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“Sustainability, education, and love of animals
have always been close to my heart. I have been
promoting these causes throughout my life
and am honored to take this a step further by
growing our Foundation, the Green Vision.”
— Amy Green
As seen in
About: Green Vision
The Green Vision and partners have helped pioneer an impressive range of successful conservation initiatives across more than 20 countries, increasing vital protection for over 50 million hectares of land and more than 40 different threatened species. But the threat to Africa’s unique natural heritage remains real and more urgent than ever.
The challenges facing the people and wildlife in Africa are greater than ever. The world is experiencing an extinction crisis. We are losing species at between 1,000 and 10,000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, caused almost entirely by human activity. This will only worsen as the human population continues to grow and consume ever more natural resources.
The illegal wildlife trade is one of the principle immediate threats to wildlife, particularly iconic African species such as rhino, elephant and lion, which are poached for their horns, tusks and teeth, claws and bones respectively. The African elephant population has fallen by over 30% in the past seven years, largely due to poaching.
The illegal wildlife trade is now the fourth largest criminal industry after drugs, arms and human trafficking. Worth as much as $20 billion per year, the trade threatens international security, national sovereignties, impoverished rural communities, and countless species from pangolins to elephants.
"Our security operation covers more than two million acres and is home to thirty three community managed wildlife conservancies, tens of thousands of migratory elephants and the hundreds of rhinos living within the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy."
Biodiversity
The survival of many African species is dependent on healthy, connected habitat. This is particularly important for species such as lion, elephant and wild dog that require large ranges and the existence of vital migratory routes.
The African lion, for example, has been reduced to living on less than 10% of the land they once occupied. Their populations have halved within the past 20 years to as few as 20,000 lions remaining in the wild.
With Africa’s human population set to quadruple to 4.4 billion by the end of this century, the demands on the land will rapidly intensify.
Yet protecting habitat and functioning ecosystems is just as important for the livelihoods and wellbeing of local communities as it is the wildlife, helping to safeguard water and food supplies, and reduce the impacts of natural disasters. There is an urgent need to find solutions that benefit both people and wildlife.
Finding space for both to co-exist is the ultimate conservation challenge. The Green vision and partners believe believes that if conservation is to succeed then children must learn to appreciate wildlife and understand its importance from an early age.
Education
Environmental education and outreach programs
“Conservation is ultimately about the People”.
Today’s school children are tomorrow’s custodians of the natural world.
Environmental education and outreach are ingrained throughout Tusk’s projects, and we support a range of extra-curricular activities that enable children to see and experience wildlife, and to learn about it in fun and engaging ways.
Meanwhile, our pioneering Pan African Conservation Education (PACE) program has reached over 1,250,000 school children in 34 different countries, capturing hearts and minds, and changing attitudes and behaviors.
Respect and Compassion for Wildlife
Respect and compassion for wildlife are qualities that must be learned at an early age, if future generations are to become effective custodians of the natural world. But conveying these messages to children in rural Africa in a way that engages and convinces them is a constant conservation challenge.
Coaching Conservation – run by Wild Entrust – is an environmental education programme with a difference. The conservation message is taught through the medium of sport, especially football. Strategies and techniques on the field are explained in terms of the roles and behaviours of wild animals in the field. The children’s natural enthusiasm for sport is harnessed to encourage them to learn about the wildlife around them. And as they learn, not facts and figures but characters and actions, they develop sympathy for the animals they study. So far the programs has reached nearly 18,000 children, and long-term studies have demonstrated a positive influence on attitudes, behavior, empathy, values and self-worth.
Green Vision has helped Coaching Conservation expand from its first trial activities to a broad program running in two locations and now an online version. The proven positive impacts show what a worthwhile investment this has been, and how valuable its further expansion could be.
This ground-breaking outreach model can really change attitudes to wildlife and conservation. Continued support is needed to consolidate and extend its activities.
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Sustain Environment & Wildlife
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Together, we hold the power to effect real change. Join us in this critical endeavor by making your contribution today.