Word from the CEO
Yolan Friedmann, CEO
Turning 50 brings with it a level of maturity, wisdom and some well-deserved scars on your back, for most people. For the EWT, it meant galvanising action, stimulating energy and consolidating our plans for a more impactful and far-reaching future for all. We are now at an age that means we can pause for a few minutes, celebrate our numerous victories and reflect on how much we have learned from that path we took; but we are also wise enough to know what we need to learn more, reach further and aim higher if we are to ramp up our impact in the face of declining state of our natural world. Numerous reports are published every year that provide ample evidence of the devastating effect of humans and our unquenchable penchant for transforming the planet beyond the threshold of its natural boundaries, with the results being escalating extinction rates, loss of ecosystem services, the warmest days, and years on record, calamitous weather events, life threatening disease transmission and pandemics, and all in all, reduced human resilience in a world that we are changing faster than most species, humans included, can adapt to.
On 12 February 2024, the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) released its first-ever State of the World’s Migratory Species report which read like a horror story for multiple species whose existence depends on their ability to traverse countries and continents as they have done for millennia, with the changing seasons. The report detailed how nearly 44% of the species listed under the CMS are showing signs of decline and more than 22% are threatened with extinction. Nearly 87% of the fish species listed in the CMS and are threatened with extinction, and the extinction risk for migratory species is growing globally. Humans are doing this to these species, primarily by means of our overexploitation of these species, and the loss of their habitat due to human activity. Climate change, pollution and invasive species are also profoundly impacting most migratory species. In short, humans are killing or removing wildlife from their habitat, at rates faster than they can sustain, and are destroying their habitat and/or making it uninhabitable due to our waste products and greed.
Moving over to the 2024 version of the World Economic Forum annual Risk Report where the picture is not much rosier, even from the perspective of governments and businesspeople and not just scientists. In the 2024 WEF risk report, environmental risks continue to dominate the risks landscape with two-thirds of respondents ranking Extreme Weather as “the top risk most likely to present a material crisis on a global scale in 2024”. Extreme weather has also been viewed as the 2nd most severe risk over the two-year timeframe and nearly all environmental risks feature among the top 10 over the longer term. Younger respondents tend to rank Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Collapse, and Critical Change to Earth systems risks far more highly over the two-year period compared to older age groups, with both risks featuring in their top 10 rankings in the short term. Perhaps because they have the most to lose.
Our natural world is not better off as we enter the new year, and with every new year, there is less time to waste. The EWT is spending the first half of our new year rigorously examining our strategic approach, and drafting a cohesive high-level strategy that will see us tackle the most pressing challenges through important goal setting across the thee pillars of saving species, conserving habitats and benefitting people. As a leading conservation agency in southern Africa for five decades, we will continue to remain at the forefront of conservation impact, but we know that our rapidly changing world continually needs new thinking and bigger plans if we are to remain ahead of the extinction tide. We are not afraid of the challenge and we invite you to join the journey of Protecting Forever, Together as you have done for the past fifty years. We cannot rewrite history, but we can influence the future and for us, saving forever starts today.
May your year ahead be one of prosperity and peace; thank you for being part of the Next50.
Yolan Friedmann,
CEO, Endangered Wildlife Trust