The importance of biodiversity conservation: An interview with Singita’s General Manager of Conservation
Our ecosystems are in need of some R&R (recovery and restoration)
Text: Tiff H
When we think about human being’s relationship with animals, the defining nature of that relationship seems to be domestication and how animals can best serve us; whether it’s through animal farming or as a pet, soothing us through animal-assisted therapy.
Yet, animals in the wild serve an arguably more significant purpose to humankind; biodiversity is critical to our health, safety and even to our livelihood. The circle of life is more than a catchy tune – biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, all have an important role to play. It is no surprise that the stark decline of diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems, with humanity causing the loss of 83% of wild mammals, is of great concern to experts and biodiversity loss is one of the top five risks in the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Risks Report.
Singita, one of the leading conservation safari brands, devotes a huge part of their efforts to working with conservation brands to combat biodiversity loss. Every aspect of Singita’s day-to-day operations is around its 100-year purpose to preserve and protect large areas of African wilderness for future generations. Singita’s ongoing conservation efforts are undertaken alongside its non-profit partner funds and trusts, where progress is evident through the transformation of the areas under Singita’s care.
Inge Kotze, Singita’s General Manager of Conservation, shares: “We are on the brink of the 6th mass extinction, with 1 million species at risk. Our collective efforts are more important now than ever before and will require a global scale – starting with top-down government commitment and political will to halt biodiversity loss and control rampant climate change. Those global commitments will only be achieved if individual citizens and private sector pressure our leaders to make these commitments”.
“With more than 70% of species and habitat lost in last 50 years,” she continues, “well-aligned, collective resourcing and targeted action will be critical to drive the scale of recovery that we require to halt, and then reverse, the scale of biodiversity loss and to ensure we avoid catastrophic climate breakdown by pulling back our carbon emissions to keep global warming under the two degrees threshold. We have an enormous role to apply pressure on our governments to make brave, bold choices followed by action.”
Currently, we are losing nature at an unprecedented rate and faster than we can regenerate. These natural resources, livelihoods, health and economic well-being are fundamentally dependent on finite natural resources – our forests, fertile soils, rivers, oceans and fish stocks. We need to change our current unsustainable land use practices, and dramatically ramp up our global restoration efforts.
Singita has undertaken extraordinary projects of widescale restoration – such as the previously degraded corridor of the Western Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, now home once again to a flourishing natural ecosystem with bountiful land in just 15 years. The re-introduction of critically endangered eastern Black Rhino in northern Tanzania, the steady recovery of the Mountain Gorilla in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, from just over 350 to more than 1,000 in just ten years. In Zimbabwe, the critical source population of rhino is now positioned to restock key reserves in the surrounding region.
These projects show how recovery and restoration are possible and that with the right group of partners, the use of technology, connectedness and resourcefulness, brands like Singita and humanity as a whole can make an enormous difference.
About Inge
Inge focuses on building strategic partnerships in conservation and supporting projects that promote the preservation of Africa’s biodiversity as well as ensuring well-functioning ecosystems across Singita’s fifteen properties. She oversees an all-woman Conservation team who are responsible for Singita’s Biodiversity and Sustainability initiatives, as well as its Community Partnership Programmes.
