Preserving Chile’s Legacy One Species at a Time, Starting with the Southern River Otter
WILD ENTRUST
The Bioboundary ProjectProtecting African Wild Dogs with Science-based Conservation
OSCAR J. DIAZ
Casting Fire in a Different LightHow Controlled Fires Can Serve as a Rebirth
Transform Your Perspective on Nature. Follow Ubuntu Magazine’s Social Channels!
08 WILD ENTRUST
Protecting African Wild Dogs with Science-based Conservation
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SWEDEN’S BIG FIVE
Carnivores as Moneymakers: Ecotourism in Action
38 NEW TO NATURE
Alligator Lizard
42 COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
A professor’s view on sustainable tourism 62 OSCAR J. DIAZ
STARGAZER
Ahamed Jazif
Casting Fire in a Different Light
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SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT UNDERWATER NOISE?
LEGADO CHILE
Preserving Chile’s legacy one species at a time
PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION
A Sanctuary for Humpback Whales: Hervey Bay’s Role in Marine Conservation
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Andean Bear
AMAZOMEL
Buzzing business –beekeeping in the Brazilian Amazon
INTRODUCTION
Hi, I’m Arina, graphic designer and art director with a deep love for the ocean. My journey with the sea began years ago when I first felt the rush of riding a wave. The salty air, the power of the water beneath my board, and the sense of freedom it gave me — it was all magical. But over time, as I traveled from one surf spot to another, I started noticing things that broke my heart: plastic tangled in seaweed, polluted waters, and beaches losing their sparkle.
As a designer, I’ve always believed that creativity can be a force for good. I’ve seen how a beautiful design can captivate people, tell a story, and even change minds. So, I began to wonder — what if I could use my design skills to protect the oceans I love so much? What if I could inspire others to care for the environment, just as I do every time I paddle out into the waves?
That’s what led me to Ubuntu Magazine. It felt like the perfect home for my passion. Ubuntu isn’t just a magazine; it’s a movement, a community of people who understand that we’re all connected — not just to each other, but to the natural world. It’s a place where stories about conservation, sustainability, and the beauty of nature come to life, and where the voices of those working tirelessly to protect our planet can be heard.
Joining Ubuntu Magazine was a way for me to merge my two loves — surfing and design — with a deeper purpose. It’s about more than creating beautiful visuals; it’s about creating a ripple effect, just like a wave that starts small and builds into something powerful. With Ubuntu, I hope to share the stories that matter, celebrate those making a difference, and remind us all why it’s worth fighting for our planet.
- Arina van Londen
PROTECTING AFRICAN WILD DOGS WITH SCIENCE-BASED CONSERVATION
The big cats of Africa are some of the most revered predators on the planet. Their impressive athleticism, strength, and cunning have garnered them the reputation of carnivorous ambassadors. On the sun-baked savanna, however, Africa’s most efficient hunter is a canid with exceptional skills that humbles its peers. A herbivore grazing the sub-Saharan grasslands isn’t as worried about a pride of lions as it is about a pack of African wild dogs.
Written by: Marc Kranendonk
The African wild dog, Lycaonpictus, has long been portrayed as one of the most efficient hunters on the planet, known for its cohesive pack dynamics and near-flawless hunting strategies. Wildlife documentaries have often painted a picture of these dogs encircling their prey, working in nearperfect synchrony to bring down large animals like wildebeest. However, while this makes for captivating TV storytelling, it’s not entirely accurate.
Recent research reveals that African wild dogs are far more opportunistic and adaptable than once thought. They use swift, simultaneous pursuit of multiple prey rather than the textbook, long-distance chases of a single target. Each dog may not always make a kill, but the pack’s success lies in their ability to share the spoils. While our understanding of wild dogs’ hunting techniques has evolved, so has our realization of their struggle to survive in the savanna.
African wild dogs are the second-most endangered predator in Africa, with only 700
breeding pairs in a population of less than 7,000 individuals. Loss of habitat due to agricultural expansion, depletion of prey by bushmeat poaching, and frequent conflict with humans are driving extinction. Isolated populations are being killed by poachers, disease, road accidents, and farmers because wild dogs are killing livestock and leaving protected areas.
With dwindling numbers, science-based conservation efforts are critical to the survival of African Wild Dogs. Since 2008, Dr. Peter Apps has been running Botswana Predator Conservation’s BioBoundary Project under the Wild Entrust Africa umbrella. The project approaches large predator conservation by tapping into the predators’ systems of chemical communication and spatial organization. The BioBoundary research project has produced groundbreaking discoveries that will help address human-wildlife conflicts and the decline of wild dogs. Along with Research Fellow Megan Claase, Dr. Apps shares with us how the power of chemical communication can be used to protect wild dogs.
African wild dogs sniffing the soil
Photo credits: Megan Claase
BOTSWANA
TO START, COULD YOU GIVE US AN OUTLINE OF THE ORGANIZATION OF WILD ENTRUST? I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE THREE SUBORGANIZATIONS. HOW DO THEY FUNCTION TOGETHER?
The three conservation programs of Wild Entrust are Botswana Predator Conservation, Coaching Conservation, and Community Coexistence.
Coaching Conservation and Community Coexistence implement projects focused on practices already known to work – including conservation education for primary schoollevel children. Botswana Predator Conservation serves as the research arm of Wild Entrust, with collaborations from academic institutions including the University of Zurich and the University of Washington, focusing on ecological and behavior research and data analysis, and conducting long-term monitoring of prey and predator populations. The research program under Botswana Predator Conservation includes our BioBoundary project.
WHAT ARE YOUR ROLES WITHIN BOTSWANA PREDATOR CONSERVATION AND HOW DID BOTH OF YOU BECOME PART OF THE BIOBOUNDARY PROJECT?
Peter: I run the BioBoundary laboratory and the fieldwork that is testing BioBoundary predator deterrents. I am also the chief cook and bottle washer, mechanic, electrician, camera trap serviceman, designer, etc. I joined what was then the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust back in 2008 – specifically to kick off the BioBoundary project. The founder and director of Botswana Predator Conservation, Tico McNutt, had this idea fermenting in his head for a while and managed to raise funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. I moved from South Africa to Botswana to set up the analytical laboratory and plan out the fieldwork for the first five years of the BioBoundary project.
My deep background is as a zoologist, but my career up to that point had been as an analytical chemist. I was analyzing flavors, off-flavors,
BOTSWANA
taints, and contaminants in foods, which uses the same analytical techniques as analyzing mammal odors – hence why I fit the project. It’s rare for someone with a zoological background to have chemical skills, so I bridged two aspects of the project: fieldwork and analytical chemistry.
Megan: I joined Botswana Predator Conservation in 2015 as a research assistant for a year, helping with fieldwork and data collection. I came back in 2018 and worked as a research coordinator and focussed solely on the BioBoundary project, to study the shared marking sites of African wild dogs – which is something I’ll explain later. Back when I was a research assistant in 2015, I found the first shared marking site, so I came back in 2018 to get a better understanding of them. This work became my PhD topic, and I’ve just graduated in February!
COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THE BIOBOUNDARY PROJECT MEANS AND WHAT IT AIMS TO ACHIEVE?
Megan: The BioBoundary project aims to protect predators and rural peoples’ livelihoods by reducing human-predator conflict. It pairs chemistry with fieldwork and ecology, which has led to a better understanding of wild dog behavior.
Wild dogs have incredibly large home ranges, making them difficult to follow for reliable sightings. They are territorial, with limited overlap between home ranges that have quite stable locations. It was assumed that they must be communicating through scent because they do not have long-range contact calls like lions and spotted hyenas have.
African wild dogs live in packs
Photo credits: Megan Claase
BOTSWANA
Megan analyzing traces left by wild dogs
Photo credits: Devon Jenkins
The multi-pack scent-marking sites we discovered are proof that African wild dog packs communicate through scent. Finding these scentmarking sites where neighboring packs kept returning has rewritten what we’ve come to expect of wild dogs. It’s a complete breakthrough in our understanding of wild dog biology.
Peter: The BioBoundary Project is unique within wildlife research in that its sole purpose is to come up with new conservation tools; specifically perimeter BioBoundaries for protecting wild dogs, that will keep established packs safely inside protected wildlife areas, and predator deterrents to protect livestock from predation so that livestock owners do not resort to lethal predator control. The endpoint will be chemical formulations that keep predators safe by mimicking their natural chemical signals. Getting to that endpoint relies on the integration of laboratory research with hands-on fieldwork.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT WILD DOGS THAT INSPIRED YOU TO FOCUS ON THEM, PARTICULARLY WITH THE BIOBOUNDARY PROJECT?
Initially, African wild dogs were the sole focus of the BioBoundary research because they are so seriously endangered. Tico McNutt recognized that the movements of packs are regulated by their relationships with their neighbors and that replicating that relationship - by replicating pack scent marks could deter packs from leaving protected areas.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY AND MASS SPECTROMETRY ARE AND HOW THEY ARE USED TO IDENTIFY CANDIDATE SIGNALING CHEMICALS IN SCENT MARKS OF AFRICAN WILD DOGS?
Peter: Semiochemistry is the fancy word for the study of chemical messages – often called pheromones –, with ‘semio’ coming from the Greek word for “signal”. All living things communicate with others using chemicals, and in mammals, those chemicals are often airborne odors. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are the techniques I use for analyzing the composition of the chemical signals used by African predators. It is a particularly good fit for mammal odors because it handles complex mixtures of chemicals, and airborne samples in small quantities. With the GC-MS instruments in the BioBoundary laboratory I can identify less than one-billionth of a gram of a chemical out of a mixture of several hundred others, and integrating those chemical identifications with the results from the BioBoundary field work allows us to identify which are active signaling chemicals in natural wild dog scent-marks, and use them to formulate artificial scent-marks. The BioBoundary lab is the only lab in the world completely dedicated to mammals’ chemical signaling.
African wild dogs with tracking collars
Photo credits: Megan Claase
BOTSWANA
WHAT INITIALLY SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN MAMMALIAN SEMIOCHEMISTRY?
Peter: I’ve always been interested in mammals and wildlife. When I graduated from Oxford in the UK in 1977, my plan was to study large carnivores in Africa.
When I got to Africa at the beginning of 1979, I worked on feral cat ecology. That was for an MSc, and while finishing that up, I got a job in a chemistry laboratory. The laboratory needed someone to run analyses of mammal scent secretions. After finishing my MSc, I kept my job in chemistry, and used the results to get a PhD; in zoology not chemistry, despite the fact I was developing groundbreaking chemistry techniques, because I had an MSc in Zoology. At the time, jobs in chemistry paid a lot better than zoology, and so I worked as an analytical chemist for various institutes in South Africa until 2008 when I was headhunted by Tico McNutt and moved to Botswana.
My career change from zoology to analytical chemistry gave me a combination of skills that are an ideal fit for the BioBoundary project. I understand both biologists and chemists and bridge the gap between their different ways of thinking. Biologists and chemists speak different languages, and that has often been an obstacle to progress in mammalian semiochemistry.
Long story short, here I am! I ended up working on large carnivores in Africa, which is exactly what I wanted to do back in 1977.
“BIOLOGISTS AND CHEMISTS SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, AND THAT HAS OFTEN BEEN AN OBSTACLE TO PROGRESS IN MAMMALIAN SEMIOCHEMISTRY.”
WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE LIVING AND WORKING IN BOTSWANA?
Peter: The laboratory and the work on BioBoundary predator deterrents are based in Maun, which is 800 km north of the capital, Gaborone. It might as well be a completely different country compared to where Gaborone is situated in the south.
It’s a fantastic place for wildlife. Elephants break down my gate and walk into my garden to eat camel thorn pods, for example. Northern Botswana is one of the very few places in the world with intact predator guilds and viable populations of all their prey.
However, running a laboratory here is a nightmare. The logistics are difficult – it takes me four to eight months to get anything delivered. Supply chain issues, particularly since COVID-19, have been a significant challenge. The extra costs of transport and delivery to a remote area eat into research budgets. From that point of view, you might think it’s a silly place to set up an analytical laboratory, but we need it here because it is nearly impossible to ship biological samples across Botswana’s borders, or even across veterinary red lines inside the country, which means that the laboratory has to be close to where the samples are collected.
BOTSWANA
I spend a huge amount of my time sourcing supplies for the lab and fieldwork, raising funds and writing reports, and applying for permits to do research and live here. There’s a lot more that goes into wildlife research than just going into the bush and waving radio antennas around – so much happens behind the scenes. The wild dog BioBoundary field research is based around eight wild dog packs in the Botswana Predator Conservation study area – the eastern part of Moremi Game Reserve and the wildlife areas to the east – with its operations running out of Wild Dog Camp. Keeping the research running needs mechanics, cooks, cleaning staff, research coordinators, and so on, in addition to the actual researchers. Doing wildlife research is a big job. The research and the science aren’t as much of a challenge as the bureaucracy and logistics.
MEGAN, THERE IS A STRONG FIELD COMPONENT TO THE WORK, ESPECIALLY WITH CARNIVORES. COULD YOU SHARE A PARTICULARLY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE FROM YOUR FIELDWORK?
Finding the shared marking sites is a memorable experience for me because I was very lucky. I was with a pack of dogs that were resting. I stayed with them to get a complete count, and I couldn’t find three individuals. I did not want to leave until I was sure they weren’t there. This is one of the baseline tasks we perform each time we see a pack to keep track of the demographics.
As time went by, it was half past eight and getting dark. I was new, having been there for about two months, and driving off-road at night was stressful. Eventually, the pack got up and rallied, and with my spotlight, I confirmed that the three
Collecting data on an African wild dog
Photo credits: Megan Claase
individuals were missing. I tried to follow them while they hunted, but I lost them almost instantly and gave up the following.
It was closer to nine o’clock at night when I decided to head home. I turned up at a junction heading towards camp and found the three missing dogs. As it turns out, they were about to disperse – when individuals are about to disperse, they separate from their pack a little, explaining their absence from the rest of the pack. They were running around, hoo-calling, and doing a lot of scent marking at this junction. I tried to follow them, but they ran off and I lost them after about twenty meters. I drove back on the road and reached the same junction again, but this time I had a flat tire. I thought, “brilliant,” and just as I was about to get out of the car, a hyena appeared. This was about five minutes after the dogs had left. I watched from the car as the hyena sniffed around the marking sites, ate the feces, and then moved away. It was interesting to observe, so I noted it down, changed my tire, and headed back to camp.
About a month later, I was driving down that same road again to find a different pack of dogs. I approached the junction and found a whole pack resting there. I thought to myself, “I know this junction; I’ve been here before with a different pack of dogs. This is strange.” The dogs were sniffing and scent-marking a lot, so I took a video. I spoke to Peter about it, and that’s when we decided to put cameras up there. Within the first month, we had three different visits, which surprised us. I had just discovered a shared marking site through pure luck.
Peter: That’s how pioneering research progresses – a lot of it depends on completely unexpected new leads because we don’t know what is out there waiting to be discovered. Unexpected observations and results in the right place, at the right time, with the right people with the skills to recognize when opportunities arise and follow them up, can open up whole new fields of investigation. Of course, the harder we work, the luckier we get. This isn’t Megan making a random observation; this is a researcher in the
field recognizing when luck has offered a new lead, and setting up subsequent work to take advantage of it.
A field experience I will remember was based on camera trapping. It was a camera trap video of a female leopard making a U-turn as she caught the scent of a component of leopard and wildcat urine that we were testing for reactions from leopards and wildcats in a pilot experiment. It was a real “wow! This needs looking into” moment. It was proof of the concept that predators react to single components of their species’ odors – when the orthodox view was that mammal chemical signals are complex mixtures of dozens of compounds.
The leopard’s U-turn was the jumping-off point for the other major thrust of the BioBoundary project: predator deterrents; keeping predators away from livestock by using simple subsets of social odor components. I subsequently tested various experimental odor deterrents in the livestock areas where human-predator conflict happens, at gaps in fences, and around livestock enclosures, and I recorded hyenas and leopards approaching and then turning away. It demonstrated that we could manipulate the behavior of large African carnivores using simple chemistry – something experts had said was impossible – opening up a brand new field of possibilities to ameliorate human-predator conflict.
African wild dogs
Photo credits: Megan Claase
HOW WILL THE BIOBOUNDARY PROJECT POSITIVELY IMPACT AFRICAN WILD DOGS’ CONSERVATION STATUS?
Peter: The basis that Tico McNutt built the whole project on was that wild dogs leave protected areas because they are searching for neighboring packs – which are absent because they have been eliminated by conflict with people – and while they are outside the wildlife area they are vulnerable to being killed by people. If we create virtual neighbors by placing artificial scent marks along the protected area perimeters, the packs will no longer leave the protected areas.
We’re looking to protect the established packs in core populations. The perimeter BioBoundaries of artificial scent-marks will replicate the scentmarked boundaries between pack territories, which is why we need to understand the dogs’ scent-marking behavior and how they respond to natural scent, as well as the chemical composition of the scent so that we can replicate the relevant territorial signals.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE BIO BOUNDARY PROJECT?
Peter: We’re working on elephant repellents, predator deterrents, and wild dog BioBoundary perimeters. These three exciting projects have the potential to transform wildlife conservation and management, and to take them forward we need the resources to build teams of people with complementary skills, fully focused on advancing what we’ve already discovered to the point where it can be rolled out at large scale. We don’t have the luxury for this to take ten or fifteen more years because the predator numbers are declining now, and human-wildlife conflict is an
“THE PROJECT IS PIONEERING WILDLIFE CONSERVATION BY USING MAMMALIAN CHEMICAL SIGNALS TO PROTECT WILD DOG PACKS FROM THREATS OUTSIDE PROTECTED AREAS, BLENDING CHEMISTRY AND FIELDWORK TO TACKLE THE URGENT CONSERVATION NEEDS OF AFRICA’S WILD DOGS.”
escalating problem. Resources are needed to solve it quickly. We are doing something that nobody has ever done before and are the only group using mammalian chemical signaling to develop tools to protect predators from conflict with humans.
The BioBoundary Project is an example of solution-driven wildlife conservation. It’s blending chemistry and fieldwork to tackle the dire situation of Africa’s endangered wild dogs. Dr. Peter Apps and the BioBoundary team have made groundbreaking strides in understanding the complex social dynamics of these elusive predators, developing artificial scent marks to create invisible barriers that will protect packs from threats outside protected areas. With African wild dog populations falling and humanwildlife conflicts on the rise, their work goes beyond innovation – it’s a race to safeguard one of Africa’s most efficient and misunderstood hunters. With their leading research and dedication driving these efforts, there is hope that science and conservation can work together to secure their future.
Website www.wildentrust.org
Facebook @wildentrust
Facebook @BPCTrust
African wild dogs
Photo credits: Megan Claase
SWEDEN
CARNIVORES AS MONEYMAKERS ECOTOURISM IN ACTION
With the issue of environmental degradation being ever-present in today’s political and social discussions all around the world, there has never been a more important time for proactive conservation to take the limelight. As governments lag behind in their understanding of the true scale of the issue, world-leading researchers, innovators and explorers take the reins in an attempt to integrate modern solutions to humans and wildlife co-existing in ways that are beneficial to both.
With the issue of environmental degradation being ever-present there has never been a more important time for proactive conservation to take the limelight. As governments lag behind in their understanding of the true scale of the issue, world-leading researchers, innovators and explorers take the reins in an attempt in ways that are beneficial to both.
Written by: Nathan Turnbull
Eurasian brown bear, Ursus arctos
Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
“BUILDING FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL CONSERVATION VENTURES ARE OFTEN A VERY POPULAR AND SUSTAINABLE WAY OF EXPLAINING IMPORTANT, POTENTIALLY POLARIZING ISSUES MORE CLEARLY.”
European lynx,
Photo credits: Rolf
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One such solution that has been becoming more and more prolific in recent years is using various strains of ecotourism, whereupon the innately interesting and endearing characteristics of cute and impressive ‘charismatic’ animal species are used to draw tourists towards an activity that lets them engage with the natural world in a safe and intimate way. Safaris and wildlife experiences of many kinds are common examples, and are beneficial to both the people that are excitedly flocking to see their favourite animals in safe, local, well-maintained areas, as well as the animals themselves and their ecosystems that are supported by the income drawn in by these business ventures — income that can provide essential food, ecosystem protection and enrichment, and medicinal care, all of which keeps them safe and healthy.
Building financially successful conservation ventures are often a very popular and sustainable way of explaining important, potentially polarizing issues more clearly. Beyond the protection of the endangered species, ecotourism creates jobs for local, rural communities and creates huge influxes of money into areas that would otherwise have little or no source of export income whatsoever.
lynx, Lynx lynx Rolf Nyström
Kitten European lynx, Lynx lynx Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
European lynx, Lynx lynx
Photo credits: Steffan Widstramd
SWEDEN
In Sweden, experienced adventurers and avid conservationists Staffan Widstrand and Magnus Lundgren are exploring the concept of ‘Carnivores as Moneymakers’: asking the question of how to fully and successfully integrate such a business model into Sweden’s economy, as well as its ecosystems. One of their ventures together, ‘Sweden’s Big Five’, is all about the protection of Sweden’s most valuable and charismatic species of predators: bear, wolf, lynx, wolverine, and how these species can live better with the human; the fifth predator and most dangerous of all. Both very accomplished in the field of conservation from decades of well-documented experience, Magnus and Staffan believe in long-term, nature-oriented solutions towards protecting their country’s most impressive animals, while simultaneously contributing to the local economy. Sweden’s Big Five is a communication project that acts as an international outreach programme in collaboration with the efforts of the Swedish
Carnivore Association (SCA). The latter is aiming to change the Swedish government’s opinions and legislation on predator hunting and protection through diligent campaigning.
Sweden’s Big Five falls under the ownership of ‘Wild Wonders International’, a project started
“HUNTING IN SWEDEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE COUNTRY’S CULTURE, GRADUALLY TRANSFORMING FROM A SURVIVAL NECESSITY TO A TREASURED PASTIME.”
Eurasian wolf, Canis lupus
Photo credits: Gunter Lenhardt
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by Staffan and some of his colleagues in 2007initially just ‘Wild Wonders’ - to showcase Europe’s natural heritage. It involved a huge amount of photography missions, street exhibition tours and mass information initiatives. Magnus joined shortly after its creation as a photographer, before eventually becoming the co-owner. In 2016, the project moved to Sweden and was renamed Wild Wonders International, having expanded far beyond showcasing just Europe. Although just a year in, Sweden’s Big Five has already become a huge focal point for the two conservationists as they are conscious of just how important is to communicate the challenges Sweden’s predators are facing in the modern age.
In Sweden, Staffan and Magnus explain, “a massive majority of controlling interest in the socio-political side of animal management is helmed by hunters”. Hunting in Sweden has always been an integral part of the country’s
culture, gradually transforming from a survival necessity to a treasured pastime. As attitudes change, hunters continue to strongly oppose what they believe to be unnecessary policing of their behaviours. Based on official census information, 2.7% of the entire population of Sweden are hunters, which is around 300,000 people. Over time, these traditions have lent a huge amount of credence to the hunter’s political opinions, which are often firmly anti-conservation. In recent years, too, Sweden has regressed in terms of their conservation policies: once fairly forwardthinking and progressive towards environmental protection, the country has now fallen back into the pro-hunting movement, with hunting quotas often far exceeding EU-recommended yearly limits. The current governing bodies in Sweden are even going so far as to consider removing or limiting certain National Park and nature reserve designations country-wide, which would be a serious blow to nature conservation.
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As far as the country’s predators go, numbers have increased and stabilised in recent decades compared to around a century ago. In the 1920’s, there were as few as 100 bears in Sweden. In 2008, there were 3,300 individuals, the beginning of a healthy population above the theoretical ‘minimum survivable population size’ of 1400. However, last year, 738 were killed, and this year, permits have been given to take the lives of another 486. The government ambition seems to be that the bear population shall be reduced to the advised minimum number of 1400, for reasons beyond the comprehension of conservation activist groups like Sweden’s Big Five. Carnivore protection has been sidelined, citing ‘more important concerns’ of civil and economic matters; a fairly agreeable and understandable line of thinking to all but knowledgeable conservationists. Magnus and Staffan are concerned that people are losing sight of the bigger picture of protecting nature as a whole — as Staffan puts it, they ‘can’t see the forest for all the trees’.
Staffan himself has had a substantial amount of involvement with carnivore protection in Sweden over the course of his career. 20 years ago, he was involved in a project with the aim to defend the country’s carnivores to the government. Regular opinion surveys since then have showed that “70% of the Swedish public supports longterm sustainable populations of all their natural predators, with the lynx and the bear being the most favoured species”. This is a trend that is even increasing, with favour for the lynx making up 80% of the public opinion.
So, with this divide between the public sentiment and the controlling interest of policy makers, Sweden is currently at something of a crossroads with its conservation actions. It is therefore more important than ever that organizations like Sweden’s Big Five and the Swedish Carnivore Association exist.
Wolverine, Gulo gulo
Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
SWEDEN
Something that Magnus and Staffan have both noticed recently, having been in the field for so long, is that attitudes certainly seem to be shifting in the right direction. Younger generations, who have been raised to understand more proenvironment stances and have witnessed the damage done to the global ecosystem over the last century, seem to be far more interested in keeping wildlife species safe. An indicative statistic is that 20 years ago in Sweden, 4% of the total population were hunters. Now, at just 2.7%, it would appear that less and less people are enthusiastic about recreationally killing animals. The average age of hunters in Sweden is increasing by one year, every year. It seems that this mindset is a bit of an older generational way of thinking, and looks to be slowly phasing out of popular beliefs amongst the country’s youth.
Magnus and Staffan believe that this could be partly due to shifting social beliefs. Previously, hunting was required to put food on the table. When this was no longer a necessity, hunting became a special interest recreational activity that looked to keep up the tradition while giving communities something to bond over and identify with. Beyond this, there was a culture of ‘showing off’ that surrounded hunting, such as taking trophies to show status within certain social groups. Now, with the advancement of social media, it is possible to take ‘trophies’ of sorts from non-invasive or damaging interaction with wild animals and rural places. Impressive photographs and unique stories can be shared to thousands of people with the mere click of a button. This culture is a far more sustainable and eco-friendly way of capturing the natural world for others to enjoy, without the need for violence. These ‘trophies’ have become immaterial, and the animals are safer as a result.
In terms of Sweden’s ecotourism, the infrastructure is ‘underdeveloped’, Magnus says. Wildlife tourism ventures are vehemently opposed by hunters, and businesses are sometimes actively
Wolverine, Gulo gulo
Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
A female Eurasian brown bear with cubs, Ursus arctos
Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
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sabotaged. The few that have had commercial success and lack of local opposition tend to be very successful, but there needs to be more for meaningful change to be made. While ecotourism can be a controversial and highly debated topic, Staffan maintains that “it is always a positive for communities and their wildlife when correctly employed”. Since around 1981, he says, he has seen ecotourism develop, and can almost exclusively think of good results. The actual risks involved are limited to over-visitation and
improper management, both of which are rare and far easier to deal with than over-hunting or species degradation. As long as the ventures do not exploit local communities and environmental conditions, encouraging ecotourism in rural areas with charismatic species (in this case, large predators) can encourage co-existence, which is vital for long-term success.
But what does this actually look like in action? Sweden’s biggest attraction is the Brown Bear, and experiences offered can involve heading to remote areas in the wilderness that are high in bear activity, and setting up in small, secluded hides to observe the area over a few hours, up to as long as a few days. The hides are strategically placed far enough off the beaten path to attract wildlife and not disturb people. If lucky, visitors will see bears. Other animals are likely to be spotted, too, as areas frequented by bears are often remote enough to attract other species like wolverines, foxes, wolves and eagles. These trips
Human hand and a wolf footprint
Photo credit: Staffan Widstrand
Eurasian wolf, Canis lupus
Photo credits: Staffan Widstrand
Eurasian brown bear, Ursus arctos
Photo credits: Magnus Lundgren
SWEDEN
are organised and led by local professionals, and are popular with photographers and nature lovers alike. The income generated by these tourist trips to stay in the hides can help the local surrounding communities, which are remote enough to barely have any money coming in from outside of self-contained businesses. It means increased turnover in the local grocery stores and gas stations, and more local tax money coming in to be used for all kinds of community services.
When discussing why the ‘big five’ predators are so important, the idea of charismatic species kept coming up. Staffan described them as a good way to ‘get people through the door’ into exploring both Sweden and the natural world in general. This idea is what part of the logic of ecotourism is founded upon: people come to a place like the rural areas of Sweden to experience nature and see the species they are most interested in, like moose,
efforts, and Staffan and Magnus have found themselves embroiled in one of the country’s most polarising issues. Their intention is to communicate the importance of looking after natural predators to as wide an audience as possible, in the expectation that eventually things will change, and official policy will become more hospitable towards these animals. They will continue to push for more clear media reporting, reaching out to engaged listeners to explore this issue. They have no intention of slowing down, and the wolves, bears, wolverines, lynx, and even humans of Sweden will be all the better for it. In time, with the diligent efforts of conservationists such as those involved with Sweden’s Big Five and the Swedish Carnivore Association, harmonious and balanced co-existence may be possible. Until then, there’s more work to be done.
“CHARISMATIC SPECIES ENSURE INTEREST, AND CAN ASSIST IN CREATING A HOLISTIC, TOP-DOWN CASCADE EFFECT FOR LOCAL CONSERVATION AS A RESULT.”
bears, wolverines or wolves. Then, they may also see some birds, or perhaps even insects, that turn out to be even more exciting than they initially would have expected. While unlikely that the birds or the insects would have gotten the tourists into the area to begin with, the big and beautiful species that everyone is sure to be interested in definitely will. Charismatic species ensure interest, and can assist in creating a holistic, top-down cascade effect for local conservation as a result. Staffan has seen it in places like Tanzania, Brazil, Finland and Uganda, and swears by its success — national parks in these countries have had huge success incorporating guided tours and on-site stays for charismatic species that bring in a lot of tourists that are attracted by this infrastructure.
It’s not every day that a terrestrial creature more than 20 centimeters in length is newly discovered. Yet, this is precisely what happened in the canopies of Southern Mexico. Described as “unusually large”, the alligator-like creature has somehow escaped detection by scientists for hundreds of years. That was until 2023, when intriguing footage of the lizard sparked a scientific expedition into the region. The expedition lasted more than a year, with the elusive creature particularly difficult find.
The Coapilla arboreal alligator lizard (Abronia cunemica), discovered in January of this year, is a member of the Abronia genus. This genus consists of 41 different species (now 42), all alligator lizards. Of those 41, approximately three-fourths (32) are arboreal (tree-dwellers) and described as both colorful and mysterious. Because of their endemic status and high diversity, they are of high conservation value.
The Coapilla arboreal alligator lizards are also tree-dwellers, residing in heights ranging from three to twenty meters. The expedition team, led by researcher Adam Clause, found a total of five specimens, two of which were pregnant females. While in the field, they also witnessed a male and female in a type of courtship ritual that involved the male biting down on the female’s head.
Once they realized they discovered a new species, they decided to name it after the nearby town, Coapilla, but opted to use the indigenous Zoque language’s name for the town: Cuñemo. In addition to naming the species with an indigenous language, the research team also published their discovery in both English and Spanish, with the intention to allow for a greater diffusion of the research within Mexico itself. They hope this move will inspire further instances of such an approach within the conservation world.
The region in which the lizards were found, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, is a unique landscape for undiscovered herpetofauna. It is also where a snake species new to Mexico, the striped-lizard eater (Mastigodryas dorsalis), has recently been spotted, along with the extremely rare Finca Chiblac salamander (Bradytriton silus). There are currently 94 native lizards in the state of Chiapas, ten of which are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.
As a result of its diversity, but also due to accelerated levels of deforestation and the effects of climate change on the region, scientists are now racing against the clock to find even more species new to science.
Sustainable Tourism. Everyone has heard of it, yet we rarely know what it entails. Stuart Cottrell, professor at Colorado State University (CSU), has taken the time to tell us about the most important reasons why sustainable endeavors succeed or fail, he talks to us about his amazing marine tourism excursion, and answers some of our most burning questions from a tourist’s perspective.
Written by: Patrizia Baldi
THANK YOU FOR TALKING TO US, STUART. FIRST OFF, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND THAT BROUGHT YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
For the past 20 years, I’ve been a professor at Colorado State University, promoting sustainable tourism, but I have always had a passion for conservation as well. Since in the late 70s and early 80s, there weren’t a lot of degrees specifically labeled as conservation I decided to focus on outdoor recreation and natural resource management instead. I wanted to work for the National Park Service as an outdoor educator in the USA.
Even though it was difficult to get an interpretive position with the Park Service, I decided to pursue my passion working as a park ranger for the US Army Corps of Engineers on the Mississippi River where I got to do environmental education. I later jumped ship to work at the Florida Sea Base in the Florida Keys, run by the Boy Scouts of America. As the Director of Program, I hired all the staff and was responsible for their training with a central focus on marine science ecosystem awareness. Since I really enjoyed working with the collegeage staff at Sea Base, I decided to pursue my PhD at Pennsylvania State University. My first academic job was at Christopher Newport University teaching recreation and tourism while living on a 45-foot sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay, where I ran ecotour charters on my boat during summers.
At one point, I took a year of absence to live in the Netherlands and work at Wageningen University, which evolved into a full-time academic job. While there, I co-taught a course on sustainable tourism. After several years, I got the opportunity to focus my teaching on sustainability and ecotourism at Colorado State University. I’ve been there since 2004 as the coordinator of the undergraduate concentration in global tourism, which focuses on sustainable tourism development.
I consider myself to be a conservation social scientist. At Colorado State, we are really interested in the human dimension’s aspect, meaning we try to understand why people do what they do in natural environments, while engaged in recreation and tourism. Part of our education efforts focus on strategies and interventions to mediate issues pertinent to conservation and management of natural resources. When we talk about ecotourism, there’s always a social component to consider, so we tend to focus on that in our curriculum here at Colorado State, framed in the context of human dimensions of natural resources.
YOU’VE BEEN RUNNING THE BAHAMAS MARINE TOURISM COURSE FOR 18 YEARS NOW. HOW DID THIS IDEA FIRST COME ABOUT?
In the United States, there is a big effort from universities to have young people go overseas for an international experience. From my time with the Florida Sea Base, I already had experience running an adventure sailing program, so I decided to create a marine ecotourism course in the Bahamas, which is a one-week facultyled education course. Some students join as part of the three-credit elective course for their major, such as ecosystem science and sustainability or natural resource tourism, while others partake because they want an interesting and educational experience abroad before they graduate. Selected students attend eight preparation class sessions in the spring semester at CSU before we get on the boat in the Bahamas in May. For instance, we learn about what ecotourism means and how it fits into the sustainability debate. We also discuss things like the ecology of coral reefs, sailing and boating terminology, the ethics of swimming with sharks, as well as social and cultural aspects of the Bahamas.
Swimming pig in the Bahamas
Photo credits: Brennan Rapaport
WHAT ARE YOU AIMING TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS COURSE?
While on the course, we meet with many different stakeholders, such as environmental NGOs and tourism operators, and we learn about the pros and cons of tourism in the Bahamas. Oftentimes, students take the course thinking that ecotourism is the ideal form of tourism. But while in the Bahamas, students are exposed to aspects such as mass tourist numbers and inappropriate traveler behavior and its effects on a destination. It’s important to provide experiential opportunities for the students, enabling them to make their own judgments about what’s appropriate. For instance, one of the most promoted activities in the Bahamas is the swimming pigs. In essence a profitable pig farm, the non-native pigs have adapted to their environment and swim from the beach to the onslaught of tourists coming by small boats to see and feed them. At the same time, if you remove or even stop some aspects of tourism, the Bahamian Islands may have further socio-economic issues to deal with, since tourism is their primary industry. So by the end of the week, students begin to critically question if all aspects
Ocean wildlife in the Bahamas
Photo credits: Brennan Rapaport
of tourism are as great as they seem at first glance.
The students also learn a lot about the cultural connection in the islands, and think about how the experience they’re having might bring economic benefits to the Bahamas: at the very least we charter a boat with a Bahamian crew, buy food and fuel, and pay for dockage, as well as share
CSU 2023 students group
“BY THE END OF THE WEEK, STUDENTS BEGIN TO CRITICALLY QUESTION IF ALL ASPECTS OF TOURISM ARE AS GREAT AS THEY SEEM AT FIRST GLANCE.”
Photo credit: Brennan Rapaport
our experiences with many others.
Additionally, Bahamian marine ecosystems are very fragile, thus we do a conservation project as part of our course. We have previously done counts of coral species along the reef in order to learn more about their density. For many years we’ve also carried out beach cleanups. We always want to make sure to give back, by either supporting the Bahamas National Trust at one of the parks, or other environmental NGOs. Last year, we helped the park wardens remove stumps and roots, so they could bring their patrol boats up on the beach. This upcoming year we’ll probably help the park remake picnic tables and renew signage for some of their trails. The key point here is that we don’t tell them what they should do, but rather listen to what they need and ask how we can help.
CLEARLY,
THERE ARE MANY ASPECTS TO CONSIDER. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM?
To have one specific definition of sustainable tourism is difficult to impose. Sustainable tourism in general is all about trying to maintain places and their integrity for future generations as it pertains to social, environmental and economic perspectives. Although this is based on certain principles for sustainability, what is most applicable to a destination can vary widely.
There’s the six George Wallace principles of ecotourism. The ones we tend to speak to the most, however, are the ones provided by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. The GSTC criteria and indicators can be used by destinations as a guide towards sustainable tourism. As part of this framework, there are three different perspectives to consider, also called the classic Triple Bottom Line, or ‘people-profit-planet’. It often is complex to reach a perfect balance between these three perspectives. But, with the right institutional mechanisms in place, the aim is to move towards sustainable tourism in all aspects, the environmental, the social as well as the economic. If one of these main dimensions is missing in the dialogue, then a destination will not even come close to being sustainable. For
USA
example, focusing solely on social experiences for the visitors may have disastrous consequences for the environmental integrity of a place.
I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU A SOMEWHAT TRICKY QUESTION: WHY TRAVEL? WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER TO STAY HOME AND NOT INTERFERE WITH FOREIGN ENVIRONMENTS AT ALL?
That’s a good question – and actually a discourse I conduct with a lot of my classes. Does a true ecotourist stay home? I would say that ideologically, most forms of tourism pose challenges, simply because of human nature: everyone always wants more… and with tourism being one of the largest industries in the world, this can be problematic. At the same time, it is also a sector that employs a lot of people globally, whether it’s food and beverage, hotels and accommodations, transportation, media, the list goes on.
I think the bottom line is that it would probably be better in a lot of ways if we wouldn’t travel as much, however, it is unrealistic to think that tourism will go away. People will always want to travel and see beautiful places, so it is important to figure out how we can make all forms of tourism better and more sustainable than they were before. That’s the challenge.
WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE ISSUES WHEN IT COMES TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM?
Over the years, I have gotten to know many National Parks and projects globally. What I have learned is that it really comes down to the people involved and how the principles of sustainable tourism are enforced. One of the failings of sustainable tourism is that any sort of positive change is dependent on the passion of a couple of individuals that are able to motivate others. Once those individuals leave, things can change rapidly. So, there is often the question of who’s going to carry on that initiative.
There’s an example I want to share of a project in Peru, where they were doing rainforest expeditions and had created eco-lodges in the Tambopata region. They focused on the protection of wildlife and biodiversity in the region. The economic benefits from visiting tourists were shared among all the local community members, which worked well for a while, as it does with many grassroots efforts. But then, different needs, interests, wants and desires of the local community led to challenges after a 10 to 15 year period and less community involvement. That’s an example of a project that ideologically worked well in the
beginning, but with growth, changes in the people involved and mistrust came into play, which unfortunately altered the overall outcome to be a lot less effective.
Another issue has to do with certifications and guidelines. It’s important that if for example a National Park is awarded with a certain sustainability or conservation standard (most EU parks today adhere to the IUCN categories for Protected Areas, but there are also many others such as Natura2000 sites or UNESCO Biosphere Reserves), things still need to continuously be
“SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN GENERAL IS ALL ABOUT TRYING TO MAINTAIN PLACES AND THEIR INTEGRITY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS AS IT PERTAINS TO SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES.”
Students learning about the Bahamas
Photo credit: Brennan Rapaport
improved. I’ve seen this many times in the past: once an expedient status is achieved, nothing else is done, and it doesn’t work like that - at least not if we want a long-term, sustainable solution.
SO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS THERE IS A LOT OF GOOD THAT CAN BE DONE WITH SUSTAINABLE TOURISM, BUT FOR IT TO WORK LONG-TERM YOU NEED PASSIONATE PEOPLE, AND THE WILL TO KEEP WORKING ON IT.
Absolutely. It is important to not become complacent, because things do tend to change after a period of time, and we need to keep adapting to that. Of course, financial security is necessary as well. If a project runs out of money, sustainability will always be at risk.
I CAN IMAGINE THAT GREENWASHING IS ALSO QUITE COMMON WHEN IT COMES TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM. WOULD YOU AGREE WITH THAT?
Absolutely. I think the fallacy is that once you put the label “sustainable” on something, people naturally have expectations of what that is, even though it may not be what they think. There are hundreds of different eco-label platforms for ecotourism and sustainable tourism in Europe
alone. How can we manage that and by what authorities? There are a lot of labels being specifically created for greenwashing purposes, so unfortunately it is hard to know what is legit and what is not.
FROM A TOURIST’S PERSPECTIVE, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER BEFORE VISITING PLACES?
Become familiar with your destination before you visit. Inform yourself, look at different sources, whether it’s TripAdvisor, other websites, or specific information that’s available.
What I can recommend is Blue Flag, which is a program promoting sustainable tourism development in both freshwater and marine environments in all dimensions, or the Center for Responsible Travel. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council also has some amazing information on its website with criteria for destinations, accommodations, businesses, organizations, and travelers.
I think it’s great for tourists to know a little bit about the cultural attributes, maybe learn how to at least say “hello” and “goodbye” in the
local language. Sometimes it might also help to simply observe and not be obnoxiously loud as a foreigner. Don’t leave rubbish of course – and pick it up and dispose of it when you come across it on the beach, for example. Just be informed consumers and savvy travelers and appreciate the fact that you’re able to visit that country. If there’s a chance to contribute to conservation efforts, do that. Always ask yourself if an activity is sustainable or not (such as the before mentioned swimming with pigs, riding elephants, or swimming with sharks). Select local foods over others and try to reduce bottled water if you can. Just being more conscientious as a whole.
AS SOMEONE WHO HAS OBSERVED THIS INDUSTRY FOR A LONG TIME, DO YOU SEE A SHIFT TOWARDS MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM?
Yes, I think nowadays an organization or travel agency has to talk about how they’re being green in terms of their market. If they’re not, that may well become a financial disadvantage for them.
IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO WORK TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND SPECIFICALLY MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM?
My research shows that people who are more aware of the consequences of their actions will likely feel more inclined to act responsibly, so a lot is about attitude shifts and constant reinforcement. It’s crucial for us to want to keep learning and change behaviors whenever necessary - while also getting rid of the notion that we can’t make a difference as individuals, because collectively we can! At the same time, if the local government with all its power doesn’t pitch in, then it becomes difficult also. We all need to do our part, as individuals, destinations and governments, to make our world a more sustainable place.
Website warnercnr.colostate.edu
Website responsibletravel.org
Website ecolabelindex.com
Website blueflag.global
Website gstcouncil.org
Website bnt.bs
Linkedin @stuartcottrell
Charter in the Bahamas
Photo credit: Brennan Rapaport
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My name is Ahamed Jazif, a nature and wildlife photographer based in Sri Lanka. My work is dedicated to capturing the essence of wild animals and the environment, giving a “voice to the voiceless” through my lens. For the past six years, I have raised awareness and advocated for conservation through my photography, believing that impactful images have the power to inspire change. It’s a way to preserve and share the beauty of nature with others.
Through my photos, I hope to inspire and encourage others to protect the natural world, because conserving nature is incredibly important. Its beauty and abundance are things that should be cherished and protected for future generations to enjoy. Besides that, nature provides us with clean air, fresh water, and a sense of peace and well-being. And without nature, our world would be a bleak and desolate place.
As I progress in my career, I remain committed to advocating for wildlife and environmental preservation while harnessing the power of social media and digital platforms to engage with an even wider audience. Recently, I shifted my focus toward blending creativity and art with my conservation efforts. Through stunning imagery and heartfelt narratives, I aim to inspire others to appreciate the beauty of our natural world and take action in the name of conservation. I envision collaborations with other artists, filmmakers, and environmentalists to create holistic projects that spotlight endangered species and habitats, making wildlife conservation more accessible and relatable to everyday people.
Instagram @ahamed_jazif.ij
Instagram @ahamed_jazif.ij
CASTING FIRE IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT
In 2023, Canada’s summer unleashed unparalleled fires across its Northern landscape. Burning a total of 15 million hectares, and emitting a total of 2 billion tons of CO2 (more than the annual carbon emissions of every country except the United States, China, and India), researchers found that such ferocity was three times more likely because of climate change. Shifts of large, forested areas from carbon sinks to carbon sources are worrying scientists around the globe, as calls towards more integrated fire management grow louder. With the Brazilian Pantanal and Amazon Rainforest being the latest of landscapes this year to produce unprecedented blazes, wildland firefighters, researchers, and governments are accelerating efforts to reduce wildfire intensity and frequency within their natural landscapes. In Mexico, such efforts are being partially spearheaded by the Autonomous University of Chapingo’s forestry program. Oscar Jared Diaz Carrillo, the former Head of the Experimental Forestry Areas at the university and winner of the Early Career Award of Fire Operations rewarded by the IAWF (International Association of Wildland Fire) is someone whose story is already closely tied to the resilience of Mexico’s forests. At only 25 years old, he already has 7 years of wildland firefighting under his belt and experience in leadership roles, research, and international collaboration. He is behind a push to modernize Mexico’s wildland firefighting capabilities. His passion for his work acts as an anchor, driving him to further his knowledge and strive toward shifting Mexico’s perceptions of forest fires.
Written by: Thijs Montalvo
The “torchero”, the person in charge of carrying the torch and starting the fire, is always accompanied by a guide who indicates the way to follow.
Photo credits: Oscar J. Díaz
Prescribed burns for fuel reduction purposes in induced forests of Casuarina and Eucalyptus
Oscar J. Díaz wearing the personal protective equipment used in Mexico
Photo credits: Oscar J. Díaz
Photo credit: Oscar J. Díaz
THE SCIENCE AND HISTORY BEHIND MEXICO’S FIRE MANAGEMENT
Fire management is much more complicated than simply putting out fires when there is a blaze. It is about learning from the land you are working with and helping it build its own resilience in areas where it is needed. Forests have their own fire regime, a phrase describing the pattern, frequency, and intensity of naturally occurring wildfires. This regime can be highly dependent on the type of vegetation in the area, rainfall, as well as drought frequency and intensity. Fires that fall within the category of the natural fire regime are good for the landscape, as they increase biodiversity and resilience and are considered an important part of disturbance ecology. Disturbance ecology describes the ecosystem functions of natural disturbances such as natural disasters, famine, pests, parasites, or animal behavior (such as grazing). These disturbances are ways in which the landscape naturally regenerates itself; recycling stored nutrients back into the system. It is important to understand that fire is a natural disturbance in ecosystems and that it has been mankind who has given it an indiscriminate use, generating problems.
“FORESTS HAVE THEIR OWN FIRE REGIME, A PHRASE DESCRIBING THE PATTERN, FREQUENCY, AND INTENSITY OF NATURALLY OCCURRING WILDFIRES.”
While the necessity of fire in landscapes has been part of many indigenous groups’ management techniques, Western science took a while to catch up. As far back as pre-Hispanic times, indigenous communities used fire to manage lands. “There are studies that show that the Ancient Mayans and Aztecs used fire to prepare agricultural soils and manage forests and jungles. When the Spaniards came, they disregarded these practices, falling into disuse.”
MEXICO
Engineer Doria Procuna, fire handler
Photo credits: Oscar J. Díaz
MEXICO
This didn’t change for hundreds of years, with fire suppression remaining the main way fires were managed. In the United States, the ‘Smokey the Bear’ campaign was used to spread a narrative steeped in fear. Due to its proximity to the United States, Mexico was also influenced by this narrative at the time. According to Oscar, this has created some major issues: “Due to this negative perception of the presence of fire in ecosystems and social efforts to keep it away, we now face a problem. Because of its suppression over the years, fuel (branches, leaves, bark) has accumulated, and when a fire starts, with the ideal conditions for its spread, fire behavior has become extreme.” Only in the past few decades has a shift occurred, with scientific studies paving the way toward fire becoming more accepted.
In order to eliminate the problems of past fire suppression, and reduce the damage that a forest fire can cause to the ecosystem and people, land management professionals have begun to use fire in a natural way to reduce fuel loads while also reaping ecological benefits. Such practices acknowledge a landscape’s evolution within the fire regime while also prescribing fire’s regenerative powers in a controlled, safe, manner. The carrying out of prescribed burns includes confining it to a designated area, where the fire moves with controlled speed and heat. This requires highly qualified technical personnel, who must have an understanding of fire ecology, forest fuels, as well as the atmosphere and topography, among others.
Prescribed burns focus on ecological objectives and create greater biodiversity, revive the understory of forests (vegetation on the forest floor), reduce fuel loads, and return nutrients to the soil. When prescribing burns you need to recognize the needs of the vegetation in relation to fire, deciding whether and how much fire is needed
to promote natural succession. “Prescribed fires can be very good for the animals because you unlock a seed bank which the animals prefer.” With this new seed bank unlocked, different species of plants are able to grow, creating more microhabitats and boosting biodiversity, all while preventing future catastrophic wildfires.
If the only problem were poor management of fire-affected landscapes, that would be one thing, but with the added pressure of climate change, wildfires around the world and in Mexico are being supercharged by droughts and record temperatures. This is what has happened in countries like Brazil, Canada, and Greece and will continue to happen unless something changes. Oscar himself has witnessed the impact of climate change on the landscape in his region, not only in the form of more intense and frequent fires but also on the landscape’s ability to recover naturally. Reforestation efforts in Mexico now require a more handson approach, as young trees need more help than in the past to succeed as a result of more frequent and intense droughts. Overall, the resilience of the landscape is lower than before, both to recover from disturbances and to limit their magnitude.
“Trees have not yet fully adapted to climatic changes in rainfall. This year in Mexico we have suffered a severe drought, which has forced us to apply supplemental irrigation to reforestation efforts. As these are young trees, they have not yet completed their establishment, which makes them very fragile. However, we have also observed the mortality of 15 to 30-year-old pines, which are already established. This year, we have experienced the greatest impact from forest fires ever recorded in Mexico (almost 1.5 million hectares).” Unless something is done, this cycle –in which climate change undermines reforestation efforts, providing more fuel for intense fires and further decimating trees – will not come to an
Protection of a Pinus pseudostrobus plantation
Photos credits: Oscar J. Díaz
MEXICO
end. Climate change has upped the risks and speed of catastrophic wildfires. Perceptions of fire management must change with it.
PERCEPTIONS FROM THE LAND AND LEARNINGS FROM ABROAD
Oscar’s fascination began at the age of 18, while enrolled at the Chapingo Autonomous University, his interest came from the love of action and heightened levels of emotions often attributed to seeing the raw force and fighting forest fires. He recalls several experiences in which he was in awe at the effect fire had on the landscape.
Yet, at the same time, this generated a scientific interest in the area. His experiences as a wildland firefighter over the past 7 years have shown him that fires are becoming more and more unpredictable. Fires are beginning to act more strangely and erratic, moving over distances in a matter of seconds rather than minutes or hours, and generating walls of flames many meters high. While he kept on working as a firefighter, eventually taking a leadership role as Head of the Experimental Forestry Areas and helping other students learn wildfire suppression techniques, he also began to study how forest fires were changing globally because of climate change. He realized that unless Mexico’s scientists, politicians, and citizens began to adapt and create policies that allowed for new ways to manage wildfires, events such as the colossal 2019 Australia bushfires and titanic 2023 Canada boreal fires would one day happen to forests in Mexico. He
realized he needed more tools than simply fire breaks, backfires, and water. He understood that the best way forward would involve using science to predict how fires would occur in the future, and using advocacy and education to change the mindset of people, instilling the acceptance of fire, rather than fear.
While trying to fight for a different way of viewing forest fires, Oscar will tell you himself that at times it can be frustrating: “In Mexico, with fire suppression being actively pushed, cultural fire practitioners have lost their expertise. People have continued to burn but no longer know how to do it safely and properly. The result is many mistakes, fire escapes, and loss of life, as 19% of wildfires are the result of outbreaks from agricultural lands.”
In both cases, whether it is suppressing or spreading fires, public outreach is important. One must be patient and find different methods of educating different groups of people. When change is slower and backlash more rampant than expected, it’s sometimes important to get some perspective. For Oscar, this meant heading to Europe to take part in a wildland firefighting course, and see how countries around the globe are finding different ways of tackling the same problem.
What he took home from that was a mix of many different emotions. To see the amount of science and technology at play within European
Prescribed burning for fuel reduction in a pine forest in Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca. Photo credits: Oscar J. Díaz
MEXICO
firefighting forces was a source of inspiration. It instantly spurred thoughts as to how he could bring such knowledge to Mexico. And to see the innovative approaches, which some of the firefighting forces were taking, was encouraging. On the other hand, he also began to see the uphill battle that he was facing. Not only was there a psychological barrier but he also realized there was a major funds barrier to Mexico’s fire management approaches. Unlike Spain, for example, Mexico has no planes, trucks, or large amounts of firefighters available to send to large forest fires. “In Spain, when a wildfire breaks out, they dispatch a fire chief, two fire trucks with crews, and a helicopter. In contrast, in Mexico, we often must manage with much fewer resources. For example, a common way to handle a large fire might be to send ten people and a limited amount of water only.”
At the same time, he feels pride towards his own country for doing such great work despite having few resources. “Seeing this disparity made me realize the potential within Mexico. Despite having limited resources, our people achieve remarkable results. This experience has led me to believe that we don’t necessarily need to have all the latest technology to fight wildfires effectively. Instead, we need to focus on training and equipping our people with the right knowledge and skills.”
PRESENT DAY
Oscar continues to be a part of Mexico’s wildfire management scene and is now enrolled in a master’s degree in forestry. Here, he will be learning to model the effects of climate change on wildfires in the future. His experience in Europe has regenerated his desire to remain in Mexico and change perceptions. “My perspective has shifted from thinking that we need to seek solutions abroad to recognizing the value and potential within our own country. This change in mindset has inspired me to start a project aimed at improving the training and resources for wildfire management in Mexico. I want to bring in more comprehensive guidance, focusing not just on theory but practical, hands-on skills that can make a real difference in the field.”
“In Mexico, there’s a notion that to be successful or happy, one must seek opportunities abroad, which often leads to a sense of dissatisfaction with what we have at home. However, my experiences have taught me that we should instead take pride in our own capabilities and work to enhance them.” Throughout all his time observing fires and their regeneration, Oscar felt the desire to share a final message highlighting his perspective and connection to fire. He hopes such a perspective can continue to spread.
“THE CONTROLLED FIRE CAN BE A REBIRTH, THE UNCONTROLLED ONE BECOMES A DESTRUCTION. FIRE IS NOT TO BE FEARED, BUT RESPECTED; THE MOMENT WE LOSE RESPECT FOR IT, IT WILL DEMAND IT FROM US. IT IS CRUCIAL THAT HUMANITY TAKE THE THREAT OF FOREST FIRES SERIOUSLY AND ACT IMMEDIATELY TO PROTECT OUR PLANET’S FORESTS.”
- Oscar J. Díaz
Facebook @Oscar J. Díaz Linkedin @oscar-j-diaz
Written by: Mark Kranendonk & Madison Miketa
PRESERVING CHILE’S LEGACY ONE SPECIES AT A TIME CHILE
For some people, the only truly undiscovered places are the deep ocean and surfaces like the moon or Mars. However, there is often still much to discover in the places we call home. Everything in life is everchanging, and so knowledge about a region, an ecosystem, or a species could be outdated before we know it. And if things take a turn for the worse, it’s important to have the most accurate data possible before figuring out a solution. At Legado Chile, aptly named ‘Chile’s Legacy’, Francisca Bustos – Director of Communication and Alliances – and Magdalena Huerta – Director of Conservation and Ecological Restoration – work on better understanding the Maullín River Basin and its inhabitants, the Southern River Otter and the Freshwater Crayfish, to hopefully one day restore the river basin and the abundance of animals to its former glory.
Written by: Manon Verijdt
When an area is degrading, and the existence of species is being threatened by multiple threats, you need to act. However, it isn’t always easy to decide what to work on first. Especially in areas like the Maullín river basin in Chile, where research has been lacking, there isn’t enough data to confidently tell how the ecosystem, and its inhabitants, are doing right now. This is why some years ago, Magdalena’s predecessor started by monitoring the area around the Maullín River using camera traps to try and detect the presence of the Southern River Otter – known as the huillín in Chile. It took more than 700 nights of data collection, with ten camera traps located at ten sites – seven in the Maullín river and three in tributary rivers – where the huillín was expected to be present, to finally understand more about the species.
“Only 30% of the images showed signs of the huillín, so we expect the population to be very small,” Magdalena explains. “Most importantly, in all sites where huillín were seen, the American mink was also present.” The American mink was once kept in areas of Argentina for its fur, but some escaped, so their population multiplied and spread quickly. As the American mink resides in similar areas to the huillín, it is a huge threat to the already small population of otters. American mink can carry diseases, and although little is known, researchers suspect the American mink to use similar food sources as well as sheltering places like burrows. All in all, the presence of this invasive species isn’t great news for the huillín.
Luckily the camera data did not only show threats. The team also captured the scientifically
Left and top photo: Nature conservation awareness for primary school children
Photo credits: Legado Chile Foundation
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interesting behavior of the huillín marking their territories with feces. Alongside that, an abundance of other wildlife was captured on camera including a species of pudu – the world’s smallest deer –, wild cats, and a monito del monte – a type of marsupial –, indicating the huillín shares its habitat with these animals. However, those weren’t the only species present. Domestic cats and dogs also roamed around, forming a threat to the huillín as they can spread diseases,
and dogs might even prey on them.
“The huillín used to be abundant in Chile and Argentina, but unfortunately all indications point towards a decline,” Magdalena adds. But, the American mink and domestic cats and dogs aren’t the only – and most likely not even the worst –threat to this species. Loss of riparian habitat through human alterations like the removal of vegetation from the river banks is potentially
“WE RESTORE THE WETLANDS TO THEIR ORIGINAL STATE SO THEY CAN ONCE AGAIN PROVIDE THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES THE COMMUNITY SO DESPERATELY NEEDS, SUCH AS FLOOD CONTROL, HABITAT FOR WILD FAUNA AND FLORA, AND SPACES FOR CULTURAL, MENTAL, AND LEISURE DEVELOPMENT.”
Legado Chile Foundation and its work in nature conservation
Photo credits: Gria Agrosintrópica
the greatest threat, alongside threats like the addition of fences, habitat changes such as the change from urban wetlands to agricultural use, and water pollution. These threats all add up in the huillín’s environment. It is no wonder that the huillín can now only be found in a small area of Chile, including the Maullín River basin.
To save the huillín from extinction, action needs to be taken. Legado Chile focuses on habitat restoration by conserving the riparian vegetation found in urban wetlands which is so crucial to their habitat – as this vegetation provides them with locations for their burrows and provides shelter for species like the freshwater crayfish, which is one of their main food sources – and they are continuously gathering more data to learn more about the remaining populations.
Alongside their continuous research on the huillín, the team at Legado Chile has decided to also
start researching the freshwater crayfish. “It is a key food source for the huillín, making it an obvious next step in our research. But beyond that we know very little about the species,” says Magdalena. To understand more about the distribution and reproduction of the reproductive females of the species, they now started their newest project ‘Where Are The Mums’. “We are comparing different sites alongside the river, during different seasons of the year. Once we capture them we work out the percentage of males and females, as well as the number of reproductive females,” Magdalena explains. “We also include water quality, the state of the riparian vegetation and more in our research.” With local communities being dependent on the river for survival, fishing is a common activity, yet also a potentially harmful one to the species living in the river. As the freshwater crayfish is an important element in the food chain, understanding more about the freshwater crayfish may help with creating a management plan for the urban wetlands. This management plan will eventually play a significant role in safeguarding and the restoration of the entire ecosystem.
While undertaking research is key, raising awareness about the huillín, the freshwater crayfish, and the Maullín River within local communities is equally as important. Without it, the future of this ecosystem and the species within it will not look any different from the present. Francisca adds: “We collaborate closely with local communities, policymakers, and ventures, to have everyone pulling on the same rope. For example, we work with local governments who are interested in what we do for the benefit of
“FOR US TO MAKE AN IMPACT AND INFLUENCE CHANGE IN THE LONG RUN, WE NEED TO WORK WITH EVERYONE, FROM YOUNG CHILDREN TO ADULTS.”
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their region. We also partner with businesses that have an interest in the well-being of the community. For example, because they have deep family roots in the area, their staff lives here, or because of their history in the region. But we also work with specialists in the scientific field, so we can eventually make a bigger impact. We believe that the key to having a more meaningful impact in the community is by making these vital connections.”
Since the local urban wetlands are so vital for a healthy environment – both for the wildlife and the people –, Legado Chile has started to restore various areas of urban wetlands in the region.
“We have now identified seven urban wetlands that belong to our conservation objectives. We restore the wetlands to their original state so they can once again provide the ecosystem services the community so desperately needs, such as flood control, habitat for wild fauna and flora, and spaces for cultural, mental, and leisure development,” Magdalena explains.
They don’t do this solely by themselves. Through dedicated actions of raising awareness – e.g.,
making and distributing short documentaries, as well as their much beloved yearly primary school education programs – they were able to launch ‘Centinelas Ambientales’, or ‘Citizen Sentinels’ in English. “For us to make an impact and influence change in the long run, we need to work with everyone, from young children to adults. We intertwine many of our projects to make this happen,” says Francisca. “Firstly, we empower the citizen sentinels to take action and explain to them how to use camera traps to monitor the river. Secondly, we have been able to show them one of the robots from the CAC (Communal Environmental Committee) Puerto Varas and Los Lagos University, which looks exactly like a huillín and researches water pollution while in the water.” So, with the combined forces of citizen sentinels and a robot, Legado Chile is now able to continue its research on the Maullín River and its inhabitants to understand even more about their ecosystem. And the documentaries – for example about the citizen sentinels – are spread nationally to raise awareness about the beauty of the region, the threats it’s facing, and the great work that is being done by the local community.
Legado Chile Foundation working on nature conservation
Photo credits: Gria Agrosintrópica
Such collaborations are not only vital for personal perseverance and motivation but also for the growth of the organization. Francisca explains: “We are becoming more known throughout the country due to our work on urban wetland restoration and our collaborations with universities and other institutions. We hope this will help us expand our work further north in the future, including adding some members to our team.”
Legado Chile’s team isn’t the biggest, but they are dedicated and passionate individuals, who care about their country and environment. “I thoroughly enjoy being in nature; hearing the river flow, the birds sing, it makes me so happy,” says Magdalena. “The fact that we are working together with people who share the same goals and passion, makes it all worthwhile. We might be working too many hours, but knowing that we are
making a positive impact and are not alone in our attempt, is an amazing feeling.”
Who knows, in a couple of years from now, (urban) wetlands might be restored throughout the country, knowledge of the huillín and freshwater crayfish could be abundant and the huillín might be on the recovering side, spreading and reclaiming their natural habitat once again.
Setting a camera trap
Photo credits: Legado Chile Foundation
AUSTRALIA
Humpback whale jumping
Photo credits: Enorha Guimard
A SANCTUARY FOR HUMPBACK WHALES
HERVEY BAY’S ROLE IN MARINE CONSERVATION
The Pacific Ocean is home to a wealth of species, more than we may ever know. Yet, in one corner of this vast ocean, a story of survival and resilience continues to evolve, as humpback whales find refuge off the coast of Queensland.
Hervey Bay’s calm waters are more than just a resting spot for the humpback whales — the area is a critical refuge for this species that has been fighting its way back from the edge of extinction. The majestic humpback whale has become a beacon of hope for conservationists across the globe, and their abundance a testament to the impact that scientific research and dedicated advocacy can have on wildlife protection and recovery. The importance of this sanctuary cannot be overstated, yet it’s a fragile balance — one that hinges on continued advocacy, strict protection laws, and public engagement.
Written by: Cara Blackburn
AUSTRALIA
Tail and fin of Humpback whales
Photo credits: Enorha Guimard
GUARDIANS OF THE GIANTS
A little over thirty years ago, Andrew Ellis, a young captain, arrived in the then-sleepy village of Hervey Bay, about to embark on a life-changing adventure. Andrew, who knew little of marine life, was offered a whale-watching contract, where he was responsible for bringing researchers out to observe and study the whales in Hervey Bay. Throughout this contract, Andrew’s love of whales grew and he took it upon himself to spend his days learning everything he could about these enchanting animals. Upon meeting Greg Kauffman, the founder of the Maui-based Pacific Whale Foundation, Andrew was eager to get involved and soon became a key figure in founding the Australian chapter of the Foundation. The goal was simple: protect the whales, but do so through educating the public and promoting sustainable practices.
“THE GOAL WAS SIMPLE: PROTECT THE WHALES, BUT DO SO THROUGH EDUCATING THE PUBLIC AND PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES.”
The Hervey Bay conservation movement laid the foundation for the work of passionate conservationists today. One such individual is Enorha Guimard, a marine scientist from France who, like Andrew, found her life’s calling in protecting marine life. Enorha developed a deep fascination with the ocean and its inhabitants at a young age, propelling her into studying marine science and gaining her Master’s in wildlife management. Her early career took her on a global journey, beginning with hands-on experience studying marine life in the Mediterranean. It was here that she became a marine mammal observer and began specializing in bioacoustics, playing a vital role in protecting marine life from the impacts
of human activity. In collaboration with marine construction companies, she monitored areas for marine life and provided recommendations to minimize disruption, reflecting her dedication to finding a balance between industry and conservation. “My job was to protect the animals; I was there to advise them to do the best thing for the animals,” Enorha adds. Her work then led her to Iceland, where she transitioned to becoming a wildlife guide, further expanding her knowledge and experience in the field.
But Enorha’s journey didn’t stop there. In 2022, Enorha’s path led her to Australia, where she began working with the Pacific Whale Foundation, the very organization Andrew Ellis helped establish years before. There, she continued her work as a wildlife guide, educating the public on whale behavior and conservation, while learning from the unique marine ecosystems of Australia. Enorha’s current focus includes working with Whale Watch Kaikoura in New Zealand, which is renowned for its resident sperm whales. In this role, she continues to observe, protect, and study whales. Her journey reflects the broader evolution of whale conservation efforts, moving from grassroots initiatives to globally coordinated research and education, all supported by cuttingedge science.
HUMPBACK WHALES: FROM THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION TO A THRIVING POPULATION
In the late sixties, it was estimated that there were fewer than 300 humpbacks in the Southern Pacific population. Their numbers dwindled and they were nearing extinction as a result of aggressive commercial whaling activity. Today, the numbers have risen drastically and they are thriving thanks to the efforts of organizations such as the Pacific Whale Foundation. “Now we’re talking about a population of somewhere between 28,000 and 35,000 animals. Which is unheard of and they’re still increasing. It is really the most extraordinary recovery of any wildlife population,” Andrew comments.
Humpback whale jumping
Photo credits: Enorha Guimard
“IT IS REALLY THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY RECOVERY OF ANY WILDLIFE POPULATION.”
Despite the estimated numbers of the whales navigating these waters, Andrew believes the population is even greater than we think. This resurgence is one of the most significant recoveries in the animal kingdom, but it didn’t happen by accident. Global bans on commercial whaling and sustained conservation efforts have allowed these gentle giants to return from the brink of extinction, though the work is far from over.
“MY JOB IS TO PROTECT THE ANIMALS. I’M THERE TO ADVISE THEM TO DO THE BEST THING FOR THE ANIMALS.”
The efforts of organizations like the Pacific Whale Foundation have been crucial in driving this recovery. Their model of combining scientific research with eco-tourism ensures that funding for conservation remains strong, and fosters a deeper public understanding of marine ecosystems. Central to this mission are scientists like Enorha, who work relentlessly to monitor
whale populations, track migration patterns, and study their complex behaviors. Their research –including advanced techniques like drone surveys to assess whale health – informs strategies to mitigate human interference and provides vital insights into the impacts of climate change and human activity on the species.
NAVIGATING PERILOUS WATERS: THREATS TO HUMPBACK WHALES TODAY
It’s no secret that human activity is the biggest threat to wildlife today. While whaling may no longer threaten the survival of humpbacks, the modern world presents many dangers. Climate change, ocean pollution, entanglement in fishing gear, and increased boat traffic all pose significant risks. Eco-tourism, though a crucial funding source for conservation efforts, can also have negative effects if not managed responsibly. The increase in whale-watching boats, if unregulated, can disrupt the very whales it aims to protect. The balance between human interaction and wildlife protection is delicate – one that requires constant vigilance and evolving strategies to ensure the safety of these animals.
One of the most pressing, yet lesser-known dangers to whales is noise pollution. As a
whale watching at a respectable distance
Photo credits: Sean Scott
bioacoustics specialist, Enorha studies how human-generated noise, such as boat traffic and seismic surveys disrupts whale communication, navigation and even feeding. “The interference can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, with devastating consequences for whales that rely heavily on sound,” Enorha explains. In extreme cases, noise pollution has been linked to strandings and death, particularly when deepdiving species like sperm whales are forced to surface too quickly.
In a fight against these risks, the Pacific Whale Foundation conducts research, which is peer-
“I WANT TO BE WITH THOSE WHALES. I WANT TO SEE THEM. I WANT TO PROTECT THEM.”
reviewed and presented to governments and regulatory bodies to advocate for policy changes. They actively leverage science-backed data to push for stronger protections. By combining rigorous scientific research with public pressure, the Pacific Whale Foundation works to mitigate these threats while ensuring eco-tourism practices remain sustainable and non-invasive.
THE ROLE OF ECO-TOURISM: BALANCING CONSERVATION AND HUMAN INTERACTION
The protected waters of Hervey Bay play a crucial role in the revival of humpback whales, offering a sanctuary where these magnificent creatures can rest, making it a prime location for ecotourism. When executed with care, eco-tourism can be a valuable resource in conservation movements, and the Pacific Whale Foundation has been leading the way in responsible tourism. By developing a research-based code of conduct for whale watching, they’ve set a standard that minimizes disruption while allowing people to experience the magic of seeing humpback whales in the wild. Their guidelines emphasize keeping a respectful distance and letting the whales’ natural behavior shine. It’s a delicate balance – letting
Humpback whale
Photo credits: Enorha Guimard
Photo credits: Sean Scott
“WE SHOULD WATCH WHALES, NOT TRY AND JOIN IN WITH THEM. WE DON’T GO OUT TO TRY AND PLAY WITH THE LIONS IN AFRICA, BUT WE WATCH THEM FROM A DISTANCE. IT’S THEIR SPACE WHICH WE SHOULDN’T ENTER, AND THE SAME GOES FOR THE WHALES IN HERVEY BAY.”
Humpback whale
Photo credits: Enorha Guimard
AUSTRALIA
people connect with these incredible creatures without interfering with their lives, but when done right, whale-watching becomes a win-win for both conservation and education.
On the flip side, swim-with-whale programs pose a different challenge. As exciting as it might sound to get up close with these gentle giants, research shows that these programs can have highly negative effects on the whales. The Pacific Whale Foundation has found that swimming with whales increases their energy use, which can be a big problem, especially in areas like Hervey Bay, where they come to rest and recover from their long migrations. Andrew couldn’t agree more: “We should watch whales, not try and join in with them. We don’t go out to try and play with the lions in Africa, but we watch them from a distance. It’s their space which we shouldn’t enter, and the same goes for the whales in Hervey Bay.” After traveling thousands of miles from the Antarctic, the last thing they need is added stress. For mothers with young calves, conserving energy is critical for their survival and the journey back. So while swimming with whales might seem like an amazing experience, it can put them at risk.
“Many swim-with-whale programs don’t stick to the guidelines. Even though regulations exist, they’re often poorly enforced, and operators frequently break them to give tourists that “wow” moment,” says Andrew. When people jump into the water too close to the whales, it invades their space and can force them to change their behavior or avoid the area altogether. In contrast, properly managed whale-watching lets the animals come to you on their own terms. That way, you can still have an unforgettable encounter without disrupting their natural rhythm. “It’s all about finding a balance where eco-tourism helps people appreciate wildlife without harming it — and that’s what we are working to achieve.”
A CALL TO ACTION
Advocacy and education are vital components in ensuring the future of humpback whales. The Pacific Whale Foundation continues to lead global advocacy efforts, working with governments and local communities to enforce protections and inform the public. But how can you make a difference?
One of the most pressing issues affecting marine life, including humpback whales, is ocean pollution, particularly from plastics. Plastics never fully decompose; instead, they break down into smaller and smaller particles known as microplastics, which have been found in even the deepest parts of the ocean, like the Mariana Trench. “Every year, hundreds of billions of tons of plastic enter our oceans, forming massive patches of floating waste like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” Andrew states. The tragedy of this pollution is felt in all marine life, as plastics are often mistaken for food, causing harm to creatures like sea turtles. Simple actions like reducing the use of single-use plastics, properly disposing of waste, and supporting legislation against plastic pollution can make a significant difference.
Public involvement in conservation goes beyond reducing pollution. Education plays a crucial role in spreading awareness and driving action. Keen to educate the wider public Andrew comments, “Learning about the impact of daily activities, such as how washing a car or throwing away a cigarette butt can pollute the ocean, helps individuals understand their role in protecting the environment. Young people in particular are showing increasing interest in conservation, and with access to science-based education, they can become the next generation of environmental advocates.” The key to sustaining these efforts is a continual commitment to learning, adapting, and improving our practices, as science continues to unveil new challenges and solutions.
ADVICE FOR ASPIRING CONSERVATIONISTS
“It’s incredible to see so many young individuals eager to make a difference,” says Andrew. “Seize opportunities and follow your dreams. And if you want to make a change, you can do it from the ground level up.”
Reflecting on her own experience, Enorha highlights the importance of passion and networking in breaking into the field. Starting with little experience, Enorha was determined to make her mark. “It’s essential to reach out to others in the field and never give up, even when it feels competitive,” she advises. Enorha believes that while a degree can be advantageous, it’s the commitment to protecting wildlife that truly matters. “Your passion can guide you to success,” she insists, emphasizing that a strong connection to the animals and the environment is crucial.
Together, Andrew and Enorha’s stories illustrate a hopeful picture for the future of conservation. Their experiences serve as a reminder that with enthusiasm, dedication, and a willingness to learn, the next generation of conservationists can carve impactful paths in protecting our planet. By fostering this passion and commitment, we can all contribute to a sustainable world that safeguards
extraordinary species like the humpback whale for years to come.
A LEGACY OF PROTECTION
Hervey Bay’s role as a sanctuary for humpback whales stands as a beacon of hope for marine conservation. It is a reminder that while progress has been made, continued vigilance is necessary to protect what has been regained. Conservation is not a passive act; it requires constant effort, advocacy, and education. As we look at the future, the survival of humpback whales will depend on the next generation of conservationists, scientists, and eco-tourists who understand the importance of maintaining this delicate balance.
The story of Hervey Bay is not just about the whales – it’s about the potential for recovery when humans act as advocates rather than conquerors of nature.
“IT’S INCREDIBLE TO SEE SO MANY YOUNG INDIVIDUALS EAGER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.”
Whale watching
Photos credits: Sean Scott
ENDANGERED SPECIES ANDEAN BEAR
The Andean Black Bear is a species of bear found in the high altitude cloud forests of the Andes mountain range in South America, particularly in Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador and Venezuela. This relatively small diurnal bear species utilizes the canopies of the cloud forests to climb around the sprawling tree varieties that can be found up there in the mountains.
CHARACTERISTICS
Andean bears are easily identifiable via their black fur and white/cream ‘marbling’ patterns on their faces and necks, which is why they are often called ‘Spectacled Bears’. They are omnivorous, eating mainly fruits and berries from the endemic plant life alongside insects, birds, and rodents, as well as honey and fibrous plant material such as tree bark. Despite their size, they are immensely strong and have powerful rear legs to use for climbing, alongside strong jaws and paws for hunting and grabbing fruit. They are largely solitary, preferring to live in isolation and actively avoid contact with humans or other bears.
ENDANGERMENT HISTORY AND POPULATION DECLINE
The Andean Bear is classified as Endangered (Vulnerable) by the IUCN red list, with an estimated remaining population of between 2,500 to 10,000 mature individuals in the wild.
Their population is declining, most prominently as a result of habitat loss/degradation from human activities such as logging, oil drilling, mining, poaching and urban expansion. Deforestation is a huge problem in South America, and the constant, unrelenting nature of this activity is eating away at the bears’ natural habitat. Climate change is a big factor, too, with drought and extreme temperatures from global warming making it harder for the bears to adjust to the ever-changing global environmental conditions.
CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Since their designation as Endangered (Vulnerable), 58 protected areas have been established within their naturally occurring ranges, but these areas are difficult to maintain without the necessary funding or personnel.
Between 2008 and 2010, Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia published action plans for Andean Bear conservation, but, while well-constructed, these plans have gone largely unfulfilled. However, there has been a large push for local education programmes and research projects in humanpopulated areas around their ranges, with locals knowing more about the bears and how to protect them than ever before. Knowledge about the species has improved massively in recent years, with more information about their ranges, behaviour, diet and population sizes available as a result of thorough research.
Some ecotourism ventures have also been set up, including guided, organised tours of their ranges by conservationists in the hopes of having tourists see the bears, which will generate income for the continued conservation of the species.
SHORT
LIST OF FACTS
• Species: Tremarctos ornatus
• The only living species from the Tremarctos genus
• The smallest population size of the Ursidae (bear) family
• Weight: up to 200 kg
• Length: up to 6 feet tall
• Biogeographical Region: cloud forests, up to 4.750 meters above sea level
• IUCN Red List status: Endangered (EN)
• ‘Paddington Bear’ is an Andean Bear
BUZZING BUSINESS
BEEKEEPING IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON
Swiss Forest Engineer Dieter Bratschi has spent his life around the world, from Haiti to Brazil, restoring forests and teaching local communities about the sustainable use of forests. As a founder of the Non-Timber Forest Production Foundation (NTFP), he seeks ways for these communities to benefit from the forest, without the use of the forest’s timber. It’s a unique field to work in. His latest project revolves around the communities in the Amazon in Brazil, making sure they have ways to earn a living sustainably.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING MORE ABOUT YOURSELF, NTFP AND AMAZOMEL, DIETER. LET’S START WITH WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO.
My name is Dieter Bratschi, a forest engineer and co-founder of the Non-Timber Forest Product Foundation. I’ve been working as a forest engineer since ’99 and spent time in places like Bhutan – to study forest management, the grazing impact of the yaks, and the use of blue pine – and Haiti –to protect natural springs and fight flooding and erosion – before I came back to the Amazon in Brazil.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE AMAZON RAINFOREST THE FIRST TIME, AND WHY DID YOU COME BACK?
My first expedition to the Amazon was in ‘95 for
my Forest Engineer Thesis, and then I returned for my Master Thesis on the Brazil nut in the Amazon in ’99. During my times in the Amazon in ’95 and ’99 I realized that communities were relying on non-sustainable ways of income, and I wanted to change that, but it wasn’t until 2012 that I returned with this bigger purpose to truly make a change. When we arrived in 2012, we – me and others from the NTFP Foundation – started looking for a sustainable product that could create a positive impact and income for local communities working with the forest, rather than against it. But that is not as easy as it sounds. People living in the Amazon rainforest are currently trying to sustain themselves by farming, but while trying to do so, they use methods like ‘slash and burn’, where whole areas of the forest are wiped away in an instant. This practice in itself is very unsustainable.
WHICH SOLUTION DID YOU EVENTUALLY SETTLE ON?
“WE STARTED LOOKING FOR A SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT THAT COULD CREATE A POSITIVE IMPACT AND INCOME FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES WORKING WITH THE FOREST, RATHER THAN AGAINST IT. BUT THAT IS NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS.”
Over the years we learned that each region around the globe requires different solutions to generate a sustainable income. Here in the Amazon we finally discovered bees and their honey as a way to create an income sustainably. The NTFP Foundation then collaborated with the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, and they came up with transportable beehives. With the funds of the NTFP Foundation, we were able to distribute the beehives to the communities. We started by going to one community in the region of Caicubi, asking if they would be interested in beekeeping. Eight community members were interested, among whom we distributed 30 hives. Over the years, we learned that it is not solely about beekeeping and honey harvesting, but also about processing the honey and selling it. One
Melipona bees
Photo credits: Bryan Palomba
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of the key questions asked by the communities potentially interested in beekeeping was if there was even a market for it and what they could earn. At this point, we realized that in order to support the locals, we would also have to take care of the market. That is where Amazomel comes in, an already existing small local honey company. We decided to join forces with João and Dangela Fernandes, the founders of the business. The NTFP Foundation funded all materials needed to build a honey processing plant to get the processing and sales of our honey up and running, and we have been working with them since 2014. The project took off, and I now spend part of my time in my home country Switzerland to earn a living, and the other part in the Amazon working for the organization.
ONCE SOMEONE RECEIVES A BEEHIVE, HOW DO THEY LEARN TO WORK WITH THE BEES AND HARVEST THEIR HONEY?
We hand out three beehives including colonies to families eager to earn an alternative living. I teach them the necessary skills to handle the bees, how to harvest their honey, and grow their colonies. The more efficiently they are able to grow their colonies, the more honey can be produced, which of course results in a higher income – and with that, they don’t have to destroy their environment further either.
“THE MORE EFFICIENTLY THEY ARE ABLE TO GROW THEIR COLONIES, THE MORE HONEY CAN BE PRODUCED, WHICH OF COURSE RESULTS IN A HIGHER INCOME –AND WITH THAT, THEY DON’T HAVE TO DESTROY THEIR ENVIRONMENT FURTHER EITHER.”
Dieter Bratschi
Photo credits: João Fernandes
BRAZIL
DID YOU FACE ANY ADVERSITIES WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED WORKING WITH LOCAL COMMUNITIES?
Most communities are used to people promising things, but more often than not with an ulterior motive such as collecting votes for elections. So they are understandably hesitant when someone new arrives and seems to want something from them. However, when they realized we were truly going to help them, their responses changed. At least some people in each community were interested in trying it.
Soon word spread among communities that those who were beekeeping could afford bicycles and other valuable things. While it took us about six years to get to this point, we nowadays have a waiting list for families and communities wishing to join the project.
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH LANGUAGE BARRIERS IN THE COUNTRIES WHERE YOU ARE WORKING?
I think it’s important to learn the language of the country or region you are working in. I speak fluent Creole because of my work in Haiti and Portuguese for communication in Brazil. My Portuguese isn’t perfect, but Jonilson Laray, my right hand at the NTFP, understands it and can help me out if things aren’t properly translated. In the beginning that happened quite often, but when you live in the jungle and don’t have another option but to speak Portuguese you learn quickly, so it isn’t a problem anymore.
YOU LIVED THROUGH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION. HOW DID THAT AFFECT THE ORGANIZATION AND THE COMMUNITIES?
When I was finally allowed back into Brazil after previous flight restrictions, I was prepared for the worst. I expected COVID-19 to have had a detrimental effect on the success of Amazomel and the beekeepers. Nevertheless, the truth couldn’t have been farther from that. Amazomel thrived, sales went through the roof and prices tripled. When I dove deeper into how this was possible, I found that honey is mostly used medicinally here, and as COVID-19 included
Honey bottle filling
Photo credit: Bryan Palomba
Finished honey bottle
Photo credit: Bryan Palomba
Collecting honey
Photo credit: Bryan Palomba
symptoms like coughing, many people bought and used our honey.
NOT ALL HONEY IS EQUALLY AS GOOD, IN TERMS OF QUALITY AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES, IS THAT CORRECT?
Yes, that’s correct. From what is known, the best honey in the world is Manuka honey, produced in New Zealand. It is not only the most expensive one but also the one with the highest Total Activity Rate (TAR) which means it contains a greater antimicrobial and antibacterial strength. We’re trying to get as close to that as possible with our honey made from various species of Melipona bees. We are well underway, as this honey truly comes from the jungle and isn’t full of pesticides and other contaminants.
ARE THESE MELIPONA BEES NATIVE? AND WHY DO YOU USE VARIOUS SPECIES?
Yes, the species we use come from the Melipona stingless bee genus and are native to the country. The fact that they are stingless helps considerably when sharing the purpose of our project with the communities. As different bee species occur in different habitats, from swamps to dense forests and from lower to higher regions, we use a variety of species. So, when a family expresses their interest in becoming beekeepers, we research which species are naturally present and therefore
best suited for the ecosystem in that specific area, as well of course for honey production.
WHAT’S USUALLY THE NEXT STEP?
After determining the species, we bring the family three beehives to work with. Once they’ve expanded their colony to 12 hives – you can split each hive after four to five months, so it takes roughly one year to get to 12 hives –, they have to give three of these hives back to the organization, so we can continue our work with other families. Increasing their beehives enables them to earn more money. We estimate that 50 beehives are enough for a family to earn a minimum salary per year, and they can maintain this amount of hives alongside their daily work.
By maintaining this system, we’ve been able to expand far and wide - and very sustainably. It’s hard to give exact numbers, but somewhere around 2000-2500 families are currently directly involved with our beekeeping project.
IS THERE A RISK THAT BY INTRODUCING TOO MANY MELIPONA BEEHIVES, OTHER BEES WON’T BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE COMPETITION?
“MELIPONA BEES WILL ONLY FEED ON CERTAIN TYPES OF FLOWERS OTHER BEES ARE NOT INTERESTED IN, AND VICE VERSA. RESEARCH HAS EVEN SHOWN THAT KEEPING MELIPONA BEES INCREASES THE YIELD OF A NEARBY FRUIT GARDEN BY UP TO 30%. “
No, the good thing is that the Melipona species are native to the area, so they are there naturally. Although there are approximately 160 species of bees in the Amazon, they won’t compete with one another as they have evolved to feed on specific flowers. Melipona bees will only feed on certain types of flowers other bees are not interested in, and vice versa. Research has even shown that keeping Melipona bees increases the yield of a nearby fruit garden by up to 30%.
However, there has been an introduction of a new species, the Apis bee, which isn’t native to the region, and is similar in size to the Melipona. The Apis bee was once introduced by missionaries, as they wanted white wax for candles instead of dark wax such as that made by the Melipona bees. This invasive species is the only one the Melipona bees might compete with, especially
since the stingless Melipona bees have very few defense mechanisms.
HOW IS THE HONEY BEING PROCESSED?
The honey from all hives is processed at Casa do Mel – close to the city of Manaus. It is the honey processing plant we built together with Amazomel, where João – CEO of Amazomel –and Dangela – Quality Manager – run everything. In order to export our honey to other states and internationally, we need to bring the water percentage down. Due to regulations based on the honey of the Apis bee, we need to bring it down from 29% to 19%. Besides the regulatory need to bring the moisture level down, it also prevents fermentation.
We also had to figure out how to process the honey carefully, so we don’t lose its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties that make our honey so valuable. We had to install special machinery and have to keep a close eye on the process, so the honey won’t get above 40 degrees Celsius during processing. As a result of this specific process, and the loss of weight due to drying the honey, we lose part of the product, and the price of our honey is four to five times higher than usual honey.
Lastly, we pack the honey so we can sell it. We currently have a basic packaging option with plastic bottles that you can squeeze, but we aim to improve to more luxurious and tall glass bottles, which will hopefully enable us to sell our honey internationally to high-end stores. In turn, this will generate more income for the beekeepers which in the end is what it is all about.
AND WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU PROCESS THE HONEY? DO YOU SELL IT LOCALLY OR INTERNATIONALLY?
Up until now, we’ve only been able to sell it locally. That is due to many rules and regulations we’ve
Inside a beehive
Photo credits: Tara Naeser
BRAZIL
had to abide by. Yet, as of the end of 2022, we’ve received the permits to also export our honey and sell it internationally. The only downfall is that the past two production years have been terrible due to extreme drought events in the Amazon. The problem is that the Melipona bees can’t evacuate during such natural disasters. A pregnant queen is unable to fly, and all other bees will loyally stick with their queen. As a result, the whole colony dies. So instead of harvesting the honey, we had to leave it in the hives for the bees to use and survive. Of course, we’re hoping this will change soon.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE?
We are now reaching out to various foundations to secure further funding to grow, transport, and export our honey, and pay fair prices to our beekeepers. We would love to expand further into the Amazon as well, to change the lives of more families and communities. And of course, my hope for the future is that the extreme draught in the Amazon will end, bringing fortune and opportunity to the Indigenous people.
Save a beehive!
Website www.amazomel.com
Website www.ntfpfoundation.org
Facebook
@amazomel
Opening of a beehive
Photo credits: Bryan Palomba
COLOFON
DIRECTOR
Manon Verijdt
ART DIRECTOR
Arina van Londen
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Vincent Seydoux
Arina van Londen
CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER
Tobias van Krieken
ILLUSTRATOR
Stefán Pétursson
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Tobias van Krieken
Nathan Turnbull
Thijs Montalvo
Patrizia Baldi
Marc Kranendonk
Cara Blackburn
SOCIAL MEDIA
Mira de Winter
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS EDITION
Dr. Peter Apps, Megan Claase, Oscar J. Diaz, Dieter Bratschi, Francisca Bustos Leal, Magdalena Huerta, Andrew Ellis, Enorha Guimard, Magnus Lundgren, Staffan Widstrand, Ahamed Jazif, Stuart Cottrell, Madison Miketa, Adam Clause and thanks to all contributing photographers! CONTACT
