3.5 billion people worldwide are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – from drought, and flooding, to the ability to produce food in the face of water insecurity, and soil degradation due to rising temperatures and pollution. This figure is only going to increase dramatically if we don’t make significant changes now. The IPCC Report has issued a warning that THIS is the last decade we have to act, with the Report advising that the protection of wild places and wildlife is fundamental to coping with the climate crisis.
Today, in support of World Wildlife Day we are celebrating one woman who is dedicated to this fight, and who’s making a real difference for conservation in Zambia every day!
Tryphena Mweemba became a Community Scout under Mphanshya Community Resource Board in 2019, based out of our Rufunsa Conservancy site office, such an asset to the team, that she was soon promoted to Senior Community Scout, where she oversaw a team of 34 Scouts.
With a background in SMART data and debriefer training, first aid skills, species identification knowledge from Hardrock Africa, and biodiversity monitoring training from our Biodiversity team, complimented by her drive, passion, and commitment to conservation protection, Tryphena officially joined the BCP team in December 2021 when she was appointed as Biodiversity Assistant.
“Conservation and wildlife protection isn’t just a job to me. It is a way of life. My passion for resource protection in Zambia is what drives me to keep educating myself and bettering myself in this sector so that I can pass on this knowledge to the communities who live side-by-side with the forests. We need to protect our forests in Zambia, the Luangwa to Lower Zambezi valleys is home to such an important ecosystem, connecting wildlife corridors that protect concentrations of species that are fast dwindling elsewhere as a result of forest degradation”.
It takes people to make a difference, and Tryphena is one such person.