Bats, Fire, and Forests: A West African Conservation Story

Bats, Fire, and Forests: A West African Conservation Story

Dr. Iroro Tanshi and Dr. Benneth Obitte, co-founders and directors of the Small Mammal Conservation Organisation (SMACON), join Marlies Quirino and Lucia Guaita on The Lookfar Podcast: Voices from the Wild. Iroro and Benneth are notable for their contributions to bats conservation and ecological research in Nigeria. Their interdisciplinary approach combines ecological research, conservation efforts, improvement of local livelihoods, and local (and regional) capacity building to promote the long-term sustainability of the Guinean Forests of West Africa. Bats are nature’s unsung heroes—pollinators, pest controllers, and ecosystem stabilizers. Yet, they often have a bad reputation. We will learn why that is and why it is unfounded. Join us in this fascinating discussion with Iroro and Benneth.

Uplifting Smallholder Farmers through Regenerative Agriculture

Wain Collen, co-founder and executive director of Fundación Aliados in Ecuador, joins Scott Stone, Marlies Quirino, and Lucia Guaita on The Lookfar Podcast: Voices from the Wild. Aliados’s work is centered on four pillars – practicing regenerative agriculture, incubating bioeconomy initiatives, connecting to responsible markets, and creating new ecological value. Aliados just launched the Center for Bioeconomy with eleven indigenous and local community organizations, spearheading an innovative investment hub in the Ecuadorian Amazon to scale resilient community-led businesses. A fascinating discussion with Wain about Aliados' remarkable work. Available on all major podcast platforms. Just search Lookfar and you'll find it!

Empowering Women To Protect the Rainforest

Sara Lara and Isabella Cortes join us on the Lookfar Podcast to talk about how they are striving to break down barriers at grassroots levels in Colombia preventing rural and indigenous women from becoming conservationists through their work with ⁠⁠Women for Conservation⁠⁠⁠ [https://womenforconservation.org/] (W4C), founded by Sara and now run by her daughter Isabella, and ⁠Fundación ProAves⁠⁠ [https://proaves.org/], now run by Sara. In a wide ranging conversation, we talk about how helping women to become park rangers in remote protected areas and providing accessible reproductive healthcare to rural communities supports inclusive conservation and how this has been a life-changer for thousands of girls and women. Available on all major podcast platforms. Just search Lookfar and you'll find it!

Protecting Isolated Indigenous Peoples

We talk with Daniel Aristizabal of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) about his work protecting isolated indigenous peoples in Colombia. These are indigenous communities that, sometimes centuries ago, decided to withdraw and avoid contact with the outside world, which Daniel describes both as a defense strategy and an act of rebellion. Protecting the rights of indigenous peoples is never easy, and here ACT faces the exceptional challenge of having to do so without contacting the communities it seeks to protect. Available on all major podcast platforms. Just search Lookfar and you'll find it!

Restoring the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve

The intrepid team at the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR [http://gouritz.org/]) [http://gouritz.org/] in the Western Cape in South Africa joins Marlies Quirino and Scott Stone of Lookfar Conservation for an in-person discussion about community-level conservation work done at a landscape scale. The 3.2 million hectares of the GCBR, declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2015, is a living laboratory for complex conservation and restoration initiatives in a region where three global biodiversity converge: the Fynbos, the Succulent Karoo, and the Maputoland-Tongoland-Albany. It's no substitute for an authentic South African braai, but a fascinating and inspiring discussion nonetheless!