Viewpoints

This year was the most successful and impactful to date for African People & Wildlife. Our programs created record numbers of wins for people and wildlife, we shared our community-driven conservation model across Africa and beyond, and stories about our work reached new audiences around the world.

Our Earth is a delicate balancing act, and current trends are pulling us in an increasingly unsustainable direction. It’s up to each of us to counter that pull by taking meaningful actions that support effective and lasting conservation outcomes.

Since The Walt Disney Company released the original version of “The Lion King” in 1994, lion populations in the wild have dropped by a staggering 50 percent. Today, a groundbreaking remake of the popular film hits theaters along with a critical mission: to ignite the spirit of conservation around the world and bring lions back from the brink.

In November, the National Geographic Society and African People & Wildlife (APW) brought together 16 participants from six countries in Arusha, Tanzania for a workshop on The Future of Community Engagement in Conservation. The gathering was the first of its kind and a critical step toward the creation of a pan-African network of community engagement practitioners.