This project will identify, train and encourage the next generation of 15 local conservationists in 10 countries (Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Peru, Slovakia, South Africa, UAE) and host them on our expeditions. We want to raise $7,500 for 15 placements in 2016 + $1,500 for a nascent community-based coral reef conservation programme in Oman, which is driven by past placements. TOTAL $9,000.
Community-based conservation is the key to our planet's wild animals and places surviving into the future. If local people benefit from intact nature and can derive income from it, then "what pays, stays". Conservationists from within local communities are the critical drivers for this process, and encouraging their careers is vital.
The Biosphere Expeditions young conservationists placement programme identifies, trains & encourages early career conservationists, exposing them to research and conservation methods in action on expedition & within a co-operative setting of international volunteers and scientists, helpers and friends. The young conservationists will be trained in this immersive and nurturing expedition environment. After the expedition, Biosphere Expeditions will continue to foster and encourage their careers.
The Biosphere Expeditions young conservationists placement programme is a tried and tested model for nurturing individual careers and community-based conservation. Examples include (1) the first-ever all-Maldivian community-based reef survey programme set up by past placement recipients, (2) a Russian young conservationist now firmly established in a career as an ornithologist and (3) educational activities for school children in Kyrgyzstan about snow leopards by a past placement recipient.
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