How you can help protect and restore biodiversity

Karen Wood, Panthera

We look after all 40 species of wildcats – cats are indicator species, they’re umbrellas, they’re flagships, they’re keystone species.

We’re here at COP16 with many of our partners from the NGO community, reminding the parties not to forget about the importance of species to biodiversity – especially those species that, when we look after them, can have cascading effects on so many other forms of wildlife.

Without species, there is no biodiversity.

Civil society is doing the work on the ground in conjunction with governments, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
We use science, we use evidence, and we’re providing the data to help underpin the decisions that are being made at COP16.

Lizbet Martinez, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (Mexico chapter)

At GYBN Mexico, we have different ways of working: our direct action is mostly at the local level – for example, nature tours to discover the biodiversity around us. Some of us work with community members or collective smallholders, or in forestry.

I have a project called Colectivo Los Tlacuas, because in Mexico, opossums are known as tlacuache. We relocate, rehabilitate and communicate about these animals because they are often under threat as people think they’re ugly, or that they’re rats, or that they give you rabies.

All of the decisions that are being made here at COP16 will affect civil society, so it’s vital that we be part of the decisions that are being made. There is no doubt that including civil society should always be a priority.

Duber Sanchez, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (Colombia chapter)

We empower young people so that we can come together to co-create, work and lead change for biodiversity. We’re uniting in our country and, above all, calling for young people to be taken into account in decision making.

I think it’s not just important but a duty to include civil society in the conversation. It’s a duty that we have to our common home. We work to support it and defend it.

Although it’s often difficult and often very complex, especially because sometimes people are so difficult to unite, I believe we have shared purposes and we need to work towards them. That’s what brings us together.

Joanne Chu, WWF Hong Kong

We do a lot of conservation initiatives. I’m in the ocean conservation team, and we have different projects spanning marine seagrass, coral restoration and more.

I run a local agriculture sustainability improvement project, which helps small-scale fishers improve their operations by leveraging their sustainability practices and also trying to connect them with other local consumers – connecting the whole chain of custody to promote the concept of sustainable seafood.

I’m here at COP16 to learn about global insights – what’s happening at these international conferences, the political developments. I aim to bring these insights back to Hong Kong to mainstream knowledge and raise awareness on biodiversity conservation issues.

Mary Irungu, PELUM Association (Kenya chapter)

We work with smallholder farmers and pastoralists in Kenya. We mainly promote agroecology – a practice that takes care of the environment, the food that we eat, as well as social and cultural aspects.

We have seen industrial agriculture destroying biodiversity and destroying our soils and the biodiversity in it. At PELUM Kenya, we promote agroecology to conserve the soil and biodiversity.

Another way that we are conserving biodiversity is through the promotion of seed conservation, with seed banks at the community level, where farmers can preserve and collect their own seeds, both for livestock and crops.

Civil society is key. First, they’re watchdogs on what their governments are discussing and what they are putting into the negotiation text. They also drive the agenda and, at the same time, critique what is being presented.