Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb, CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Network, recently appeared on the Species Unite podcast to discuss the intricacies of protecting endangered wildlife like lions, pangolins, and painted dogs, among others. WCN supports effective, locally-led conservationists all around the world, and JG spoke to the importance of WCN’s role as a convener between conservationists and those who wish to invest in their efforts.
“It’s really hard for philanthropists to find independent, effective, field-based wildlife conservationists. It’s easy to find the big, large organizations; it’s hard to find all the people on the ground who are doing equally great work. And for those people on the ground, who are often local nationals who have relatively small organizations…it’s also really hard for those organizations and individuals to find these philanthropists,” says Collomb. “There’s a real need to connect these conservationists to philanthropists, and vice-versa.”
WCN rigorously vets the most impactful local conservation organizations that are welcomed into our Network, and this due diligence allows donors to invest confidently in these incredible groups doing crucial work. Our Conservation Partners and the grantees of our Wildlife Funds take a holistic approach to conservation, making sure to involve the local communities who live alongside wildlife in conservation activities, as their knowledge and collaboration is essential to making conservation successful. These communities then benefit from participating in conservation through economic opportunities.
“We really believe that if we want to succeed, we’ve got to ensure that both people and wildlife benefit from whatever activities are taking place. We are interdependent, and I think that’s one important thing to realize is that the challenges that we face are quite complex, and so the solutions are complex, and people are at the center of these solutions,” says Collomb. “We’ve got to find something that really works for people, and works for wildlife, and works for those entire landscapes and all the ecosystem services that are dependent on all of this.”
You can listen to the entire interview with JG on the latest episode of the Species Unite podcast.
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