Trailblazing Tech: How AI Decodes Wildlife Footprints
HOW TO REWILD
Bridging a Network: Advice for Nature Recovery in even the Smallest Areas
WILDLIFE FORENSIC FUND
Sherlock Holmes Meets Rhino –How Solving Crimes is Protecting the Future of Wildlife
Niklas Storm
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08 HOW TO REWILD
Bridging a Network: Advice for Nature Recovery in Even the Smallest Areas
22
IRANIAN CHEETAH SOCIETY
The Preservation of an Endangered Species
32
INVERTO Units of Nature
48 INFOGRAPHIC
Most Threatened Places Around The World
50
WILDTRACK
Trailblazing Tech: How AI Decodes
Wildlife Footprints
62 THE EDIBLE FOREST
Health From the Forest –An Innovative Fusion of Sustainable Gastronomy and Human Health
76
84
STARGAZER
Niklas Storm
CAPE PARROT PROJECT
Studying South Africa’s
Charismatic Species - the Cape Parrot
94
96
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Numbat WILDLIFE FORENSIC
FUND
How Solving Crimes is Protecting the Future of Wildlife
INTRODUCTION
As a conservationist and writer, I am inclined to regularly reflect on the whys and hows of nature destruction and the importance of wildlife in our modern world. One of the questions I keep trying to wrap my head around is why looking after our environment is still quite low on companies’, politicians’, and other stakeholders’ agendas. Is it that the effects of climate change or biodiversity loss are often not seen immediately, and therefore action doesn’t seem necessary just yet?
Surely, one of the reasons is ignorance. I feel that by gradually distancing ourselves from the natural world, we have lost a lot of valuable knowledge (‘The Edible Forest’ article in this issue talks about this as well). Many of us don’t know where our food comes from anymore, what our clothes are made of, or how our use of plastics is impacting the environment. Society is running like a well-oiled machine, barely questioned by the individual participants of the supply chain, and increasingly boosted by our society’s overconsumption.
While there are quite possibly decision-makers out there who wouldn’t care regardless, a large percentage of people are simply not aware of how interconnected we are with nature – and how dependent on functioning ecosystems. It may not be clear to everyone that once there are no more mangroves or rainforests to help us clean the air, no more insects to pollinate our fruits and vegetables, and no more natural resources to work with, there is also no more hope for any of us.
In Switzerland, where I am from, we (that is all eligible voters in the country) will soon be deciding on the so-called biodiversity initiative: “for the future of our nature and landscape”. To me, it is a no-brainer that we need to conserve
as much biodiversity as possible (always within reason of course), if not for the beautiful natural environment itself than for our own sake. The fact that we are even voting on this – and it is theoretically possible that Switzerland could say no to this initiative – shows me that there is still a lot of work to do.
Isn’t it all about (re-)connecting people and communities with nature? Educating them?
Guiding them to recognize the sheer beauty of a wildflower field, a caterpillar in the garden, or a gorgeous deer in the forest? Explaining the miracle that these species have carefully emerged and developed to be what they are today over many millions of years? Once people understand and love nature, they usually also want to care for it!
Inverto, a conservation startup featured in this issue, has a similar take on this. By setting up community-based projects they are able to support conservation efforts long-term. Local communities directly benefit from looking after their ecosystems. And the best thing? There are a lot of people doing amazing work in their respective fields. Although the prospects seem bleak sometimes, it is vital to remember that there are so many of us who care. Individuals, communities, and organizations who are making a huge difference, both locally and internationally, and often against all odds. And that is nothing short of inspiring!
Our aim here at Ubuntu Magazine is to inform and inspire people by highlighting amazing people and projects around the world, and I am incredibly proud to be part of this journey and able to share these stories of perseverance, success, and, most importantly, hope. Because our home is truly worth fighting for.
- Patrizia Baldi
One of the Black Poplar trees which I’ve planted on the project. These are nationally threatened, but coming back vigorously on my land. My neighbours are now also enthusiastic about planting them, as they’ve found the tree to provide excellent forage for goats.
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
BRIDGING A NETWORK
ADVICE FOR NATURE RECOVERY IN EVEN THE SMALLEST AREAS
Chris D'Agorne’s passion for what he does cannot be understated. Nature lives and breathes through him, finding ways to grow through the wonderful skills at his disposal. Nature’s recovery is not often advocated for by a web designer, but Chris is the exception. Building on his experience of restoring his own land, he has published two wonderful websites aimed at bringing nature recovery to a wider audience. This offers an important bridge for those in the early stages of nature restoration, which allows every farmer, gardener, and hobbyist the chance to contribute to the UK’s growing network of rewilded areas.
Written by: Thijs Montalvo
‘‘I’M GENERALLY FOCUSING ON AREAS BELOW 40 HECTARES BECAUSE IF WE COMBINE A LOT OF THEM, WE CAN CREATE THIS DESIRED NETWORK EFFECT ACROSS THE COUNTRYSIDE.’’
HELLO, CHRIS. FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT YET AWARE OF YOUR WORK, COULD YOU GIVE A SHORT INTRODUCTION OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO?
I describe myself as an amateur ecologist in the sense that amateur basically means an enthusiast. I studied zoology at university back in 2005-2008, and everything since then is essentially selftaught.
Generally, I believe my role is to help people who come in from a lifestyle angle like gardening, or maybe they’re farmers and interested in bringing biodiversity to their land. People in the early stages may not be interested in paying for an ecologist, yet still want to explore the options available to them in regards to increasing biodiversity. In that space, I can let them know about the benefits of nature restoration and what the available options are. I’ve done that off the back of buying my own land and doing the research myself.
I am interested in using these little patches across the countryside to create a network-like effect. This is different from a lot of rewilders who focus on large landscapes with 500-1000 hectares in size and up. I’m generally focusing on areas
Portrait of Chris d’Agorne Photo credit: Nick d’Agorne
UNITED KINGDOM
below 40 hectares because if we combine a lot of them, we can create this desired network effect across the countryside. And if you provide all this information in a really accessible and interesting way, with a hopeful, optimistic message, then you can get people engaged. This is why I’ve created two websites: howtorewild.co.uk, a how-to guide to nature restoration, and a complementary website buynative.co.uk, which is for finding native plants to grow on your land.
WHERE DOES ALL THIS PASSION AND DRIVE FOR RESTORING NATURE COME FROM?
I mean, you only have to go out and see the difference. I’m on the spectrum, and when I need to quiet my mind sometimes, the only place I can really do that is in really wild-feeling or quiet places where I’m surrounded by nature.
At the weekend, I was out with my parents doing a bird survey on my land and I found a new
little quiet spot. Which is amazing because the land I own is only 3 ½ acres, yet I’m still always finding new little patches. But as I wandered into this sheltered little ditch, which had become overgrown with grasses and some willows I had previously planted, all of the sounds of the landscape around me just died away. All I could hear was the wind blowing through the grasses. As I went down, the heat intensified and the humidity increased. It’s amazing seeing the variation of the landscape, across what was once just a grassy field that was mown every year. The differences in microclimate and the plant life that you get in just 3 ½ acres is truly incredible. There’s something about feeling this connection with nature that allows for the disconnection from the intensity of the world outside these spaces. It helps to still the mind, to calm the thoughts.
I’ve got a nine-year-old and when I go out with my kid on the land, it’s something we can share
Hibernaculum, created by Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group SW. These are likely to become home to amphibians over winter, but have also become a source of native willow.
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
where we’re away from all the distractions of home. We leave all screens and books behind and simply wander. And as we wander, we find that the smallest things such as a spider, or a grasshopper, or something bigger such as an egret flying, a shelduck landing, or even a fox family, can bring the two of us together. It gives us something to truly connect through and talk about. We reconnect and reform this bond, this really strong bond, between parent and child.
WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO DEVELOP TWO NATURE RESTORATION WEBSITES?
I think it was useful that I had been developing websites since I was 14 years old. It was just something I started messing around with at school — and now my hobby has turned into a job. In fact, my day job is at a marketing agency!
To me, it feels like rewilding and nature recovery are some of the few positive things we have in society at the moment. So I wanted to focus my efforts on positivity, something that crossed cultural and political divides. I began trying to
think of how to communicate these concepts in a way that was politically and culturally neutral - which is difficult sometimes. But, if we create a shared journey or mission, one of optimism, then that narrative can unite people. My background in developing websites allows me to share this feeling of discovery I have felt through nature.
‘‘THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT FEELING THIS CONNECTION WITH NATURE THAT ALLOWS FOR THE DISCONNECTION FROM THE INTENSITY OF THE WORLD OUTSIDE THESE SPACES. IT HELPS TO STILL THE MIND, TO CALM THE THOUGHTS.’’
My neighbor’s goats graze and browse across some parts of the field throughout the winter months.
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
Clouded Yellow butterfly on the thistles
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
Spindle - one of the native trees introduced on the rewilding project
credit: Chris D’Agorne
Photo
Guelder Rose - a stunning native tree ideal for wet woodlands.
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
‘‘I WANTED TO FOCUS MY EFFORTS ON POSITIVITY, SOMETHING THAT CROSSED CULTURAL AND POLITICAL DIVIDES.’’
WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE OFFERING REWILDING ADVICE THROUGH YOUR WEBSITES?
Don’t underestimate how much information people might want. Initially, I tended to dumb it down a lot, but people say don’t underestimate your audience. People are really interested in the detail, and if you present that detail in an engaging way and if you’re interested in it, others are likely to be interested too. You just have to present it in a way that gets people’s attention. I’ve never found a limit to writing about rewilding, there’s always something to write about.
AS YOU’VE GROWN AS A NATURE CONSERVATIONIST, WHAT IS ONE THING YOU FEEL IS IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN NATURE RESTORATION AND REWILDING TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE WORK?
Conservation in the past often involved trying to control a system without truly understanding it. We can only understand ecosystems at a certain level because there’s so much complexity in terms of soil biochemistry, soil biology, botany, entomology, parasitism, and even odd nuances like atmospheric nitrogen deposition. There are so many factors that go into an ecosystem, which are hard to measure on typical conservation budgets. I don’t believe that conserving an ecosystem in a specific state is the right approach. Rewilding, which lets nature lead and involves restoring key plants, animals and other missing elements, is a much better approach.
A family of foxes has taken up residence on the field - with a new den this year in a created bank
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
AS SOMEONE WHO IS HELPING TO SPREAD THE NEED FOR RESTORATION, WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT OUTLOOK ON THE REWILDING AND RESTORATION MOVEMENT WITHIN THE UK?
There is a lot of political support behind rewilding, although the word itself is still very politically sensitive. Currently, the perception of many farmers in the UK is that rewilding is reverting food-producing land to nature, making the UK more reliant on imports. It is important to find a balance between farming and nature restoration. If we push too fast and in the wrong way, the burden of food production simply shifts to countries elsewhere, where environmental regulations might not be as strict as in the UK. So we would essentially be outsourcing the biodiversity crisis.
‘‘A LOT OF LAND OWNERS ACROSS THE UK WILL BE SHIFTING TOWARDS NATURE RECOVERY AND NATURE MANAGEMENT AS A NEW WAY OF FARMING, WHICH IS GOING TO HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON BIODIVERSITY.’’
I’ve spoken to several landowners with farms below 40 hectares in size, who have essentially told me that the only way to run them in a financially sustainable way is to restore parts of their farms to nature. A lot of land owners across the UK will be shifting towards nature recovery and nature management as a new way of farming, which is going to have a huge impact on biodiversity.
Interestingly, it is the Conservative Party who for the past decade has been instrumental in pushing forward a lot of rewilding legislation. They have implemented legislation such as the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM), which has allowed large amounts of money to become available for landscape-scale recovery programs and is genuinely making a difference. I hope that these commitments will continue to be delivered and expanded after the election.
You can really see and feel the impact the legislation is making. My parents recently drove down to Cornwall and said it was the first time in ages that they’d had insects splattered on their windscreen all the way down. It’s brilliant. We haven’t had that in years - changes in land use are actually starting to make a difference. You’re starting to see the growing abundance of insects, which is obviously important for the whole food chain. So we’re getting there.
UNITED KINGDOM
ARE THERE ANY MORE TAKE-HOME MESSAGES THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR AUDIENCE?
Yeah. One of the things I’d like to add is that if you can afford to buy an electric car, there are many parts of the UK and Europe where you could also buy land around the same price or even less expensive. You could buy a field that’s heavily degraded, that farmers are not interested in managing because it’s got low yield, and you could put money into restoring it. You could plant trees and create ponds. You may even be able to get grants from governments. And what comes out of these efforts is this beautiful space that you can enjoy with your family and which will be your legacy.
It’s like creating a pension plan because it’s something you can enjoy far into the future with your family and your children’s children. It’s such an effective investment. Not necessarily for the financial returns, but for your well-being and family bonding. I think there are so many people out there who don’t realize that they have the financial ability to do this. And while it’s not possible for everyone, there are people who can do it, so I think more people should.
It will take a group effort to restore nature across the UK and Europe. We shouldn’t just leave it to the farmers because it’s bloody hard work running a farm. If you’re also being asked to restore land alongside that, it’s a lot to ask. So if we’re requesting that they do their part, we should be pitching in as well. I think it’s everyone’s collective responsibility to help restore natureto help bridge these small patches and create a breathing, diverse, ecosystem.
‘‘WHAT COMES OUT OF THESE EFFORTS IS THIS BEAUTIFUL SPACE THAT YOU CAN ENJOY WITH YOUR FAMILY AND WHICH WILL BE YOUR LEGACY.
IT’S LIKE CREATING A PENSION PLAN BECAUSE IT’S SOMETHING YOU CAN ENJOY FAR INTO THE FUTURE WITH YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN.’’
Linkedin @chrisdagorne
Website www.howtorewild.co.uk
Website www.buynative.co.uk
The barn owl which occasionally still visits the field and spent most of the second winter regularly visiting the project.
Photo credit: Chris D’Agorne
THE IRANIAN CHEETAH SOCIETY
THE CAREFUL PRESERVATION OF A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES
As conservation of the natural world and all that exists within it continues to be a topic of increasing demand and recognition, organisations all around the world are working hard to keep endangered species protected. One such organization is the ICS — The Iranian Cheetah Society.
Written by: Nathan Turnbull
Asiatic Cheetah captured with a camera trap
IRAN
As the oldest non-profit Iranian NGO, the ICS is a tightly-knit group of passionate, hardworking conservationists who have devoted themselves to protecting Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, the Asiatic Cheetah. As a critically endangered species believed to consist of just 40 individuals, the safety and prolonged survival of this valuable subspecies is of paramount concern to the ICS, as well as other conservation groups around the world. Iran is the last stronghold to support the Asiatic Cheetah, as the semi-arid desert landscape is a perfect habitat for the big cats to live, hunt, and roam freely.
Despite the efforts of the ICS and its partners the main local geographical ranges of the cats have been reliably narrowed down to 2 protected areas and the free-zone areas between these locations. These areas are named ‘North Habitats’: the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Iran,
and the Touran Biosphere Reserve. They are in an extremely varied region robust with fauna, perfect for a small population of Iran’s most important natural predator. The majority of the cats can be found in these North Habitats, but they are not limited to them — some have been spotted in other unprotected locations around Iran.
ICS was founded in 2001 by a small group of wildlife conservationists as an organization that initially studied a broader spectrum of species, researching Brown Bears, Persian Leopards, Lynx, Sand Cats, Grey Wolves, and Striped Hyenas as well as the Asiatic Cheetah. However, after the first few years of their operations, they realized that the Cheetah population was in far worse condition than they ever could have feared. Extensive camera trapping projects in 2011 in the cheetah’s natural ranges yielded data
Photo credit: Iranian Cheetah Society
that suggested their numbers were significantly lower than expected, and since then, the ICS has focused its work on this species specifically. In the years that followed, various factors such as climate change, economic problems, natural competition, and government sanctions made the Asiatic Cheetah’s need for protection even more important. As the population continued to dwindle, the organization’s work continued, operations diversified, and prolonged efforts tried to keep the subspecies alive a little longer.
In discussion with the organization’s CEO Morteza Pourmirzai and head Conservation Research and Monitoring Officer Atie Taktehrani, the passion and knowledge that drives the ICS became very clear. While it’s evident that the last few years of operations have not been easy, the organization remains resilient and steadfast in the face of adversity. Morteza joined the society 17 years ago, an environmental science Master’s student whose interests were primarily based around the Pallas cat. After some time within the ICS, he decided to focus more on the Asiatic Cheetah due to its critical condition. He began as a volunteer during his second year as a student and has since been extremely involved in the ICS and all of its projects, specifically educational outreach projects in Tehran, remote villages, and nomadic areas. Atie joined the society 13 years ago through work on her undergraduate thesis and has been working
IRAN
“VARIOUS FACTORS SUCH AS CLIMATE CHANGE, ECONOMIC PROBLEMS, NATURAL COMPETITION, AND GOVERNMENT SANCTIONS MADE THE ASIATIC CHEETAH’S NEED FOR PROTECTION EVEN MORE IMPORTANT.”
with the ICS ever since, primarily on research and biodiversity education for various age groups. As the head of the research department, she now has hands-on knowledge of all the projects involving cheetah observation and protection.
When they both joined the Society, Morteza and Atie shared the opinion that the conservation status of the Asiatic Cheetah would never reach the dire state that they are in today. This was largely down to a lack of resources and knowledge at the time — there was not enough information about the cat to determine its status, and by the time the work was done, it may have been too late. Now, in the present day, it makes the work all the more difficult. But with impossible
CEO Morteza Pourmirzai
Photo credit: Iranian Cheetah Society
Monitoring Officer Atie Taktehrani
odds, they continue their work with the hope of extending the subspecies’ lifespan as long as they possibly can.
This work is important for many reasons — Atie calls attention to the extinction of the Asiatic Lion and the Caspian Tiger, two other species of big cat that have both been extinct in Iran for decades. The loss of an umbrella species can devastate an entire ecosystem, as the human development has completely destroyed tiger and lion habitats in Iran. As one of the last remaining big cats in the country, and the very last national population of its kind, the Asiatic Cheetah is as important for Iran as Iran is for the Asiatic Cheetah.
When discussing possible drivers of why the cheetah population is in such a poor situation, Morteza and Atie both cite poor education and availability of resources as major influences as to why the subspecies was unknown in its health and numbers until as few as 40 could remain — political and social conditions in Iran over the years have prohibited the ability to properly deploy the necessary equipment, operators, and technology to look after the endangered animals in the country. Morteza mentions that several years ago, festivals and educational programs were run by environmental activists but have
“THE LOSS OF AN UMBRELLA SPECIES CAN DEVASTATE AN ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM, AS THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED TIGER AND LION HABITATS IN IRAN.”
all but completely ceased in recent years. While other ecological factors were taking effect on the cheetahs, there was no way people could have known how quickly they were disappearing.
However, they also agree that some things have changed for the better — now more than ever, people are finally beginning to pay attention to the plight of the natural world. Conservation is more in the foreground of socio-political attention than ever before, both worldwide and in Iran. As the crisis of environmental collapse and mass extinction becomes public knowledge, more and more people are becoming actively involved with conservation efforts, and the infrastructure around organizations such as the ICS becomes more willing to assist. People are starting to pay more attention. “The levels of respect and value from the public”, Atie says, “has increased massively in recent years”. However, there are still issues with their programs. Local conflicts arise during outreach and education operations, as conflicting interests between local parties can get in the way of successful efforts. The difference between planning operations with the most wishful of thinking and actually performing them in the field is a very different thing, and with their experience of fieldwork, Atie and Morteza say that the real difficulty lies in the fieldwork itself.
Photo credit: Iranian Cheetah Society
IRAN
Between government sanctions and the difficulty of lugging tools into remote areas, the odds are against their success.
However, the ICS has had its share of victories. Thanks to the tireless efforts of its staff, several advancements have been made towards better conservation efforts of this subspecies in Iran, including joining a coalition to successfully use a sketch of the Asiatic Cheetah on the football shirts of the Iranian Football Federation, using a press conference to communicate with the public masses that the status of the big cat was far worse than previous official estimates.
Alongside these successes, the ICS has been working diligently on several of its other flagship enterprises. Their recent venture, called the ‘Explorers of Hope’ project, began in the spring of 2020 and centred around the fact that with the sparse amount of equipment and personnel available to them, researchers have been looking for the Asiatic Cheetah in areas that they already know they are likely to be found. This project believes that idea - that they only occur in the North Habitats - to be a mistake, and aims to expand the range of research and take surveillance into extremely sparse, remote areas where no research has yet been conducted. The hope is that there may be some individuals, or perhaps entire populations, that have been completely missed. The Explorers of Hope team is now charting areas that had never before been considered as being a potential habitat for cheetahs, in the hopes of finding some good news that everyone else has been missing.
The ‘Safe Cheetah Passage’ project is a multicontributor campaign that the ICS are involved in, another effort to protect the subspecies through careful planning and maintenance of movement routes. The campaign raised funds to build a 5 kilometer fence down a transit road that was right in the middle of a path that several cheetahs would often take. Several had been killed in the years prior to the fence being built, and now, the number of fatalities around that area has dropped.
‘Water for Cheetahs’ is a similar infrastructure project, which involved the construction of artificial waterholes, the maintenance and upgrading of water resources, and the charitable crowdfunding of local technician salaries and equipment provisions to ensure that water is not constantly scarce in the most important
“SEVERAL HAD BEEN KILLED IN THE YEARS PRIOR TO THE FENCE BEING BUILT, AND NOW, THE NUMBER OF FATALITIES AROUND THAT AREA HAS DROPPED.”
of areas for cheetah populations, such as the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge. This project was met with enormous success and public interest, and a lot of money was raised to help bolster the local water economy.
The ICS also set up a ‘Rangers Program’ in 2014, an ongoing project which aims to provide support, incentive, and reward for conservation rangers in the area, funding salaries for rangers in wildlife reserves, providing equipment for fieldwork, and giving awards to the most dedicated rangers and volunteers. This program has been met with
success, supplying many rangers with the tools and finance necessary to carry out their jobs in the most remote areas.
Efforts to conserve the Asiatic Cheetah also extend beyond Iran — the ICS has been attempting to work with their partners in South Africa to share knowledge, experience, and expertise to inform the South African Cheetah Meta-Population Program, a similar project that aims to create a stable, thriving, protected population that can be carefully monitored. Though their presence in this project has dropped in recent years due to other pressures out of their control, Morteza reiterates the importance of ex-situ conservation in the grand scheme of species conservation.
Morteza calls the changing of people’s attitudes a ‘slow and continuous process’, but there is an undisputed movement in the right direction. Certainly, in local areas of Iran, this is through no small part due to the work of the ICS. And worldwide, it is organizations like the ICS that continue to lead the charge, even in the most challenging of circumstances, and their efforts will not go unnoticed. As the world shifts and continues to acknowledge just how important the work of conservationists has been this entire time, we can only hope that organizations like the ICS will be treated with more respect, reverence, and attention in the future.
Instagram
@iranian.cheetah
Linkedin
@iraniancheetah
Website www.wildlife.ir/en
Asiatic Cheetahs captured at water holes with a camera trap
Photo credit: Iranian Cheetah Society
UNITS OF NATURE
In a small office right above the hustle and bustle of Bern’s old town, an innovative startup called Inverto Earth has big plans – to change the world of ecosystem restoration. Their ambitious goal is to restore 1% of the planet’s degraded coastlines. Cameron Dowd and his colleagues are working with companies to fund long-term nature restoration projects. After some amazing work in Pakistan, the UAE, and Australia, they are now planning to restore mangrove habitats in Indonesia.
Written by: Patrizia Baldi
Healthy mangroves - Sumatra, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
It is easy to see that Australian native Cameron Dowd is incredibly passionate about his work with Inverto. He tells us that after studying mechanical engineering, he came to do his masters at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, a technical/scientific university, where he had gotten really interested in the robotics and drone space. Multiple work placements followed. At an NGO using robotics for social good Cameron met his now cofounder Jürg Germann, who is originally from Bern, Switzerland, where Inverto is based as well. Together they were involved in multiple drone projects in the health sector , before starting Inverto.
The most interesting one, he tells us, was releasing live mosquitoes from drones to combat dengue fever: “At first glance, releasing them may seem a bit contradictory, but many programs have the goal of releasing either sterile or genetically modified mosquitoes to get the population to collapse. The project we were working with essentially introduced a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia into wild populations of mosquitoes.” The mentioned bacteria is found in about 50% of all insects anyway but is also used to prevent mosquitoes from transmitting dengue fever. For this to happen, mosquitos are infected with Wolbachia and subsequently bred in large numbers for release. Cameron explains: “The cool thing is it spreads through the generations. So once you get enough of the bacteria into the wild population, the spread of dengue is completely stopped. But, to do this you need to release a lot of mosquitoes that will occasionally bite people, so, as you can imagine, it’s not exactly a popular job to ride around on a motorbike shaking out mosquitoes.” That is why Cameron and Jürg were brought on the project to build a system that
“WE USED OUR DRONE SYSTEM TO PLANT 76HA OF MANGROVES IN ABOUT 10 DAYS, COVERING UP TO 17HA IN A SINGLE DAY.”
could release the insects from a drone in a more consistent way.
Even though they really enjoyed working on these kinds of social projects, in their hearts they always knew they wanted to contribute to the restoration of ecosystems. After attentively following the carbon markets and various tree-planting projects, they realized that many solutions from the NGO world were primarily working on a shortterm basis. As Cameron puts it: “The work these NGOs do is amazing, but it’s very hard to have a sustainable impact once funding stops and the project ends. So we were thinking about how we can start a business that enables long-term impact – and that’s how Inverto came to be.” They initially built a technology system to plant mangroves with the use of drones. The first drone planting project was a partnership with Delta Blue Carbon, the world’s largest mangrove restoration project in Pakistan. “We used our drone system to plant 76ha of mangroves in about 10 days, covering up to 17ha in a single day”, Cameron says. Success rates varied based on seed viability and conditions, making it clear that site selection was crucial. Ultimately, however, Inverto’s vision was to go well beyond that and enable the restoration of whole ecosystems.
Inverto’s drone - Pakistan
Photo credit: Johannes Charrois
THE VALUE OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS
Coastal areas, and in particular mangrove ecosystems, which are the ones Inverto is working exclusively with at the moment, are very valuable. They form a natural coastal protection from storms and tsunamis and sequester four to ten times more carbon per unit area than even terrestrial rainforests, which are incredibly important in the face of climate change. Many endangered species rely on mangroves for their survival, as this habitat is not just affecting life on land, but also sealife. What’s more, about 80% of commercially relevant fish species in these
ecosystems spend at least some part of their life cycles within the mangroves, for example by using it as a protected nursery ground. This is also a relevant social aspect to be considered. Cameron states: “If we can build a model on a subscription basis that enables the local communities to be compensated long-term for looking after their ecosystems, then that’s an important pillar of social benefit we are able to provide through our restoration efforts. It needs to be of direct monetary value to the communities to look after and monitor these ecosystems.”
‘‘ABOUT 80% OF COMMERCIALLY RELEVANT FISH SPECIES IN THESE ECOSYSTEMS SPEND AT LEAST SOME PART OF THEIR LIFE CYCLES WITHIN THE MANGROVES, FOR EXAMPLE BY USING IT AS A PROTECTED NURSERY GROUND.’’
Degraded and eroded mangroves - Java, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
Mudskipper - Northern Territory Australia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
SWITZERLAND
UNITS OF NATURE
Inverto’s mission is to enable the restoration of coastal ecosystems by selling companies socalled ‘units of nature’. These units are 3-by-3meter plots with an exact georeferenced location, each one of them being unique. Interested companies pay a yearly subscription fee, which initially covers the restoration, but most importantly enables the collection of data and engagement of local communities long-term. It shifts the focus from planting a single tree, as is the main goal in tree planting projects, to growing and looking after the whole ecosystem in the future as well. As Cameron explains: “Today, many brands and companies are paying for carbon credits, which is already amazing, but they may be imagining it’s supporting nature, whereas most carbon credits are not used for growing forests. Moreover, only 35% of the forestry-based carbon credits are supporting the restoration of natural ecosystems. Most of them are monocultures or even timber plantations. A tree is great, but it’s the wrong metric if you want to support nature. With our units, we are hoping to offer a much more comprehensive and holistic approach to nature restoration.”
Using these 3-by-3-meter plots makes sense not just because it is using an already existing global reference system, but also because of its scale. The data of a 1-by-1 meter grid for example would not be meaningful enough, but a 3-by-3-meter grid is large enough to offer some insight into what is happening in that area of the ecosystem. It is also on a small enough scale that
Mangrove - Aceh, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
“INVERTO’S MISSION IS TO ENABLE THE RESTORATION OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS BY SELLING COMPANIES SO-CALLED ‘UNITS OF NATURE’.”
companies can sell it tied to a product, or gift it to their employees. The plan for the future is to have a unique link or QR code for each sold plot leading to a dashboard, with which you can visit that exact unit of nature and its data, or more likely, if a company is financing multiple plots, they can get an overview of the whole area they are supporting. This data has incredible value to the company, as it excites the end users. It helps them understand and learn more about the ecosystem and the project they are supporting, and they ultimately also receive the necessary data to back up their impact.
According to Cameron, Inverto is exclusively working on a project scale: “It doesn’t make sense for us to start a project unless at least 50% of its area is financially supported. We are currently launching a pilot project in Indonesia, where we want to restore mangrove forests. Because half of it is already financed by HP (the information technology company), the project can go ahead and we can now try and get even more people’s support to hopefully sponsor the rest of the restoration for the best impact possible.”
Preparing the drone for expedition - Pakistan
Photo credit: Johannes Charrois
SWITZERLAND
MANAGING A PROJECT
It seems that finding areas that need to be restored is not necessarily a difficult task – unfortunately, there are enough of these everywhere. Finding the right people to work with, however, is essential for the success of a long-lasting project. As Cameron puts it: “Although we are organizing the projects, it is key for us to have the right partners on-site. We look at their track record, what permissions they have, and also if they have the right kind of contacts. They need to show us that we can trust them with the restoration process. It also really helps if areas can be protected. The Indonesian site we are working at right now, for example, is part of what is considered an essential environmental area, which means that it’s set aside for conservation and people can’t carry out certain activities. That is really promising because we aim to engage in areas with zoning or conservation areas already in place, so we have some confidence that it will stay protected for a long time to come.”
Another important aspect is that the site restoration plans need to fit well within the goals and interests of the local communities. Turning farmland into forests for instance would not be sustainable. Neither is clearing people off their land for carbon projects or paying a group of locals to randomly plant trees without keeping the natural value in mind: of course, their goal would then be to plant as many trees as possible since this is the metric being considered. Mangroves would most likely also be planted in places that might not be appropriate, for example in mud flats where the tide isn’t suitable for their growth in many cases. On the other hand, restoring some already existing aquaculture ponds in mangrove ecosystems which may no longer be productive, have been abandoned, or are being eroded by the sea, makes a lot of sense. If the community has an active interest in planting mangroves, it is much more likely that the collaboration, and in fact the whole project, will bear fruit in the end.
Local community member planting Rhizophora Aceh, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
Illegal loggers with mangrove wood Aceh, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
Rhizophora
SWITZERLAND
THE COLLECTION OF DATA
Once a project has launched it is vital to start data collection. With the two co-owners of Inverto having a strong technical background, they are using drones as part of the monitoring. “With the drones, we essentially get aerial imagery”, Cameron says. “Mangrove ecosystems have a relatively simple canopy structure, which means they don’t support a huge number of different tree species. So, using the drones we can roughly classify the coverage of different tree species or seagrass, giving us an idea of what the larger plants are, and what the coverage within the ecosystem looks like.”
Inverto usually either gets an on-site drone service provider to do the collection of drone imagery, or provides the community themselves with the skills to fly a drone and collect the necessary data. As part of the monitoring, they are receiving drone imagery once or twice a year. Cameron adds: “It’s very important to show what’s growing plantwise, but we also focus on many other methods of data collection. For example, we are very
interested to see how biodiversity is developing within these project areas, and for that, we use camera traps, carry out acoustic monitoring, and, the method we see as being most scalable: environmental DNA.”
For the latter method, people can take a sample of water or even the air, send it to a laboratory, and get a list of species in that area. We all shed little pieces of skin and hair, which end up in the environment. So what is picked up using this method are the leftover pieces of animals in an area. Certain animals don’t shed as much DNA, making them harder to detect. Reptiles for example are difficult to pick up, while the method seems quite effective for mammals, insects, or fish. Cameron is telling us that other groups have been researching the method in zoos. Just by sampling the dust of the air, the environmental DNA method was able to prove the presence of about 58% of the animals in the zoo. Quite incredible! As Cameron summarizes: “At this stage, having the DNA analyzed in laboratories is still quite expensive, however, compared to actually
Local team collaboration with GIS dataAceh, Indonesia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
finding and photographing all these animals, it’s a very scalable way of getting the necessary data. The downside of this method is that you only receive information on the existence and not the abundance of animals, which you still have to collect in other ways. But if you want to know if a particular rare animal is there, it’s a really good method.”
As for the acoustic monitoring, it’s interesting to know that any species that makes a noise can be detected and classified. The more complex the acoustics in the environment, the more diversity there likely is in a specific area, and the healthier the ecosystem! With well-enough trained models it’s possible to learn exactly what individual species there are.
At this stage, the biodiversity metrics and measurements Inverto is getting are at a project scale. Cameron states: “We know that within a project we have certain animal species. We can let the companies know that the plots they have subscribed for are supporting the habitat of these animals at the project scale. Eventually,
our goal is to model this down to the individual 3-by-3-meter plots so we know exactly what species these smaller areas support. Later on, we want to understand why a certain habitat works specifically for some species and not for others, and what can be done to improve that specific ecosystem on a larger and smaller scale.”
“HAVING THE DNA ANALYZED IN LABORATORIES IS STILL QUITE EXPENSIVE, HOWEVER, COMPARED TO ACTUALLY FINDING AND PHOTOGRAPHING ALL THESE ANIMALS, IT’S A VERY SCALABLE WAY OF GETTING THE NECESSARY DATA.”
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
THE FUTURE OF INVERTO
For the last 20 years, businesses have been increasingly reporting on and taking action around their carbon emissions. Biodiversity loss is something that many of them also want to address as part of their business perspective.
Cameron adds: “I think it helps that biodiversity is a lot more visible than the effects of climate change or carbon emissions. An animal that goes extinct, you’ll never see again. This can be a powerful message.” But it’s not all out of pure kindness. Companies are also starting to feel pressure from their clients and customers, as well as from regulations (for example via the EU nature restoration law that aims to restore 20% of the
“OF COURSE, GOVERNMENTS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE HERE, BUT THE WAY WE SEE IT, BUSINESS ACTION IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST LEVERS RIGHT NOW, AS THEY ARE TYPICALLY THE ONES WITH THE MOST FUNDING.”
Avicennia marina growing - NSW Australia
Photo credit: Cameron Dowd
SWITZERLAND
CARBON CREDITS
These are permits which allow a country or organization to emit a certain amount of carbon emissions – one credit permits the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide or the equivalent of other greenhouse gases. If these emissions exceed the cap, money must be spent for extra credits in order to offset unavoided emissions. On the other hand, companies. can also make money by reducing their emissions and selling their excess allowances.
EU’s degraded ecosystems by 2030) to become more sustainable and take action. What’s more, in many cases it’s even considered a business risk, especially in companies with food production, to not do something about biodiversity loss in agriculture. We have all seen videos of people in China who have to pollinate plants by hand because bees have gone extinct. That’s not only expensive, we also heavily rely on biodiversity for our food supply”, says Cameron. “Compared to five years ago there’s now so much more awareness and talk around biodiversity. A lot of regulations are in the works, which of course is a really important step. We have previously seen this with carbon regulations, so we know it works. But, we really need to move fast with nature, yet there is still nowhere near enough action. Having mechanisms that enable regeneration and restoration of ecosystems is essential. Of course, governments play an important role here, but the way we see it, business action is one of the biggest levers right now, as they are typically the ones with the most funding.”
Utilizing this information, Inverto is working on expanding their objectives to Indonesia and other countries such as Kenya. They are currently actively reaching out and collaborating with companies and willing individuals to support their projects, which will then give them the ability to further expand their network, support communities long-term and achieve even more amazing impact restoring our planet’s coastlines.
The journey of a startup is of course not without its challenges, and neither is the protection and restoration of nature. But, as Cameron puts it: “You have to be an optimist and try to do your best, even though it can be hard sometimes. Because if I’m not an optimist, then I’m not going to take any action and nothing is going to change.”
MOST THREATENED PLACES
AROUND THE
WORLD
Across all our continents are unique and biodiverse ecosystems threatened by human activity. From the Amazon, to the Congo Basin, and the Great Barrier Reef, these places are home to a diverse range of species who rely on these biodiverse ecosystems to survive and thrive.
HALF OF BORNEO’S RAINFOREST WAS LOST BETWEEN 1973 AND 2015
BETWEEN 2000 AND 2018, ROUGHLY 39% OF BORNEAN TROPICAL FORESTS WERE CONVERTED INTO PALM OIL PLANTATIONS
400
SINCE 1995, MORE THAN 400 SPECIES OF FLORA AND FAUNA HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE ISLANDS, WITH OVER 50 OF THESE COMPLETELY NEW TO SCIENCE
Deforestation: Pulp and paper industry demands have led to increased legal and illegal logging, which has caused a devastating amount of deforestation.
Illegal Wildlife Trade: Borneo and Sumatra have faced rampant poaching over the years as a direct result from the growing number of roads and logging trails.
Agricultural Expansion: Crucial habitats for conservation have been destroyed to make way for palm oil and coffee agriculture.
Sumatran Rhino is the smallest of the living Rhinoceroses, has a population of just 40 individuals, and hence listed on the IUCN
FROM 1999 TO 2010, SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED 615 NEW SPECIES, INCLUDING 41 MAMMALS AND 61 REPTILES
OF MADAGASCAR’S FLORA AND FAUNA SPECIES ARE ENDEMIC TO THE ISLAND
Climate Change:
Madagascar's flora and fauna that have evolved over millions of years.
Temperatures in the Arctic are warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. This has lowered sea ice levels, melted permafrost and is directly causing a rise in sea levels.
Intensive offshore oil drilling in Arctic waters is a risky practice that can result in disastrous oil spills. This affects all species within the Arctic food chain from marine to terrestrial life.
OTHER SPECIES THAT LIVE HERE
A proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, threatens to destroy salmon habitats and generate toxic waste in freshwater ecosystems. Interventions have so far prevented the proposal from proceeding.
PACIFIC SALMON ARCTIC FOX
Zoë Jewell and Sky Alibhai
Photo credits: WildTrack
TRAILBLAZING TECH
HOW AI DECODES WILDLIFE FOOTPRINTS
Conservation technology and wildlife monitoring techniques have come a long way with tracking once being a survival skill, to now being an important component of conservation. The use of cutting-edge technology to conserve wildlife and their environment is an important component of this ever-evolving field. Picture being able to determine the population size within a species and conserve wildlife with the science of footprint technology. That’s what Zoë Jewell and Sky Alibhai at WildTrack do in their global conservation work.
Written by: Chelsea Whittingham
“TO PROTECT WILDLIFE, WE DON’T HAVE TO BE HANDS-ON, WE SHOULD RESPECT THEIR NEED TO HAVE SPACE.”
WILDTRACK’S STORY
WildTrack is an independent nonprofit based in North Carolina, founded by Zoë Jewell and Sky Alibhai. The story of WildTrack goes back to the 90s with their initial work in Zimbabwe. Zoë’s passion for wildlife began at a young age with her earliest memory being visiting her grandfather’s furrier business. Unlike her grandfather, Zoë couldn’t understand killing animals for their fur. “He picked me up... and I remember having a slight feeling of discomfort that turned to shock when he told me that these were the skins taken from these beautiful animals.”
This childhood fascination and love for animals led to her first pursuing a career in veterinary
medicine. Shortly after graduating as a vet, Zoë and her partner Sky Alibhai, a lecturer at the University of London, were given a unique opportunity to help monitor black rhinos for the Zimbabwean government. This intended oneyear sabbatical became a lifelong journey. Over the years Zoë and Sky would continue their work across multiple countries with WildTrack officially becoming a registered nonprofit in 2011 and then relocating to the US in 2012.
WildTrack’s goal is to protect endangered species and monitor their populations using three major components; data analysis, artificial intelligence, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). This unique synergy of the ancient and modern is
Small mammal track plate
Photo credits: WildTrack
used to develop only non-invasive approaches, to reduce harm like stress or physical injury to sensitive populations, and minimize humanwildlife contact risks such as transmission of novel diseases. Zoë’s advice to conservationists and people aspiring to get into the field is to think about all signs and aspects of nature when out in the field. “We’re all so busy that we sometimes forget to look around us to see the impacts we have on the delicate balance of the natural world.”
In 2000, WildTrack had a breakthrough that would aid them in their conservation efforts and become the forefront of their work. They developed a Footprint Identification Technology (FIT) in JMP software that can identify species, individuals, sex, and age classes purely from an individual’s footprints, ensuring non-invasive monitoring. Although Zoë and Sky both worked closely with local trackers in Zimbabwe — who could identify sex and age by seeing a footprint in real life — the possibility of doing this with technology had once seemed far-fetched. “We don’t have to interfere with the physiology or behavior of these sensitive animals to understand what’s happening,” Zoë
said, “To protect wildlife, we don’t have to be hands-on, we should respect their need to have space.” Their use of FIT has gained international recognition and many awards; in 2022 WildTrack won the Otter Oscar award from the International Otter Survival Foundation for research they conducted on otters where they identified three different species using the same habitat.
WILDTRACK’S CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Currently, WildTrack has 35 projects taking place worldwide. There is also an impressive global network of biologists and conservation experts called the WildTrack Specialist Group. The network comprises of specialists from twelve different countries working on communityfriendly projects to achieve their mission of conserving wildlife using non-invasive monitoring. The experts monitor a range of different species across many continents, including the black and white rhino in Botswana, tigers and leopards in Nepal, jaguars in Brazil, and small mammals in South Africa.
San grandfather and son using modern and ancient technology at Naankuse, Namibia
Photo credits: WildTrack
Unfortunately, one of the barriers that WildTrack’s conservation efforts face is access to funding. Zoë’s words are clear, “We only need about 1% of the planet’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to protect biodiversity, and that not only helps us fight against climate change but also protects our land against pollution. All these things combined are essential for human life, so putting 1% of our global GDP towards that seems like a small effort.”
Their Footprint Identification Technology (FIT) uses a combination of morphometric data —the size and shape of an organism or organ— and Al algorithms to ensure noninvasive monitoring. This technology allows them to identify species, individuals, sex, and age class purely from an individual’s footprint. The use of morphometric and AI algorithms by WildTrack aids in the conservation of species worldwide by allowing large amounts of data to be filtered to identify species and individuals. “Such data can be used in construction and human development projects. Through footprints, we can determine what kind of effects development projects such as windmills and solar farms have on wildlife abundance at that specific location, before, during and after the development,” says Sky. WildTrack is currently researching the impact of human development projects using FIT, showing that conservation is a human issue involving local communities.
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Alongside their conservation work and amazing research, WildTrack also focuses on uplifting and providing opportunities for local communities as well as promoting the importance of Indigenous ecological knowledge. The organization works with many Indigenous groups, giving elders the tools to teach tracking skills to youth. This is crucial to preserving the incredible breadth of ecological knowledge held by indigenous groups around the world. They are essential in protecting the environment and working with WildTrack benefits them by allowing traditional indigenous
“WE ONLY NEED ABOUT 1% OF THE PLANET’S GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY, AND THAT NOT ONLY HELPS US FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE, BUT ALSO PROTECTS OUR LAND AGAINST POLLUTION.”
knowledge about the environment to be shared with aspiring conservationists and tourists. Also, WildTrack has workshops that give aspiring and current conservationists as well as local communities the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills such as footprint identification and wildlife monitoring techniques.
A track plate setup
Photo credits: WildTrack
Black Rhino with calf in Namibia
Photo credits: WildTrack
ZOË AND SKY’S EXPEDITION
Currently, Zoë and Sky are participating in a three-part research project across Southern Africa with their most recent trip being to South Africa. Funded by JRS Biodiversity, and working with expert local partners Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation, Dr. Nico Avenant of the National Museum in Bloemfontein, and Dr. Maria Oostenhuizen, their project aids in building their database, and in doing so they train their Al model to become better at recognizing footprints, including ones that are completely scattered or have multiple prints overlapping each other. It also involves tracking small mammals by using track plates and smart boxes to determine a baseline of the species present in the area. “The smart boxes have a window to allow us to see which species enters the track plate and how it moves,” says Sky. As small mammals make up 30-40% of mammal species, and their numbers fluctuate rapidly with environmental changes, they are very sensitive indicators of environmental change caused by factors like climate change and biodiversity loss. With their current project, they are building their Southern African database, however, to create a good overview of small mammal species living around the world, much more data will need to be collected. “You have to understand your environment to be able to work well with footprints. It evolved with humanity. If an early human was able to track and read the science of their environment, they could survive,” says Zoë.
WILDTRACK’S FUTURE
The future of WildTrack is bright with the dedicated team having many plans in mind. They are hoping to expand their research and use FIT on a worldwide basis. Zoë and Sky’s next trip is due to take place in October with the intent of studying different areas and landscapes. “Our third and last part of our expedition is due in October. We hope to study different areas and landscapes this time, further understanding small mammals in this area of the world. As our expedition comes to an end, we plan to showcase our findings at a research conference in Johannesburg,” says Zoë. “But that doesn’t mean we’re done in Southern Africa. Namibia, Botswana, and other countries are also high on our list to expand our research to.” In the end, they plan to create a database to allow for further research and the development of their AI tool.
“THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS TO POPULATE A WORLD MAP WITH FOOTPRINTS THAT CAN TELL US WHERE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIVE AND HOW WE CAN PROTECT THEM BEST.”
Photo credits: L. Diederiks
Sky showing students results on a track plate
Photo credits: L. Diederiks
Part of Team WildTrack
Photo credits: WildTrack
The organization also aims to engage with more members of the community such as recreational hikers, school children, and university students. To this end, they have built an app, ‘WildTrackAI’, that enables people to take part in footprint identification themselves. Sky adds, “You only need a phone and a ruler, to capture footprints of local wildlife. Upload the image — with the ruler alongside the print to clarify its size— and you’re now part of community science!” WildTrack and Edge Impulse, both members of the 1% for the Planet community, are partnering to provide immediate identification of images taken on the app.
WildTrack is also building a web platform interface that will allow community members to see their contributions and how they are being used. Zoë adds: “The ultimate objective is to populate a world map with footprints that can tell us where endangered species live and how best we can protect them. Anyone in the world can contribute and because footprints are everywhere, the potential for conservation is vast!” If all comes together, their long-term goal is to have a WildTrack institute that can host workshops, teaching and training opportunities, and provide resources to aspiring conservationists and local communities.
SUPPORTING WILDTRACK
If you want to support WildTrack with their current projects and future endeavors conserving global wildlife, you can help by becoming a donor. You don’t have to have a scientific background to make a difference in the conservation field. If you would like to get involved with WildTrack, you can volunteer or partner with them directly. Also, if you want to implement your own conservation project using FIT, you can contact the organization through their website. And if you want to receive regular updates on WildTrack’s journey and future ambitions, you can follow their journey one step at a time by checking out their website and following them on social media.
HEALTH FROM THE FOREST
AN INNOVATIVE FUSION OF SUSTAINABLE GASTRONOMY AND HUMAN HEALTH
The treasures of our world’s forests and meadows are not only delicious, but they can also provide the healing power of nature, supplying us with a source of nourishment free from all modern-day additives and harm. These ancient treasures have been rediscovered by an enthusiastic team in the Hungarian forests of the Bükk Mountains. Using the knowledge of modern-day gastronomy, they have created a unique fusion of nature and cutting-edge cooking technology, a movement that is transforming the future of forest gastronomy.
We asked Gyula Bózsó, Forest Ambassador, about the potential of the ‘Edible FOREST’ („Ehető ERDŐ” in Hungarian) and the gastronomic innovation of nature connection, who proclaims the need to pass on the professional knowledge inherited from generations of foresters for a more liveable and sustainable future for all.
Written by: Boglárka Amrein Tamásné Miskolczi
Strawberry sugar
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
“NATURE IS ALIVE IN THE STRICTEST SENSE OF THE WORD: IT CAN SUPPLY US WITH SPECIAL, CLEANLY SOURCED, EDIBLE INGREDIENTS ALL YEAR ROUND.”
HUNGARY
Allium scorodoprasum - rocambole
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
Gyula Bozsó is an expert in many areas of his chosen profession: he is associated with countless ecotourism developments and has been responsible for the realization of projects such as the first and unique hybrid locomotive in Lillafüred, or the “Queen of Observation Towers”, the Sofia Tower, which has been named Observation Tower of the Year. He has helped create forest schools and accommodations, panoramic viewpoints, nature trails, walking paths, and memorials. And the Lillafüred Gastro Express – a special train that presents forest gastronomy – would not be possible without him. Gyula, who has been in touch with the forest since childhood, is an experienced forest publicist, and, as well as writing books, he sees his mission as connecting with people, passing on ancient knowledge, and promoting the potential of forests to the widest possible audience.
“Nature is alive in the strictest sense of the word: it can supply us with special, cleanly sourced, edible ingredients all year round,” says Gyula, who first described the new movement in 2014: the word ‘Az ERDŐ finom’ (“FOREST is delicious” in English), which is also the title of his book on forest gastronomy. With his book and the associated attitude-forming and value-communicating programs, a new genre was born: top forest gastronomy, whose main aim is to inspire the consumption of healthy food from sustainable sources.
The forest gastronomic foundations created by the “FOREST is delicious” were later complemented by the ‘Edible FOREST’ knowledge base, in which the revival of ethnobotanical knowledge was given a prominent role. Arguing for a change of approach where man and forest are brought into a much closer relationship, where society has finally matured to be able to embrace all the knowledge and wisdom of the forest.
Gyula Bózsó and the “Edible Forest”
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
“WE
TRAVEL HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD FOR OUR INGREDIENTS, PLACING A HEAVY BURDEN ON THE PLANET WE LIVE ON. AND WE ALL KNOW THAT THIS CAN’T GO ON. THAT’S WHY WE NEED TO EXPLORE OUR ENVIRONMENT, THE FORESTS AND FIELDS AROUND US, WHERE WE CAN FIND MORE SUSTAINABLE AND CLEANER RESOURCES.”
The ‘Edible FOREST’ book was born from the collaboration of two excellent specialists: Gyula and Sára Megyeri. Due to Sára’s past as a gastro and wine expert, she prioritizes the taste and use of plants, which fantastically complements Gyula’s professional knowledge of forests. The author couple said this about their joint work: “This book helps us discover the flavors of the forest ourselves in all its value – even at home, in our own kitchen. These plants play a role not only in healing but also in preserving our health: wild and raw forest materials from the purest possible source.”
But what is forest gastronomy all about? Why and how should we relate to it – and what is the added value that makes it an innovation in sustainability and nature connection?
According to Gyula, today’s gastronomy is based on extraordinary stories – big stories – which is why we often make the mistake of sourcing ingredients from faraway places, with lesserknown ingredients. “Many people believe that because something comes from a distant land, it is better or more valuable than the raw materials found at home.” But this is not true. If anything, it’s neither sustainable nor beneficial: “We travel halfway around the world for our ingredients, placing a heavy burden on the planet we live on. And we all know that this can’t go on. That’s why we need to explore our environment, the forests and fields around us, where we can find more sustainable and cleaner resources.” Gyula adds: “What’s more, we are all attuned to the flavors and ingredients of our own habitat and the landscapes around us, so our bodies are more able to absorb and benefit from the flavors of our own landscapes. The forest is one thing here in Hungary and another a continent away. Both hold treasures and both have the specificity of providing healthy, nutritious, sustainable, and free food, including flavors and experiences for the people living around them.”
According to Gyula, nowadays, food preparation and gastronomic trends have a history, i.e. we no longer simply buy ingredients and cook,
but we add extra content, values, and goals to gastronomy, which has also become an art and a way of life.
By rediscovering the world of ethnobotany, we are also preserving ancient history, as every plant has a chronicle that goes back thousands of years. And by using the right plant ingredients, we can stock up our home pharmacy, so that we can practically ensure the balance of our body’s functions with our food. “Many modernday medicines are made from active ingredients extracted from plants: for example, Vinca is a particularly popular medicinal ingredient and is freely available in our native forests. Why should we pay for medicine when we can go into the woods, collect our own, and incorporate them into our diets to ensure a healthy and balanced life? Why should we spend unnecessary money when nature gives it to us on a plate?”, says Gyula.
Indeed, the food that nature provides is available to everyone, and it costs much less if you pick and prepare it yourself. And all ethically, because Gyula also stresses that we must use the benefits of the forest responsibly, preserving the balance of our ecosystems for future generations.
“MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT BECAUSE SOMETHING COMES FROM A DISTANT LAND, IT IS BETTER OR MORE VALUABLE THAN THE RAW MATERIALS FOUND AT HOME.” BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.
Sorbus aucuparia - rowan
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
HUNGARY
“Ehető ERDŐ” offers a helping hand to those who have become disconnected from the wonderfully diverse world of ancient knowledge, goods, and services provided by nature. When one picks up the book, one realizes how much more is edible in the forest than first thought: young Fagus (beech) leaves, sap of trees, the Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) that can replace the taste of onions, or the Cardamine bulbifera (coralroot bittercress) of the onion bog, which, when toasted, can be an excellent addition to pasta, salads or even sandwiches.
The team’s recipes for the treasures of the Bükk Mountains include delicacies that we have not only never tasted, but perhaps never even heard of: fermented Malus sylvestris (European wild apple), Betula pendula (European white birch) tonic, wild blackberry jam, Oxalis (wood sorrels) sorbet and Viburnum opulus (guelder rose) jam are all recipes that can lead the enthusiastic explorer towards a completely different approach.
“It simply means that by fusing modern gastronomy with the ingredients that the forest provides us, we can pioneer a new way of thinking. For example, what we used to make jam with is now also being used as a dessert or beverage ingredient — and what we didn’t know was edible is being utilized more and more often and prepared in various ways.”
Although „Ehető ERDŐ” is a book, a guide to a gastronomic adventure that combines a wealth of knowledge, it is far from just being a collection of recipes. „Ehető ERDŐ” is much more than that: it is a movement that aims to make more people aware of and discover the potential of the forest, and to enable them to see the treasures around them as a gift from nature. Not only healthy but also delicious and exciting.
Reading the book is indeed an exciting journey and one that will make you identify with the historical responsibility of the forestry profession and the importance of rebuilding people’s respect for nature. An insight into the ancient knowledge of ethnobotany in the modern age will make the reader reflect on how, as a responsible inhabitant of the Earth, he or she can protect and value what provides food, shelter, and inexhaustible opportunities: living nature.
Ethnobotany is a lesser-known concept in today’s world – despite its very important role in human history. The word is a combination of two disciplines: ethnology (ethnography) and botany (botany). Throughout history, people’s lives have been closely linked to the flora – details of which have often been passed down to posterity by word of mouth. In addition to the records of botanists, physicians, and anthropologists, foresters have also played a crucial role in
Sambucus nigra jam
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
Sorbus torminalis brandy
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
Sorbus aucuparia liqueur
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
creating the body of knowledge of ethnobotany, because they too have a wealth of experience: they know how to use the resources the forest gives us. “The knowledge passed down from generation to generation is a national treasure that we foresters have a duty to pass on so that our grandchildren have the opportunity to live in a more liveable and sustainable future.”
Our ancestors were fond of using the forest in their daily lives to prepare their food. They harvested wild vegetables, forest fruits, tubers, flowers, and leaves seasonally. Moreover, they not only used
these ingredients in their everyday cooking but also for the leaner winter months, for preserving, pickling, and as spices.
“We tend to think that in the age of the internet, all knowledge is available. However, this is only true if the subject matter has already been digitized. Our knowledge of ethnobotany is ‘fragile’ because this kind of expertise has essentially been passed down by word of mouth. If the chain is broken, this empirical knowledge can be lost forever. This is why the Edible FOREST project is so important and valuable, its main mission being to preserve
A gift from the forest
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
“THE KNOWLEDGE PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION IS A NATIONAL TREASURE THAT WE FORESTERS HAVE A DUTY TO PASS ON, SO THAT OUR GRANDCHILDREN HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN A MORE LIVEABLE AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.”
this common knowledge as a national treasure.” “The forest is like a vault into which previous generations have packed knowledge. A treasure that we have no right to keep, but a duty to pass on,” says Gyula, who believes that it is always the first step that is most difficult. “That’s why it’s good to have people around us who can hold our hand and help us enter the world of natural connections. Every journey begins with a small step. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and nature is a wonder forever waiting to be discovered, with only a small part of it ever revealing itself to us. Therefore, by incorporating the treasures of the forest into our family’s diet, one step at a time, we have already done a lot for ourselves, our children, and our future.”
Instagram @ehetoerdo
Facebook @ehetoerdo
Website www.ehetoerdo.hu
Website www.hotelpalota.hu
There is something very special about the world that comes with seeing forests and fields from this perspective. It is a flow that moves both body and soul, helping us break free from the daily grind and learn to slow down, see and feel. A truly innovative gastronomic movement that can fuse healthy eating, respectful contact with nature, and responsible thinking.
This special connection with the forest is also intended to be presented by the Lillafüred Gastro Express train program organized by the Lillafüred Palace Hotel, which, led by Gyula, guides visitors into the wonderful world of the edible forest. The guests travel on a small train into the thick of the forest, then get off at the stop and go on a walking tour – on paths surrounded by edible forest ingredients. Dozens of plants are presented on the tour led by well-known specialists, offering the participants a complete recipe book. There is also the opportunity to taste and collect, which Gyula’s overwhelming personality and rich knowledge make an unforgettable experience.
“And perhaps this is the true power of “Ehető ERDŐ”: a fusion of the ancient and the modern that can change human behavior patterns almost imperceptibly – because it portrays the potential for collaboration between people and forests as branching pathways to healing, nourishment, and a livable future.”
Instagram @azerdofinom
Facebook @azerdofinom
Website www.azerdofinom.hu
RECIPES FROM THE “EDIBLE FOREST”
STAPHYLEA PINNATA, THE EUROPEAN BLADDERNUT
HARVESTING
(buds in April-May, tender berries in June)
The flowers of the bladder tree grow in large clusters (in the technical term, in long-axis inflorescences), and the plant itself is a shrub or a low tree, so they don’t even need to be trained in particular. However, the above-mentioned timing is really important: visit the chosen bladder tree several times a week during the relevant period! Buds are best when they are white but not opened. And the berries must be collected in a tender green and slightly crunchy state, because if their color starts to turn pale brown and their skin hardens, then we can never soften them again by any method.
HAZELNUT BLADDERNUT HUMMUS
Cook the drained berries in salted water, then filter the cooking water, but keep it so that you can use it to adjust the texture of the hummus later, if necessary. If you don’t want to buy ready-made tahini, i.e. sesame cream, you can also make it at home: toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until light brown and fragrant, then crush them with a few drops of oil until creamy. Put the soft-boiled gorse berries with a generous amount of cumin, salt, pepper and, to taste, a small clove of garlic in a food processor (or in a container where you can comfortably use a hand blender so it won’t splatter). While chopping, add a few drops of lemon juice or, of course, wild apple juice if you have it, and 2-3 tablespoons of salad oil –homemade peanut oil or beech acorn oil, but in the absence of these, olive oil will also do. Work it until completely smooth and creamy, and in the meantime, if necessary, you can loosen it with the cooking water of the berries, carefully adding small spoonfuls.
Staphylea pinnata hummus
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
JONJOLI
Ripe the buds or barely opened flowers in salt as described below, and then make a fresh salad-like pickle from them when using them. Add red onion or scallion, freshly cut into rings or half rings, to the lightly rinsed bladdernut buds. Mix it with a spoonful of fruit vinegar, a spoonful of oil and add fresh coriander. (The original Georgian recipe prescribes it everywhere, but if you find green coriander to taste like bugs, you can of course replace it with parsley.) There is no need to add salt for preservation. Serve with any roasted meat or grilled vegetables.
PROCESSING
Cover the buds thinly with salt without rinsing (or if they are very dusty or bugged, after a quick wash and drying) and close the jar. Let it mature for 3 weeks, then when using, rinse the amount just used to wash off most of the salt from the buds. If you are bidding on the berries, pick the clusters of blisters from the tree, in such a way that you tear the branches as little as possible. Open the blisters and extract the tender fruits from them. No more cleaning is necessary, as the blisters protect them from contamination.
Gyula Bózsó remembers with appreciation his co-author Sára Megyeri “Dzsindzsász” www. facebook.com/dzsindzsatermekek , a true expert on wild-grown delicatessen products, without whose knowledge and efficiency this niche publication would not have been possible. Thanks also go to Péter Várvizi www.azerdofinom.hu/portrek, whose gastronomic knowledge has laid the foundations for the birth of “FOREST is delicious”.
Staphylea pinnata salad
Photo credit: Gyula Bózsó
I stand with my back to a small ravine on Mgahinga, one of the rainforest-covered, mist-shrouded Virunga Mountains. In the top of a small tree to my left, sits a young gorilla. The silverback sits calmly only just off to the right, munching on green leaves. Suddenly the situation changes dramatically when the top of the small tree comes off. The young one falls to the ground and two hundred kilograms of silverback rises with unexpected speed and comes rushing. In the commotion that ensues as we try to avoid being run down, or even attacked, I take a small step back and the ground disappears beneath my feet.
The visit to the Nyakagezi family in the southwest corner of Uganda ended well, the fall was short and left little damage. Thankfully most visits to nature do and as I write in my book Shinrin-yoku (forest bath) there are lots of health benefits to nature visits. Knowing that, it’s really sad to see the way we treat nature and the animals living in it. Visiting endangered species like gorillas, chimpanzees, and golden monkeys can also benefit both the animals and the people living close to them. In Uganda, there are quite high fees for visitors to national parks but they are put to good use. Since travel has an impact on both climate and the environment, I prefer to restrict my travel to those that have a clear benefit to nature.
Instagram @niklastorm
Website www.niklasstorm.com
SOUTH AFRICA
STUDYING SOUTH AFRICA’S CHARISMATIC SPECIES
THE CAPE PARROT
Long before you can see them, you’ll hear their loud chatter in the sky. In the Mistbelt Forests in South Africa, one specific species of parrot, the Cape Parrot, can be found – if you can distinguish their golden and green colors from the green of the forest, that is. Susan Wishart, Project Manager of the Cape Parrot Project, lives in one of the last strongholds for this species – Hogsback – to save this enigmatic species from extinction.
Written by: Manon Verijdt
Susan’s story is quite remarkable, as her roots aren’t within the conservation community. Her career path winds from the world of law to teaching. Then how did she end up in Hogsback, hundreds of kilometers away, and in parrot conservation? “While working in other sectors, I used my own time to obtain my Master’s in Environmental Law and a Diploma in Nature Conservation. The Diploma, in particular, took me many years as I only completed one or two subjects per year, but I always kept an eye out for opportunities in the conservation sector,” she explains. As she had built experience managing teams and projects throughout her previous employment, the opportunity to become a Project Manager for the Cape Parrot Project (CPP) was
a perfect fit. Interestingly enough, she had never heard of the Cape Parrot before applying for the job. With a nearly lifelong passion for birding, stemming from her youth visiting Kruger National Park, the Cape Parrot quickly stole her heart. With an overarching focus on the project, Susan now takes care of many things, from financial to logistical, and from HR to administrative oversight. Additionally, she frequently supports the research team, which is one of the core aspects of the Cape Parrot Project.
Not every conservation organization focuses primarily on research, yet here it is a fundamental pillar of their existence. In 2009, when Dr. Steve Boyes arrived in Hogback, South Africa, little was
Cape Parrot
Photo credit: Tara Naeser
“IT’S AN ENIGMATIC LITTLE SPECIES AND ITS COLORING IN THE FOREST MAKES IT INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO FIND, EVEN THOUGH IT’S VERY NOISY.”
known about the Cape Parrot. He and his wife, Dr. Kirsten Wimberger, who is the current Project Director of the CPP, came to this little town in the mountains to start exploratory work on the species. They wanted to know as much as possible about what was happening with the Cape Parrot, and why populations were possibly in decline. Susan adds: “It’s an enigmatic little species and its coloring in the forest makes it incredibly difficult to find, even though it’s very noisy.” So it definitely wasn’t the easiest research, but the project developed and so did their knowledge. Their project is also supported through the connections made during the Cape Parrot and Mitsbelt Action Plan workshop. This involved people ranging from academia to government, and more, and set up
SOUTH AFRICA
a clear road map to guide national conservation efforts for the Cape Parrot.
Although the research might not be finished –and it won’t be for many years to come – a lot is already known, including that the species has been in decline and that human intervention is needed to reverse that. Habitat degradation is currently one of the most severe threats to the species. With so little forest to call home – less than 3% of South African forests are Mistbelt Forests – a healthy ecosystem is paramount.
“HABITAT DEGRADATION IS CURRENTLY ONE OF THE MOST SEVERE THREATS TO THE SPECIES. WITH SO LITTLE FOREST TO CALL HOME – LESS THAN 3% OF SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTS ARE MISTBELT FORESTS.”
Photo credit: MonnaMay and Fairtree
Unfortunately, vast areas of the forest have been degraded, mostly through the introduction of alien invasive species.
With a team now consisting of 21 full-time and 24 part-time employees, the CPP is working hard to restore these forests, but that takes dedication and time. It requires a combination of active research on population distribution, seed collection, seedling growth, reforestation, and the removal of invasive species. Researchers and research assistants have to be in the field early morning – before the parrots start moving – every day, to look for breeding sites, feeding sites, and more, to map the habitat. Two recently hired eco-rangers patrol the trails in and around the forests to safeguard and monitor the project sites. The Operations Manager and Restoration Officer work on the sites already being restored. Two Nursery staff look for seeds, which will be taken back to the nurseries for future planting. The rest of the General Staff team plants the
Cape Parrot
Photo credit: Tara Naeser
Nursery staff
Photo credit: MonnaMay and Fairtree
SOUTH AFRICA
seedlings that have been grown locally. If they aren’t planting – which only happens in the rainy season – they remove invasive species and monitor and maintain the sites.
To understand how habitat restoration works, Susan explains: “Most importantly, we don’t clearcut when we start our restoration projects. What we do is clear an area partially, if necessary, making space for our seedlings, but keeping parts of the degraded forest intact. We do this because when we plant our seedlings, they need a lot of shade and they won’t survive without it. We call these temporarily remaining alien plants ‘nursery stands’. Once the indigenous plants have
grown enough, we ring bark the remaining alien trees and eventually, they die off, starting the process of restoration. In addition, not all forests need planting – assisted natural regeneration is also key.”
Local involvement is part of the approach that makes the CPP so successful. Besides their fulltime and part-time employees, the organization works closely with the communities that live on the periphery of Hogsback. “What’s great is that we’re close to one another. Without wanting to romanticize, I think there is much more communication and understanding because of this.” As a result, they work with 45 people who
Photo credit: MonnaMay and Fairtree
they call Nursery Growers, divided over three community nurseries. They upskill them, so they know how to grow the seeds they receive from the Project. Come planting time they buy back the young trees, to plant them back into the forest. This way they can actively involve the local communities, provide them with financial compensation, and motivate them to work on forest restoration.
However, local community involvement is bigger than just creating an understanding of the local forest, it’s about creating awareness for the species too. “We like to think of our Cape Parrot
“THEY
UPSKILL THE PEOPLE, SO THEY KNOW HOW TO GROW THE SEEDS THEY RECEIVE FROM THE PROJECT. COME PLANTING TIME THEY BUY BACK THE YOUNG TREES, TO PLANT THEM BACK INTO THE FOREST. THIS WAY THEY CAN ACTIVELY INVOLVE THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES, PROVIDE THEM WITH FINANCIAL COMPENSATION, AND MOTIVATE THEM TO WORK ON FOREST RESTORATION.”
Photo credit: MonnaMay and Fairtree
SOUTH AFRICA
as our national parrot, as it is South Africa’s only endemic parrot and it is green and gold, like our national colors. By increasing awareness of the presence of this species and encouraging pride in it, we hope conservation will be helped,” says Susan. However, as with many parrot species, the illegal pet trade is still a threat to deal with.
“Even when we talk about the Cape Parrots in our educational classes, we sometimes hear “My friend has got one of those at home!” and we then ask “Oh, do you know where they got it from?” to make sure whether it was a captive breed and not a wild-caught parrot,” Susan adds.
Getting children involved in their work is another of the Cape Parrot Project’s most important pillars. Through one of their funders, the Cape Parrot Project can run two environmental camps a year, which involve 120 children from the local communities. Susan explains: “We give environmental walks to introduce the children to the forest, including all the species. As we realized the kids don’t have good walking shoes, we arranged for them to receive hiking boots, which has been great.” Nevertheless, working with and in these communities isn’t easy.
For example, one school is so under-resourced that they didn’t have any water for their ablutions, let alone to maintain the biodiversity garden that the Cape Parrot Project built with them. This
“WE GIVE ENVIRONMENTAL WALKS TO INTRODUCE THE CHILDREN TO THE FOREST, INCLUDING ALL THE SPECIES. AS WE REALIZED THE KIDS DON’T HAVE GOOD WALKING SHOES, WE ARRANGED FOR THEM TO RECEIVE HIKING BOOTS, WHICH HAS BEEN GREAT.”
Susan, CPP Team
Photo credit: Cape Parrot Project
SOUTH AFRICA
Photo credit: Tara Naeser
Photo credit: Rodnick Biljon
SOUTH AFRICA
“LOOK AT WHERE YOU ARE, AND TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW.”
SOUTH AFRICA
project will be continued, to work with the children on educational and environmental projects. During ‘walks and talks’, Cape Parrot Project’s locally employed eco-rangers work with the children to help them understand the forest and nature around them and see that they can fulfill similar roles in the future.
Restoration and the evolving educational programs are both aspects of the project that Susan particularly looks forward to in the coming years. Additionally, establishing their base in
Siyazama nursery staff
Photo credit: Johann Vorster
Limpopo, another region in South Africa, has already proven successful and Susan hopes that more regions will follow. The organization hopes to create more eco-ranger jobs and Landscape Conservation Manager, Dr. Jess Leaver, is working on a handbook that shows how they will monitor and eventually restore forests, in preparation for other bases around the country. As for Susan, she doesn’t see herself leaving anytime soon. “I would like to be here for the foreseeable future, although I’m already the ‘old lady’ here. I hope to continue contributing to the Cape Parrot Project.”
Looking back at the past years in Hogsback, while working at the Cape Parrot Project, there is one achievement that feels like the biggest of them all; the implementation of their strategic goals. “We went from separate groups of people to a team, pulling all the strands together and strategically collaborating,” Susan explains. Yet that achievement is not the only key lesson she would share if you asked her about it. “Look at where you are, and try to make a difference where you are right now. Even in an urban environment, you can help with recycling, for example. Volunteer when you can, because organizations depend on you to get their work done. And if you don’t have time, but do have money, donate – and do it continuously. These reliable sources of income are incredibly important.”
www.capeparrotproject.org
ENDANGERED SPECIES THE NUMBAT
SHORT LIST OF FACTS
• Species: Myrmecobius fasciatus
• Genus: Myrmecobius
• Numbats eat up to 20,000 termites a day
• The numbat is the official animal emblem of the Australian state of Western Australia
• IUCN Red List status: Endangered (EN)
Written by: Marc Kranendonk
The numbat is an insectivorous marsupial mammal native to Australia, living in limited pockets in the southwestern regions of the continent. Although known as the banded anteater, this marsupial feasts almost exclusively on termites, and unlike many other native species, it hunts during the day. The introduction of predators and habitat destruction has caused their numbers to tumble down to a population of around 1,000 individuals.
Numbats are expert termite eaters. Their long noise can fit through small holes in the ground and logs in search of termites. They rely on smell and small vibrations to detect the termites, dig small holes to locate their passageways, and use that slick tongue to catch dinner.
This monocentric diet allows them to hydrate without drinking as termites give them enough water while eating. Despite the warm climate that causes many of Australia’s native animals to become nocturnal, the numbat emerges from their underground burrows and nests to hunt during the day - when termites are most active.
If you’re lucky enough to spot a numbat in the wild, these small and short creatures are distinct for the stripes on the back half of their body, black stripes across their eyes, reddish-brown fur, squirrel-like bushy tail, long pointed nose, and slender slick tongue.
SHERLOCK HOLMES MEETS RHINO
HOW SOLVING CRIMES IS PROTECTING THE FUTURE OF WILDLIFE
Photo credit: Wildlife Forensic Academy
Forensics is a field commonly used to help solve crimes in the human world. But what about wildlife crimes – couldn’t evidence left at a scene, such as bullets and fingerprints, catch a culprit there too? The answer is yes!
Sonja van Meerbeek and Martin Spitholt have believed in this innovative idea from the start, and are filling us in about the fascinating work they are involved with. As the heads of the Wildlife Forensic Fund, they support the associated Academy, a state-of-the-art forensic training lab, located in South Africa. There, rangers, the police force, as well as interested students, get to learn the ins and outs of fighting wildlife crime.
Written by: Patrizia Baldi
Crime scene investigation classes at the Wildlife Forensic Academy
Photo credits: Wildlife Forensic Fund
THE UN OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME HAS RECENTLY COME OUT WITH THE 2024 WORLD WILDLIFE CRIME REPORT. ACCORDING TO THIS, MORE THAN 4,000 SPECIES GLOBALLY ARE CURRENTLY BEING TARGETED. IT STATES THAT WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING AND ASSOCIATED CRIMES REMAIN A HUGE PROBLEM. WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON THIS?
Martin: Those numbers are unbelievable. The World Bank recently estimated the economic impacts – so the money involved in wildlife trafficking. It is believed to be somewhere between 1 and 2 trillion US dollars a year.
Sonja: We also know that there is a direct correlation between trafficking in humans, wildlife, drugs, and weapons, as well as terrorist activities. For instance, Boko Haram finances itself by shooting rhinos.
Martin: The difficult thing is that offenders are not using money as a currency for their crimes anymore. They trade drugs for wildlife or weapons for girls. This makes it practically impossible to trace crimes in the financial world.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE BIGGEST MOTIVATORS FOR COMMITTING WILDLIFE CRIMES?
Sonja: One of the most important reasons for committing wildlife crime is that people want to show off their wealth. There is an enormous market for the stupidest things, for instance, wanting to use a gorilla’s hand as an ashtray. Trophy hunting is still going on as well, however, not just in Africa, where we mainly work. In the
“ANOTHER CAUSE OF WILDLIFE CRIME IS TRADITIONAL MEDICINE”
East of Europe there is still a lot of bear poaching happening, mostly to show off the trophies and prove they killed a predator most people are afraid of.
Another cause of wildlife crime is traditional medicine. You would think that because there is no scientific evidence there would be a decline in the use of traditional medicine, but there is not. People still think they will become more potent if they eat mashed tiger balls. Unfortunately, the belief is strong – regardless of the facts.
WHAT ARE SOME ANIMALS THAT ARE PARTICULARLY AFFECTED BY WILDLIFE CRIMES?
Sonja: We can have a look at the IUCN Red list. It’s snakes, parrots, salamanders, monkeys, sea horses, you name it. But it’s not even just animals. There is illegal timber being traded, and lots of plants too. Basically, everything with value. It’s insane.
Martin: If you focus on Africa, of course, rhinos are endangered and elephants are still killed because of their tusks. But one of the most poached animals is the pangolin. It’s almost extinct at this point! It is an unbelievably beautiful creature, smuggled mainly to Vietnam and China for medicinal purposes.
Sonja: Similar to the Abalone, a sea snail that lives in the ocean around South Africa. It’s known as a delicacy in China, even though some people don’t even like to eat it. It is customary that when you are wealthy and you have a wedding or a feast, you serve Abalone – just another way to show how much money you have. Abalones occur in groups and have an incredibly strong sense of community. If you take just 10% of snails out of such a community, the other 90% won’t be able to survive. It is therefore no surprise that they are highly endangered.
Martin: I also want to tell you about a case I heard about recently, of people smuggling parrot eggs from South America to West Europe. The guy who did the trading promised the local kids a dollar for every parrot egg they would find him. He then put all these eggs into chocolate boxes and brought them to Europe. Here they used breeding machines, normally used for chicken eggs, to try and make them hatch. Only about 40% of the eggs eventually did. But the criminals don’t mind, because once the parrots are 1.5 years old, each of them is worth 1500 Euro…
This happened in Europe, so it’s certainly not just in faraway countries like China that wildlife crimes take place.
WHAT IS THE MAIN AIM OF THE WILDLIFE FORENSIC FUND
AND HOW DID THIS PROJECT GET STARTED?
Sonja: Our objective is to build on the wildlife forensic infrastructure worldwide. We are supporting the Wildlife Forensic Academy by raising funds to train rangers with forensic knowledge, who are mostly the first responders on a crime scene. Wildlife crime and forensics are supposedly two separate worlds, but we think they need to be merged.
How we got started? At the time I was scouting for TEDx speakers worldwide. At one point there was a nuclear summit in the Netherlands, where I heard Andro Vos, now the CEO, speak about his dream to establish a Wildlife Forensic Academy in Africa, to train all kinds of people, from rangers to police force and customs. When I heard his story I knew I was going to give him the stage, and from there we started our journey.
Martin: Sonja and I also work together on what is called the Sustainable Scale-Up Foundation. It is an organization that helps innovative companies and startups build up their network, so they can scale up faster. We went to the opening of the Wildlife Forensic Academy in 2022 where we got to talk to many rangers. It was amazing to see how motivated they were and how eager to learn. They do what they do for wildlife, and not for anything else. Those people have barely anything and still decide to do good. That’s why they need and deserve our support. What’s more, they simply do not have the budget to attend forensics classes. This is why Sonja and I decided to give it a go and announced that we would be establishing a fund – the Wildlife Forensic Fund.
“EAST OF EUROPE THERE IS STILL A LOT OF BEAR POACHING HAPPENING, MOSTLY TO SHOW OFF THE TROPHIES AND PROVE THEY KILLED A PREDATOR MOST PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF. ”
Sonja: I believe we bought the URL for our website right then and there (laughs).
Martin: We absolutely did! What’s important about the website is that it is available to anyone. We want it to become a portal for wildlife forensics, so it needs to be a place where people can find information and publish articles. Luckily, the world of forensics is growing. At the moment, we are in contact with a lot of research institutes and universities, hoping to get them and their students interested and involved in wildlife forensics as well as justice issues — also an incredibly important aspect. We are often amazed at how many organizations are working within this area already but don’t even know about each other. Wildlife crime is a very complex issue, so we want to build a network alongside the fund, a community where like-minded people can share their perspectives and insights, and learn from each other.
YOU MENTIONED JUSTICE ISSUES. CURRENTLY, WHAT PART OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE CHAIN DO YOU CONSIDER MOST PROBLEMATIC WHEN IT COMES TO WILDLIFE CRIME?
Sonja: Only a small number of poachers get caught in the first place. Of the ones being caught
only 5% are ultimately convicted! That’s a huge issue. Currently, they all walk away or barely get punished: if you get caught at the airport with a rhino horn, you only pay a small fine – for a horn that can be worth up to $80,000 US dollars.
Martin: Absolutely, people get fines for shooting animals like we get fines for speeding. Many cases are not even brought to court or dismissed due to a lack of evidence. That is exactly why we think it is so important to know what happens at a crime scene. We need to make sure that we can contribute evidence to show that poaching has occurred and that the poacher was at fault beyond doubt. We need to directly link poachers to the crime.
Sonja: Sometimes, people who witness a crime do not dare to speak up because they are afraid of the organized crime behind it. Afraid that they will do something to them or their families. And in some cases, even if people decide to testify, poachers can still walk free, because their boss has made a payment or some sort of deal with the agencies tasked with the prosecution. So corruption is certainly a huge problem as well. But, the more people validate what happened at a crime scene, and the more varied the proof is,
Photo credits: Wildlife Forensic Fund
the more likely it is that poachers are convicted in the end.
Forensics is an incredibly challenging line of work. It contains everything from logical thinking to data analysis and laboratory work. To be as successful at it as possible, we need the Academy to include extended wildlife research facilities to further build up forensic knowledge.
ABSOLUTELY. WITH YOU TWO OVERSEEING THE FUND THAT IS SUPPORTING THE ACADEMY, CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHAT MAKES THE WILDLIFE FORENSIC ACADEMY SO SPECIAL?
Martin: The Academy is located about 80 kilometers North of Cape Town and based on
the beautiful Buffelsfontein Wildlife Reserve. In a nutshell, what we are trying to do there is explain to the rangers how the justice system works. They are usually illiterate, which is why the unique concept of the Academy is so great: they get practical, very intense on-the-scene training from professionals on how they should work, how they should document things, what pictures to take, etc. You need to ensure you get the details right: the time, location, or even the way you found the animal. We teach them how to collect valuable evidence from a crime scene such as traces of fingerprints. Yes, even fingerprints! We convict for crimes on people this way, so why can’t we use similar methods for animals? Why can’t we find fingerprints on the body of a rhino? It is of course more difficult than on a smooth surface,
Photo credit: Wildlife Forensic Fund
but certainly possible. The rangers then bring all the evidence to the laboratory, which is located at the Academy as well.
We also train them on how to act appropriately in a courtroom. A ranger has probably never been in one before, so he doesn’t know how to address the judge or answer questions. The judge on site trains them on what they should say or not say and how their evidence can be utilized to inform change and convict criminals. This certainly builds up their confidence if they ever find themselves in a situation like this.
All courses at the Academy are recorded by cameras. After the sessions, the rangers are confronted with their behaviors: that way they
can see what they did well and what maybe didn’t go so well. This experience-based learning is highly effective and is what makes this concept so unique. So far, the Academy has trained a total of 98 rangers!
We hope that with the knowledge they acquire at the Wildlife Forensic Academy, the rangers will be able to collect evidence of crimes that will hold up in court. This way, the poachers, or even the organized crime behind them, can be punished by getting fined or imprisoned. We need to get that justice chain strengthened, especially in Africa, but also worldwide.
Sonja: We already know of one case where wild dogs were killed and a trained ranger was able
to help the police with the collection of evidence. Now, this evidence is making its way to court! That’s a great success for us.
Martin: I believe we are the only Academy worldwide doing something like this. It’s really cool to be able to serve as an example to others. At this point, there is interest from six or seven locations within Europe, as well as other places in Africa who want to set up an Academy similar to ours.
OF
COURSE, IT IS A VERY
HONORABLE
THING TO DO, BUT JUST HOW DANGEROUS IS IT TO JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST POACHING IN YOUR OPINION?
Martin: It can be really dangerous. We help with forensic knowledge in research programs to train rangers and that’s important. But I have so much respect for the rangers who are actually exposed to dangers in the field, on the frontline!
Sonja: We know of a ranger whose back has been broken in a fight against poachers. Another ranger can’t visit certain parts of Cape Town because he runs the risk of being executed by poachers. Unfortunately, the amazing work they do can certainly harm their private lives.
ARE THERE ANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR OTHER PEOPLE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT WILDLIFE CRIME TO VISIT THE CAMPUS?
Sonja: Yes, the Academy also offers leadership courses for business students; veterinarians go there to learn more about wildlife forensics, and so do people from customs and police officers. University students can visit the Academy for one or two weeks as well, as part of a wildlife-related internship in South Africa. The profit of this is going towards the training of the rangers.
CAN YOU SHARE SOME OF THE OTHER PROJECTS YOU SUPPORT WITH THE WILDLIFE FORENSIC FUND?
Martin: Together with Staffordshire University, we
are currently developing a research project using special light sources to prove when people have been in contact with Abalones. Touching these snails leaves behind a slime trace on the skin. By using these special lights, the skin lights up, and that way you can be 100% sure when a person has been in contact with Abalones. So even if people have thrown the snails overboard to not get caught by the rangers, you can still prove that there are traces of Abalones on the boat or the hands of a poacher. You’re not allowed to own these snails, so how did the person get in contact with them? This is how you can build a solid case in court.
I ALSO HEARD ABOUT AN EXCITING PROJECT USING ISOTOPES THAT THE FUND SUPPORTS. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT?
Martin: Of course! We are now working with ‘The Rhisotope Project’ in South Africa to make it easier for law enforcement to catch rhino horn smugglers. First of all, rhinos often need 24/7 protection against poachers. Even the animals with already cut horns are sometimes killed because of the last piece – the living part with nerves – that poachers still want. A whole horn can weigh up to five or six kilos. With one kilogram on the Chinese market being valued at $65,000 US dollars, these are basically walking Ferraris… Particularly considering the extremely low standard of living around some of these wildlife parks.
The idea is two-fold, firstly to devalue the horn in the eyes of the end user. Most people have a visceral fear of anything radioactive. So if you offer someone a rhino horn that could potentially be just that, they are unlikely to want it. Secondly, the idea is to capitalize on the fact that people get arrested for smuggling radioactive materials. By definition, they are viewed as terrorists, so once caught they go behind bars for several years. For this project, radioactive isotopes are injected into the horns of rhinos, so if the horn is transported through border crossings, harbors, or airports,
Photo credit: Wildlife Forensic Fund
these materials are easily detected. After all, there are about 12,000 radioactive detection ports in airports and harbors around the world, so somewhere along the smuggling routes, it will surely be exposed.
At this point, it is important to know that this process is not harmful to the animals in any way. It only sounds hazardous because people think of radioactivity, but realistically, you get a lot more radiation from the sun in two hours than you will ever get from these isotopes. Still, research was done to make sure that the isotopes were not found in the blood, urine, or fecal matter of the animals. This way we could be absolutely sure that the rhinos were not harmed.
HOW DO YOU INJECT THESE ISOTOPES INTO THE HORN?
Martin: It is quite a simple procedure. First, the rhino is tranquilized. Then the team uses a really small needle to produce a hole in the dead part of the horn, in which a tiny dose of isotopes is injected. After that, the animal stands up and walks away.
The first rhinos have already been treated with the isotopes. The cost per animal is around 1200 to 1500 Euro, which covers them for a period of three to five years. It is quite expensive, but at the same time, we throw away much more money for much worse causes, so in theory, it should not be difficult to get the necessary funding for it. We are currently arranging some additional support for the project by approaching other foundations and companies.
Of course, it is not feasible to inject all rhinos with isotopes. The plan is that we treat maybe 20% of all animals within an area. It is then really important that people – particularly poachers – know about
these injections. From the outside, there is no way of telling which rhinos have been injected, so coming into possession of one of these horns is a high-risk affair! We think, that because the technology is so unique, it has opportunities to be employed elsewhere. For example, it has already been successfully tested on pangolins as well.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE?
Sonja: There is this beautiful saying from the Indians: “When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.”
So, I do think it’s all about getting people to rethink and reprogram everything. It’s about changing the business model and starting to care more about nature and the environment. There is a lot of work to do for our foundation still, but we’re taking it step by step.
Photo credit: Wildlife Forensic Fund
THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT INFORMATION! LASTLY, ARE THERE ASPECTS OF YOUR WORK THAT ARE MAKING YOU FEEL PARTICULARLY POSITIVE?
HOW ARE INTERESTED PEOPLE LIKE OUR READERS ABLE TO HELP?
Sonja: People can of course donate. We need money to run our amazing projects. But we also really appreciate when companies with the opportunity to do so are supporting our cause and want to cooperate with us on projects – we are very open to that. If there are universities interested in offering forensics courses, please contact us or the Wildlife Forensic Academy – we would love to help. Additionally, we’ve found the need for forensic knowledge on the ground to be enormous, not only on the African continent but also in Europe, so we’d be happy to welcome any new members to the European Wildlife Forensic Network that we are currently establishing. The bigger the community, the better!
We also have a podcast series called ‘Animals Can’t Testify’ that people can listen to, or maybe some of you have interesting stories from your own countries that you would like to share.
Martin: Absolutely. More and more people are supporting our cause, more and more universities are continuing with this movement, and students are really interested in learning more about the fight against wildlife crime. It keeps growing, so eventually, we’ll reach a turning point, I’m sure. We also found that by doing talks at South African universities we can easily get the local students interested in forensics. It is something very dear to them, with poaching happening in their neighborhoods, so a lot of them are motivated to support this cause. Getting more involved with this will be the next step for us.
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Facebook @wildlifeforensicfund
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Website www.wildlifeforensicacademy.com
Photo credit: Wildlife Forensic Fund
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CONTRIBUTED TO THIS EDITION
Niklas Storm, Zoë Jewell, Sky Alibhai
Sonja van Meerbeek, Martin Spitholt
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