Choosing a volunteering project to help wildlife
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Choosing a volunteering project to help wildlife
Photography Workshop: red deer in the wild
Dr Matthias Hammer of Biosphere Expeditions explains how
Choosing a volunteering project to help wildlife
hoping to protect.
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Safaris Antarctic
to pick a project that genuinely benefits the wildlife you’re
Voluntourism has come in for rough ride in the recent past, and rightly so. With impressive growth rates, profit-driven charlatans and pretenders have sadly flooded into the market. The worst examples include bogus animal sanctuaries and fake orphanages. When I started in 1999, volunteering was the domain of charities and NGOs. Now it is a multi-million pound business with far too many touchy-feely wildlife projects. Fortunately it’s not that hard to look behind the glitzy fronts. The best way to avoid the charlatans is to ask the right questions. For example: is the operator a non-profit organisation or a profitdriven business? What is the rationale for involving volunteers (what will they do exactly, where and when)? What will be the outcome and how will local people and/or wildlife benefit? Does the organisation have any achievements it can list, any awards or other accolades? Is it transparent in its finances and structure? A handful of pointed questions such as these will, in most cases, separate the good from the bad from the downright ugly. TANGIBLE BENEFITS Designing a flash website is not hard. But does the organisation tell you about its achievements? You contribute your time and money, so where does it go? It could be the creation of protected areas, resolution of human-wildlife conflict, inclusion of recommendations into regional or national conservation action plans, change in legislation or policy, details about capacity-building or educational activities. Anything tangible and quantifiable that shows that your time and money achieves things. If you can’t find anything, be very wary. PUBLICATIONS Wildlife conservation is also about publishing results and communicating your findings. Does the organisation do this and provide links to publications in the lay and/or scientific press? Are the projects led by qualified scientists who publish their results? If not, why not? ANIMAL WELFARE If the organisation website is full of pictures of white middle-class people cuddling cute animals, then this is not a good sign. Good wildlife conservation and science is not safari or a petting zoo. Often you will be chasing ghosts or just signs of flagship species, which are, by definition, rare. A camera trap picture or a track will often be as good as it gets, so is the organisation honest about this or does it promote touchy-feely interaction? Steer clear of organisations that encourage handling of captive wild animals for anything other than essential veterinary or neo-natal surrogate care. ORGANISATIONAL STATUS Is the organisation a charity or non-profit or a profit-driven business (for example limited company). Is it transparent about its financial dealings and structure? If not, stay clear. If it is, then scrutinise where your money is going and what proportion goes on wildlife work on the ground and what on administration.For more details of Biosphere Expedition’s projects, go to www.biosphere-expeditions.org © 2008 Wildlife Extra
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07/10/2014 06:38