What’s the most important species in conservation? Ask some people and they’ll say the Amur leopard. Ask others, and it’ll be the the Bornean Orangutan or even the critically endangered Togo Slippery frog . But I think it’s pretty uncontroversial to say that one species is more important than any other. And that species is Homo sapiens.
We are the apes whose actions and activities are haemorrhaging biodiversity on an enormous scale. But we can also be the solution to many of the problems we are causing. I’m convinced that we have the tools and techniques to staunch and even reverse biodiversity declines, if only we can activate the political will and public engagement needed to deploy them. One important piece in the puzzle for triggering such engagement is storytelling. By communicating and framing problems, solutions, ideas and concepts in a way that really resonates with people–as stories–maybe we can leverage action towards some of the most important problems of our time. Here are a few storytelling projects striving to do just that.
Developed by a bunch of Swedish sustainability scientists, this project blends artwork, music and science fiction to create four radical but science-based future scenarios that speculate the future fate of our oceans. One scenario tracks the rise to global monopoly of FISH inc., a company that develops bio-engineered Super Tuna® that are resilient to changing ocean conditions, and which and are fed by manipulating the migrations of prey fish using secretions of synthetic pheromones from submersible drones. Another scenario sees the oceans back from the brink after developments in AI see the collapse of corrupt corporate empires.
2. Lost & Found
Aiming to help “shape the conversation” around conservation away from doom and gloom and towards a more hopeful outlook, Lost and Found is a digital project that shares the inspirational stories of species once thought extinct, rediscovered once more. Packed with adventurous tales, including first-hand accounts of the people involved in making the rediscoveries, there are also some great comic depictions, with videos coming soon.
A radio project in Madagascar, This Lemur Life focuses on encouraging conservation-minded attitudes and actions in the villages surrounding Ranomafana National Park through a series of fictional radio stories centred on the shared needs and experiences of local villages and regional lemur species. The aim of the series, produced with significant input from community members, is to encourage playful exploration of the natural world and one’s place within it while fostering sustainable environmental practices“. The radio series airs in schools in targeted villages around the park via solar-powered radios. Each episode ends with first-hard accounts from lemur forest guides and local community members.
4. Discover Conservation
As it says on the tin: We bring you adventurous real-life stories from scientists and conservationists working in remote and challenging locations around the world. We raise money and provide fieldwork bursaries for the next generation of aspiring biologists, and we provide a platform for proper science-based conservation. In a nutshell, we’re everything you could ever want in conservation story telling.
5. Wildlife messengers: Films for conservation
The project involves making scientific and educational films, photographs, and audio recordings to promote nature conservation, mainly in countries with lower industrial bases, and to distribute them to national and international audiences. The targeted audiences include government authorities, elementary and middle schools, local indigenous communities, and non-governmental organisations. By tailoring films to specific audiences, choosing film projects based on whether the resultant film can actually contribute to decision making and protection, and using a scientific approach to evaluate the impact of films afterwards, this relatively recent project hopes to make a real difference in affecting change.
Here’s a short video from their website about the illegal trade of African Grey Parrots in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I for one cannot wait for this documentary. Produced by an all-female team of journalists, Peruvian scientists and fillmakers telling the story of a road that is cutting through a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Manu Biosphere Reserve, and opening it up to the outside world.
Our short documentary, Voices on the Road, gives a platform to the unheard voices of Manu’s communities and explores why many indigenous people want this road to be built, what their expectations are for when it arrives – and what the realities are likely to be, both for them and for this globally important forest.
7. The Ugly Animal Preservation Society
Bit of a weird one. The Ugly Animal Preservation Society is dedicated to raising the profile of some of Mother Nature’s more aesthetically challenged children. The brainchild of Simon Watt, this project has a touring comedy roadshow. Each night has about six acts and an MC . All the comedians have ten minutes to humorously champion an endangered ugly species of their choice and convince the audience that their animal should become the society’s emblem. At the end, the audience votes for what is to become the local branch’s mascot.
8. WILDvoices
WILDvoices bridges emerging storytellers with aspiring environmental professionals to tell engaging and creative stories about the envrionment, and those helping to protect it. Part of this project is the Wild Voices podcast, which is well worth a listen.
9. Terrastories
Terrastories is a geostorytelling application built to enable local communities to locate and map their own oral storytelling traditions about places of significant meaning or value to them. So far, the Amazon Conservation Team working in Suriname have collected stories, many about wildlife, from more than 50 locations within Matawai ancestral lands. The app will allow stories to be kept private or made public, and is designed to be entirely offline-compatible, so that remote communities can access the application entirely without internet connection. Given the powerful role of indigenous storytelling in protecting both cultures and wildlife, this project, to be launched in October, is one to watch out for.
10. Mongabay Series
Mongabay is the gold standard in environmental journalism and is easily my favourite news source. Mongabay also does some fantastic in-depth series focused on particularly pressing issues. Straight off the bat, I would suggest: The Rhino Debacle (the almost unbelievable story of efforts to save the Sumatran rhino from extinction), and Indonesia For Sale (an uncompromising look at the role of corruption in Indonesia’s deforestation and land-rights crisis).
11. Conservation Uncut (and other better podcasts)
And last but not least, a bit of shameless self-promotion. Take a look at my own humble podcast for stories from people working on the front-line of nature conservation. Other podcasts I really enjoy include the Escape the Zoo podcast the the Wild Voices Project Podcast…and here’s a list of even more options.
If you want a juicy series to dig your teeth into, I strongly recommend the Threshold Podcast. The first series takes a look at the controversial case of Yellowstone’s bison. The second involves a circumpolar journey around the arctic to see how climate change is already affecting people.
Other useful links:
- Not all storytelling projects achieve their goals. A radioshow in Northern Tanzania trying to reduce bushmeat demand didn’t succeed, but is a great lesson on the importance of reporting null results.
- The Road: this is one of the best pieces of environmental journalism I’ve ever read. A tale of rainforest destruction and hope in a microcosm, told along a 2000 km journey down the Amazonian BR-163 highway.
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