Let's Talk Conservation Jennifer Choyce

Today’s episode I talk to Joe Olson who has an incredible brain child for an environmental initiative called the WorldPOP Festival. This festival is to get people around the world to commit to making changes - large and small - that'll have an impact on helping their own environments, leading to benefits globally.
Use the links and tags below to find out more information:
Facebook: WorldPOP Festival
Instagram: @worldpop.festival

In this episode I am talking to friends and colleagues of mine about the world of Environmental Consulting. It is an industry that offers a variety of opportunities - from terrestrial to marine, field work to legislations, even research. It can be seen as if those of us in the industry have ‘sold our souls’ to help development but that’s not the case. We are in this industry to help the environment alongside development. To make sure laws, regulations and legislations are followed. To advise on how to improve how we develop the world without completely devastating it. Without environmental professional, develop would run rampant! it is an intense industry and a steep learning curve, but those of us in it do love it!Don’t judge us until to hear our side. You never know, you may want to join us. Come to the Greenside we have Cupcakes.

A very special episode for me this week as we go to Peru, travelling to the Manu Biosphere Reserve to talk to Quinn Meyer, founder of the CREES foundation. I volunteered with CREES way back in 2009, and it was a trip that changed my life and has left a lasting impression. Quinn is a social anthropologist with an entrepreneurial streak. After volunteering around the Manu Biosphere area he fell in love with and bought some land and the dream that CREES would become began. Opening officially in 2005 the Manu Learning Centre (MLC) has seen over 13,000 visitors! The data that has been collected has shed new light, not just on biodiversity numbers of regenerated jungle species, but also opened some eyes to how nature has learnt to adapt to the ever pressing presence of humans. A static monitoring base for Amazon conservation for the over a decade has given CREES an immense data set to study and from this some amazing news is in the works. Check out the episode to hear more and follow the links below to CREES social media for more information.
Website: https://crees-manu.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creesmanu
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB0tTBi3wN9Pjhh3D8fI3Cw
Twitter: @creesfoundation
Instagram: crees.manu

This week we're back in the UK talking to countryside ranger and wildlife presenter, Ajay Tegala. Ajay has a degree in Environmental Conservation and nine years’ experience working in nature conservation. He was a ranger on Britain’s first coastal reserve, Blakeney Point for many years and currently works at Wicken Fen, Britain’s oldest and very first nature reserve (1899); alongside 100 Konik ponies and 50 Highland cattle! Growing up in East Anglia, Ajay became interested in wetland birds. Through his career in nature conservation, he went on to work with seabirds, in particular terns; monitoring their breeding behaviour and contributing to national monitoring programmes. He has managed and studied England’s largest Grey Seal rookery, off the Norfolk coast. Ajay champions and monitors the success of habitat creation for nature, which partners well with his great love for the fenland landscape, and is passionate about its restoration. Ajay has promoted beach cleans in East Anglia, gardening for wildlife and clothing for Cotswold Outdoor, appearing in shop windows across the UK. Ajay has chalked-up over 15 appearances across the five main channels, including the popular BBC nature documentaries ‘Countryfile’, ‘Coast’ and ‘Winterwatch’ plus a live appearance on ‘Springwatch: Unsprung’ and many, many more! He is currently undertaking a talent development placement with the BBC Natural History Unit working on Springwatch 2021. You can follow Ajay on his social to see what he does.
YouTube: Ajay Tegala
Twitter: @AjayTegala
Instagram: ajaytegala

I am very happy to introduce Daniel Ward this week, a fellow Bangor Alum and friend. We discuss different approaches to conservation - what works, what isn’t and what direction could we go in. Change maker, big picture thinker and solution finder Dan is a forward thinking ecologist based in the UK. Dan has worked for the last decade across on the ground action, landscape scale projects and government policy and now works as a micro Think and Do Tank to drive the thinking and conversation around what successful conservation and ecosystems look like and how to get there. Over his time in conservation Dan has realised that conventional conservation thinking and models aren’t working, and that large scale ecosystem restoration/rewilding, using nature based solutions and challenging shifting baselines is the way forwards. Dan is a systems thinker that helps people and organisations understand these big systems so that they can make decisions and choose sustainable solutions that help people and planet. Check out his social media to find out more @danward_org 

Going halfway around the work this week to the beautiful Seychelles archipelago talking to Dr Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles. Nirmal is a well-known figure in the Seychelles conservation scene. A biology heavy upbringing in the Seychelles and education have earned him having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Seychelles biodiversity. He was formerly the Assistant Director of Fisheries Research, the Director of the Seychelles Conservation and National Parks service as well as the Managing Director of an environmental firm, ENVIRO where he worked on projects covering almost every aspect of environmental management. Nature Seychelles boasts some incredible conservation success stories, along with incredible programs and initiatives that are at the forefront conservation management. Check out everything Nature Seychelles involved with in the links below:
Website: http://ww.natureseychelles.org/home
Twitter: @NatureSey
Instagram: @naturesey
Facebook: @natureseychelles