Community-based wildlife conservation deserves more attention in EA

Three years ago, this forum post on biodiversity garnered a moderate positive repsonse. It's time bump this topic to the top again.

Extinction is permanent. From a non-speciesist perspective, it is existential risk that came to pass. 

Extinction diminishes future possibilities of our own existence, and of that of Earth life in general. Unique genetic information—developed and refined over millions of years—is lost; ecosystems are destabilized (potentially leading to cascading losses); and biomimicry options are reduced.

Wildlife conservation checks all the boxes for scale, neglectedness, and tractability. It's happening globally; roughly 0.5% of aid + charity goes towards wildlife conservation; and conservation efforts have proven successful (e.g. condors, whales, and pandas have all been brought back from the edge of extinction).

Wildlife conservation in and of itself is a worthy investment. But the key multiplier here is community-based conservation efforts. These interventions check multiple boxes, so that every dollar spent even more leveraged impact. Some typcial programs include:

• Alternative livelihoods, such as making crafts, tourism, or direct conservation, which help lift people out of poverty.
• Tools and education for farming and livestock, increases yields, reduces losses to wildlife and reduces retalitory killing.
• Local health clinics, which increase DALYs and create positive associations between wildlife and indigenous populations.
• Education through kids camps or scholarships so the next generation can have a higher standard of living and learn the value of wildlife and ecosystems.

When these interventions are done in LMICs, our dollars, euros and pounds go even farther.

Wildlife Conservation Network (where I used to work and where I still volunteer and donate) does a great job of finding, funding, and growing community-based wildlife conservation organizations around the world. A large portion (30–40%) of my donations go towards these programs.

I encourage others in the community to do a more rigorous dive into this topic and report back. I also encourage you to donate to community based conservation efforts like I do. Because we’ve only got one shot here. There is no Planet B.