This has never been done before. No one before has shown the world what happens on the ground in conservation through first-hand accounts from people who are living and working in the field in southern Africa. Conservation across international borders is multi-focused, involving thousands of people, communities and projects spanning from food security to education, from wildlife protection to community development. Through Peace Parks TV, a channel showing the daily lives of those involved in the enormous task of rewilding, we take viewers behind the scenes of how we are rejuvenating and protecting southern Africa.
Conceived as a way to spread the word about the work undertaken by Peace Parks Foundation, staff simply record snippets of their daily working lives. What to them seems quite mundane is proving quite fascinating to others around the world. If you are behind a desk in a city, watching someone navigate their way around a lazing lioness on their way to work is mesmerising. Watching a ranger tracking illegal loggers in the bush certainly brings deforestation into perspective. And getting glimpses of communities’ celebrations when simple treadle pumps are donated is quite humbling. The point of Peace Parks TV is not, however, to humble, but to explain, to show just how difficult a job it is to protect wilderness areas, build biodiversity and a better future for southern Africa’s people and wildlife. The idea of Peace Parks TV is to draw people in and encourage them to join in the effort.
A wonderful consequence of Peace Parks TV is that people within Peace Parks Foundation, people in the field who previously sometimes felt isolated, now feel part of something bigger. They feel recognised as important and vital parts of the dream Peace Parks strives towards. Every single day since Peace Parks TV began, back in May 3rd 2021, tiny success stories of conservation have been broadcast on the channel. This has drawn in 120,668 users to the channel, with a staggering 3 million total views across all media platforms, and the numbers grow with each new day. It is heartening to see that people all over the world are engaging with the Peace Parks Foundation dream of a future where humankind lives in harmony with nature.
