What’s it going to take to make the planet wilder?

Conservation leaders at the Wilder Institute believe that to protect biodiversity and wildlife, conservation science must be inclusive — and irresistible

Steven Ross Chief Development Officer at the Wilder Institute

As human life continues increasing the pressure put upon the plant and animal kingdoms, the need to restore biodiversity and protect wildlife has never been more urgent or more clear — but to address looming environmental problems, a rethink of conservation is needed.

At the Wilder Institute, we believe that to take the actions necessary to restore biodiversity, we need to push back on the widely held perception that conservation’s only purpose is to protect wildlife and wild places. The true purpose of conservation

is to create lasting change and impact by considering the needs of all living things — up

to and very much including human beings.

A new kind of conservationist.

What do we need to do differently? That’s what we asked ourselves, and the answer was right there in front of us, in the outcomes of our collaborative work in conservation,

translocation and community conservation. Simply put, over 30 years we’ve learned that

restoring balance between wildlife, wild places and human life means embracing the reality that home is where wildlife belongs, but that home is where people belong, too.

“What the Wilder Institute has come to realize through our initiatives in Africa is that for conservation to really find out a successful place, it needs to be inclusive of community needs,” says Steven Ross, chief development officer at the Wilder Institute. “At our core, we’re here to save

species from extinc-tion — and we know that, to make such a goal sustainable, we need to do in a way that invites com-munity perspectives.”

We must co-exist with nature — not build fences to keep it in, or out. As conservationists, we’re ap-plying our science to develop common ground, and to recognize what wildlife and wild places need to thrive, naturally. We also want to acknowledge what humans need to feel at home on the planet we share.

Out of this rethink, a new kind of conservationist was born — a Wilder one. Working to serve nature and people

Communities neighbouring wildlife habitats have development aspirations but also face economic pressures. Our work strives to empower local communities with the tools, resources, and expertise to steward their own natural resources to benefit both nature and their communities. This work is mak-ing a difference. We must remember that we’re not powerless — far from it.

“We have our conservation breeding facility based in Alberta, just east of Calgary,” explains Ross. “On that site is where we house

a lot of the species where we are breeding and preparing species to be reintroduced to the wild. We’re lucky enough to temporarily house whooping cranes here, a species which has an incredible conservation success story.”

“Decades ago, the numbers were dwindling to less than less than 30. We came to the table, along with other collaborators, to start breeding, monitoring and reintroducing these birds back in the wild. Right now, over 600 of these birds exist —a huge step from where we were. Thanks to the collective efforts of many partners and our own reintroduction programming, today over 600 of these birds exist in the wild.”

The Wilder Institute has worked on a wide variety of species, including the northern leopard frog, which they are reintroducing back into wetlands across interior British Columbia.

Remember: the world isn’t falling apart in front of our eyes, it’s falling into our hands. We have the power to change the current situation, but only by working in concert with local communities. “We have people who are specialists in engaging communities, engaging individuals, bringing resources to the table,” says Ross, “and it’s that team approach in combination with conservation science that’s so important.” “Our work is done around a community table.”

Right now, Wilder Institute teams are on the move, reintroducing 27 endangered species to the wild in Canada and abroad, partnering on 18 projects. We’re balancing our wildlife conservation with commu-nity conservation — but we cannot do this work alone and we cannot do it without you.

Join us in creating a Wilder planet we can all call home!

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of the Wilder Institute.