoalitionWILD Blog

As we celebrate Earth Day 2023, it’s important to reflect on the role of young people in conservation efforts. The next generation has the potential to drive meaningful change and create a more sustainable future for our planet. How can we support young people as we move towards conserving the planet’s half?

Moustapha’s E-biodiversity project was launched with the aim of raising awareness and educating children about the importance of biodiversity conservation. He noticed that there was a lack of biodiversity education in the primary schools of the Pobèregion in Benin. Moustapha and his team decided to launch a project that would contribute to the fight against the threats to biodiversity conservation.

The day is an opportunity for pangolin enthusiasts and the wider human community to join hands in raising awareness about the plight of these unique mammals that play a critical role in their ecosystems by providing the earth with natural pest control.

In the northwest part of the district of Quito, in one of the most biologically diverse areas of the world, lies the Mashpi Reserve. A known bird watching paradise, the Mashpi community provides a sense of symbiosis between human and nature. However, despite the promise that Mashpi brings, a glaring problem persists: the government fails to prioritize its waste recollection services. Esteban Barriga, an EXCELerator 2021 alumnus, saw this and how the waste management issue has affected the Mashpi community, and decided to do something about it.

The recently concluded COP15 is a historic event, and it has given us much to think about. The gathering of world leaders and conservation actors has resulted in the drafting of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This is a landmark deal indeed, as it gives us a framework on how to move forward in the protection and conservation of the planet’s biodiversity. However, while we acknowledge the significance of such a feat, we are also aware of its pitfalls.

35 years ago, all 198 UN Member States convened for a historic summit in Montreal. There, they negotiated and signed the world’s most successful environmental accord, the Montreal Protocol, saving our ozone layer and curbing greenhouse emissions. Now, 35 years on, these same parties are poised for another landmark event: the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), wherein will be designed the subsequent decades’ worth of international wildlife and nature targets. The question on everyone’s minds is “How can we follow one historic success in Montreal with another?”

Last 3-4 September 2022, two of CoalitionWILD team members, Fátima Gigante and Asmita Rawat, had the honor to join the Women In Nature Network Global Networking (WiNN) Event 2022 held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Learn how WiNN 2022 was able to fulfill its motto of “empowered women, empower women.”

Read about Fatima and Asmita’s experience here: https://wild.org/blog/coalitionwild/winn-nepal-2022/

Marine biologist and 2021 EXCELerator graduate Zara Guifarro is committed to contribute to conservation, but she also knows that true conservation can only be achieved if the local communities are similarly engaged. This is why she and her team started the Ocean Youth Program—a marine conservation program for the youth.

There is a need to acknowledge the necessity of a development paradigm that places the critical role of protection and conservation of biodiversity as a priority to achieve a sustainable future in Africa. As the world faces the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, it is necessary for the African continent to band together, hence, the IUCN Africa Protected Congress (APAC) held last 18-23 July 2022 came at an opportune time, right when Africa, and the world at large, needs to talk about these issues more.