Saving Wildlife with Community-Led Conservation Programs with Damien Mander

Description

I have the pleasure of introducing our incredible guest, Damien Mander. Damien is an Australian-born environmentalist based in Zimbabwe. In 2009, during his post-military travels through Africa, he was deeply moved by the plight of wildlife. He decided to liquidate his life savings to establish the non-profit organization, IAPF (International Anti-Poaching Foundation).

Through IAPF, Damien pioneered the Akashinga program, a leader in innovative, scalable, sustainable, and impactful people-centric conservation in Africa. This program revitalizes ecosystems in partnership with empowered communities. Akashinga's mission is to connect, protect, and restore threatened landscapes and coastal regions, making a significant contribution to mitigating the climate crisis.

Currently, Akashinga has a permanent operational presence in 5 countries with 9.1M acres of wilderness under management, overseen by ~600 staff.

In 2021, Damien co-founded the African Ecosystems Alliance, a remarkable US$300 million initiative. Its purpose is to engage local and indigenous communities as custodians of threatened wilderness areas, with the ambitious goal of prospering 184 million acres of at-risk African landscapes by 2030.

Notably, Damien Mander received the 2019 Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal for his outstanding services to animals and humanity. Past recipients of this prestigious award include renowned figures like David Attenborough and Jane Goodall. Damien's remarkable work with the women of Akashinga was featured in James Cameron's documentaries 'Game Changers' and 'Akashinga - The Brave Ones.'

He is also a resident speaker on National Geographic's 'Live' Bureau and
has been recognized by the Dutch Government as a Gender Champion.

I am thrilled to introduce you to this extraordinary guest, Damien.

Timestamps:

[02:45] Damien’s passion for current work.

[05:00] Inspiration by wildlife challenges during African travels.

[09:20] Definition of poaching.

[11:30] Featured in Netflix documentary “The Game Changers”.

[14:30] Importance of NGO spending transparency.

[17:10] Significance of the name "Akashinga."

[19:30] Women as rangers.

[22:00] Insights into poacher operations.

[28:20] Main challenges in conservation efforts.