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One Of The Great Success Stories Of African Wildlife Conservation | WWF

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    Looking at those shots
    it's really hard to believe
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    that this currently
    thriving area in South Africa
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    was once dedicated to cattle
    and pineapple farms,
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    with almost no biodiversity and wildlife.
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    Phinda was established in collaboration
    with the local Zulu tribal community
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    to rehabilitate the ecosystem,
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    allowing for the return of the wildlife
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    that had once flourished in this area.
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    Phinda is local Zulu word for 'return'.
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    Animals were brought in
    from other regions of southern Africa
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    to establish new populations
    in the conservancy.
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    There is a lot of doom-and-gloom stories
    about biodiversity.
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    However, this story is a hopeful one.
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    Phinda is a modern success
    conservation story
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    so stick around around to learn
    how they managed to do it.
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    I think the key to the success for Phinda
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    is the fact that they've used
    this ecotourism model
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    to benefit not only the reserve itself
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    but also the local communities
    surrounding them.
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    A lot of work goes
    into managing 30,000 hectares:
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    making sure that animals are healthy,
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    that they are reproducing,
    but not inbreeding,
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    that herbivores
    do not overgraze the land,
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    that territorial animals
    have enough space
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    and do not compete between each other,
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    that invasive species
    of plants are under control,
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    that the areas will be protected
    by anti-poaching units,
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    and that is all while still
    running lodges and operating tourism
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    and voluntourism in the area
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    that brings much needed funding
    towards conservation.
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    With the data collected here
    by our volunteers
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    that go out every day
    with one of our Ecological Monitors
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    that data feeds live
    into our data systems,
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    which we can then analyse.
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    This helps us to make
    our management decisions.
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    Animal populations in Phinda are thriving
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    from an initial population
    of just 30 white rhinos,
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    Phinda now has one of the largest
    white rhino populations in Africa
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    and have been relocating
    and repopulating rhinos
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    to other reserves and countries,
    due to their success at protecting them.
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    This also facilitated what we call
    Rhinos Without Borders,
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    so where our white rhinos
    have been translocated to Botswana
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    to start up a founding population there.
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    Phinda is the first private
    game reserve ever to be a part
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    of the Black Rhino Range
    Expansion Project,
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    so this is a project together with WWF.
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    The cheetah population here
    has grown so successfully
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    that some individuals were relocated
    to other parts of southern Africa
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    to establish healthy
    cheetah populations there.
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    [inaudible], Phinda and the MunYaWana
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    is currently seen as one
    of the most important
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    cheetah meta populations
    throughout southern Africa.
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    Phinda has been chosen as a release site
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    for pangolins that have been
    confiscated from poachers
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    and saved from the illegal wildlife trade.
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    The pangolin is arguably
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    the most trafficked animal on Earth
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    leading to their disappearance
    in the world.
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    So pangolins were reintroduced
    here in June 2019,
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    before that pangolins have been
    completely extinct from the reserve.
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    Over time, these animals have now
    established home ranges, territories,
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    and thankfully have even had pups.
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    It is also an educational ground -
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    numerous researches occur here
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    every year.
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    From the get-go a lot of data
    has been collected
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    and that has resulted
    in numerous PhDs, Master's projects,
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    also suitable protocols being out there
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    on what's the right way
    for soft-releasing lions into new areas.
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    I have been here a few weeks volunteering
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    with African Conservation Experience,
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    participating on all the daily tasks
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    needed for animal management
    and conservation like:
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    monitoring, data collection,
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    updating ID profiles of animals,
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    tracking using some
    of the most modern technologies,
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    trying to understand.
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    So what is the reason
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    of this overwhelming conservation success?
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    Is it the modern technology
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    and their ability to use camera traps,
    telemetry, satellites,
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    drones, acoustic sensors,
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    a variety of apps
    for data collection and analysis?
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    This project is neat because
    our cameras are actually tools
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    and what we're doing is collecting data
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    that's going to help us identify
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    these individuals in the wild
    at a later date.
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    Is it their ability to utilize
    conservation tourism
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    and voluntourism to fund these projects?
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    Around the world,
    many protected areas are underfunded.
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    Allowing visitors to observe exciting
    and important conservation tasks
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    provides additional source of funding
    for necessary management activities,
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    such as ecosystem monitoring,
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    anti-poaching patrols,
    invasive species eradication,
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    and environmental educational programs.
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    Tourism potentially has a big role
    to play in education
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    when it comes to conservation.
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    One of the best things
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    is there's so many people that care
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    and that's just really lovely to see.
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    Just spreading the word of, like,
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    the sort of work that's done here,
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    trying to get more funding
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    and letting people know
    how important this is to preserve,
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    is really important.
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    When people connect with nature
    during their travels,
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    when they see first-hand how hard it is
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    to protect our nature
    and what goes into it,
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    it can lead them into being
    more appreciative
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    and become more invested in protecting it.
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    I think the fact we don't know
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    what we're gonna see
    or discover each day...
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    it's very exciting.
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    Like every day I've done so far
    has been really different.
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    And I've had a really unique experience
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    seeing loads of animals
    that are endangered.
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    So I'd say I'm pretty lucky.
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    Of course, it is all
    of the above and more.
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    This project truly exists due
    to the exceptional management
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    and the work of numerous
    passionate people
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    that spend hours and days in the bush,
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    making sure that the area is thriving
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    while educating tourists and visitors,
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    and conducting research that helps other
    organizations and reserves
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    to obtain this success as well.
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    We mainly focus on movement data
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    and being able to correlate all of that
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    and expand it over a few years,
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    and see the movement of different species,
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    how they react to different
    weather conditions and habitats
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    and different influences like that.
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    Seeing their movement data,
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    how long it's taken them
    to settle in this reserve,
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    will be useful for other reserves
    who want to do the same thing.
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    Your time and your effort
    really help with things like,
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    hands-on things,
    if we need help lifting something
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    or moving things, photos for ID kits,
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    like lots of different small contributions
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    that add up to larger contributions.
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    I hope that this success story
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    got you inspired
    and serves as a hopeful reminder.
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    When people start seeing
    the benefit of having tourism in the area,
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    they are more inclined
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    to wanting to keep the area wild
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    and they also support these new ventures
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    that are being undertaken.
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    We want to use tourism to expand,
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    you know, conservation areas,
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    and not just expand but to ensure
    that it sustains itself.
Title:
One Of The Great Success Stories Of African Wildlife Conservation | WWF
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Amplifying Voices
Project:
Wildlife Protection
Duration:
08:13

English subtitles

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