John Scanlon CEO, Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation Chair, Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime
Covid and conservation
Nature conservation is much more than looking after wildlife and its habitat: it is about public and animal health and welfare, climate change, and security, and if we get things wrong, it can have massive global implications.
Perhaps 2020 will be remembered as the year when the penny suddenly dropped for people across every nation that we need to recalibrate our relationship with nature. But in the coming months, if the pandemic slowly passes, and memories start to fade, will this global awakening endure? The dramatic and sudden loss of revenue from wildlife-tourism in 2020 sent shock waves through the conservation community, decimating jobs, enterprises, and livelihoods. Maybe 2020 will also be remembered as the year when the penny
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Tusk Talk | 2021 Magazine
Success demands collective endeavour, and we all have our role to play, as consumers, investors, and citizens.
dropped about the vulnerability of the conservation business model. Covid-19 has induced much suffering, and sadly, many lives have been lost. Nature conservation came perilously close to being another victim of the pandemic. Due to the heroic efforts of so many, it has survived. But conservation was already suffering from multiple pre-existing conditions, and it will remain on life support until it becomes an investment priority of business, donors, and government. Reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) paint a bleak picture for combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. Yet, it is not too late. If we change course, we can recover, and in a way that generates new and exciting opportunities. And if 2020 was a year of awakening for all of us, then 2021 must be the year of transformation.
