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Sustainability and Wildlife Conservation at the Business School

Writer's picture: silvanaolivosilvanaolivo
 Nature needs future leaders with their passion!
 Nature needs future leaders with their passion!

In November 2024 I had the opportunity to bring to Grenoble's Ecole de Management - GEM (one of France's ten leading Business schools),  some of Southern Africa's conservation projects that are closest to my heart. I was invited to speak within the Master of Science in Management of Sustainability Transitions, invited by Naida Culshaw: an opportunity to convey the importance and ground-breaking value of ongoing projects centered on ecotourism and human-wildlife conflict reduction in Zimbabwe and Zambia, which I have promoted for years, such as the Campfire programme, Imvelo 's Community Rhino Conservation Initiative and Game Rangers International.


I was touched by the enthusiasm expressed by the group of students and alumni I interacted with. A major takeaway for them was that sustainability is about inclusion: by actively involving local communities and aligning with their interests and priorities, they will see the value in conservation efforts. "Without this collaboration, we risk alienating the very people who can drive meaningful change". This is why, crucially, sustainable solutions must be designed according to the local context - local needs, challenges and goals - to create win-win trajectories that can reduce human-wildlife conflict.


Since the 1980s Zimbabwe's ecologists and wildlife managers paved the way for this vision in Southern Africa with Project Campfire, bringing the voice of local communities at the forefront in the decision making process pertaining the use of wildlife, based on its inherent value for everyone. For the last thirty years Imvelo, a tourist company in Zimbabwe, has brought this very vision to fruition within the safari industry in the difficult environment of Hwange National Park, which holds one of the greatest concentrations of elephants in the world; and within the last two decades Game Rangers International has created a community outreach-based series of programmes allowing for communities around Kafue National Park in Zambia to appreciate the importance of a viable ecosystem.



Project Campfire and Imvelo Safari Lodges's work are also described in


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