Grant Applicant: Global Conservation Corps

The feature below is brought to you by Global Conservation Corps, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. 

To learn more about Global Conservation Corps, please visit their website: here.

The Future of African Conservation

The shrill cry of an African Fish Eagle pierces the peaceful morning silence, and a group of unseen birds begins chattering noisily. The sun has just risen, and the temperature increases with it, but there still remains a faint pink glow on the horizon, with a waterbuck grazing not far into the bush. This is the setting at the Timbavati Foundation, which has joined forces with the Global Conservation Corps, to develop the Future Rangers Program. Set just outside Kruger National Park in South Africa, the center is teeming with wildlife and it is impossible not to feel the wonder of nature here. This is truly a place to build a connection with the natural world, and that’s what the children have come here to do.

We sit in the classroom before the children arrive. It’s bright, well lit and clean, and covered from wall to wall with stuffed and mounted South African wildlife, along with detailed descriptions of the natural history of their live counterparts. For a child who has never seen their native wildlife, alive or dead, this classroom is a learning paradise. When you look out one sliding glass door, there’s a beautiful garden and reflective pool leading to a widely branching Amarula tree, an icon of Africa. Behind that, there’s a waterhole that regularly attracts wildlife. Look out the other side of the building, and you see a garden with displayed skulls, the most prominent being a massive rhino skull, a stark reminder of what’s a stake.

The facilitators, bright eyed and smiling, tell us their favorite part of environmental education. Karen tells stories of growing up with animals, and following his father, a ranger, through the bush looking for tracks. He says what drives him in this field is the opportunity “to have an imprint on someone’s life”. Chico tells of how she grew up with no connection to nature, following the example of many and throwing trash on the ground. Once she connected with the natural world at the Southern African Wildlife College, it changed her life. She doesn’t want the students to miss out of the love she feels for nature, that she discovered later in life (and is also adamant to her students about throwing trash in the appropriate bins).  The passion of the people positioned to change these children’s lives is overwhelming and contagious.

If you don’t love something, you won’t work to save it. That’s the underlying message of the Future Rangers Program, and one that is increasingly urgent and important in our current time. The children in the communities surrounding the national parks often never see the wildlife that their continent is known for. It is many times too expensive and unobtainable to go into the national parks. Growing up without this connection, there is no investment to protect the wildlife, and why should there be? The Future Rangers Program is working to fix this problem at its root. Using an environmental curriculum that builds over a young person’s lifetime, the program helps to build passionate leaders in conservation, from the ground up. If a child shows the initiative, Future Rangers has the potential to lead to internships and jobs in the environmental sector, letting them pursue their passion while supporting themselves or their family. Even if the student decides to pursue a different career path, that love of wildlife and nature that was instilled early on is potentially with them forever. Ask any career conservationist. It all started when we were kids.  

With wildlife rapidly declining and many species, such as the iconic African rhino, disappearing due to human greed, there is no better time to invest in people to save wildlife. Without the inclusion and involvement of the communities who surround conservation areas, there will be no wildlife left to speak of. Children possess an inquisitive demeanor and an open mind, and are fascinated by the natural world. There is no better place to start building a passion for wildlife and nature than during childhood, and this is what Future Rangers aims to do.   

Written by Matt Lindenberg, President and Founder of Global Conservation Corp