Beneath the Baobab
Jamma International
Beneath the Baobab, the Conservation and Communities Podcast with Gordon Buchanan.
Right now, up to 1 eighth of the world’s species are at risk of extinction and its down to us to act now, or lose them forever.
In Beneath the Baobab from Jamma International, wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan hosts cutting-edge conversations about conservation work led by communities around the world.
Gordon hears from people living and working alongside wildlife; from elephants to lions, rhinos, wild dogs and endangered plants. In every episode Gordon hears from a unique project that’s seen marginalised community voices brought to the forefront of conservation, with inspiring and empowering stories to tell.
The global conservation movement has never been more urgent in the face of climate change and mass extinction. But there is still much to be learned, and finally the voices, insights and experiences of indigenous peoples are being heard on the international stage.
The places where wildlife and humans touch are not idealistic, harmonious locations, but often have raw edges, blurred boundaries and are fraught with conflict and competition. Furthermore, the external pressures imposed to protect wildlife don’t always support the people whose shoulders this change rests upon.
That’s why we’re looking at examples and hearing from people working and living directly with and within those communities.
In this series learn about Community Based Natural Resources Management, hear from indigenous peoples who are exercising their rights to do innovative work as custodians of resources for generations, then find out how they’ve developed work schemes, governance and management systems that allow them to place a high value on wildlife and build the economic case for conservation.
The future for wildlife and endangered species can be positive, if we are all prepared to listen. Join Gordon and his guests Beneath the Baobab for stories of hope as well as brilliant, radical and innovative ideas for solving the problems faced by humans and wildlife.
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Top 10 Beneath the Baobab Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Beneath the Baobab episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Beneath the Baobab for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Beneath the Baobab episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Co-existing with Zambia’s hippo population
Beneath the Baobab
06/13/24 • 37 min
In this episode, we travel to Zambia to investigate a different – and lesser known – wildlife conflict to the ones already explored in the series.
The hippo affects many lives, often tragically, and we meet local people with their own stories to tell; both of hippo attacks and injuries caused by elephants in the country.
The Luangwa Valley sees dramatic seasonal variations and with a dynamic river system, fertile soil and lush vegetation, it’s the perfect home for a wide variety of animals – leading to a co-existence situation that delivers both opportunities and challenges for humans living in the area.
In Lupande Game Management Area (GMA), increased human population has led to the expansion of human settlements into protected areas, constricting many species’ ranges and an increase in wildlife populations has resulted in wildlife straying out of protected areas and into crop and livestock areas.
Rodgers Lubilo is a conservation and rural development expert from Zambia. He has 25 years’ experience in community led conservation in Southern Africa - especially in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. He is a champion of community rights to benefit from conservation. He chairs the Zambian CBNRM Forum and the Community Leaders Network of Southern Africa - a leading voice for local communities and indigenous peoples in the region.
We also hear from Goodson, Tinde and Dennis; all of whom have personal, and often tragic, stories of living in conflict with hippos and elephants.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/DTS1eRjfVi8
https://www.lukusuziriver.com/index.php/zambia-luangwa-en
https://www.communityleadersnetwork.org/team_member/rodgers-lubilo/
https://www.cajnewsafrica.com/2023/05/09/zambian-woman-survives-hippo-attack/
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Challenges In A Resettlement Area
Beneath the Baobab
05/16/24 • 42 min
In this episode, we meet the Chizvirizvi community in Zimbabwe – a latecomer to the CAMPFIRE programme, compared to the Mahenye featured in episode 5.
Chizvirizvi is somewhat different as it’s not operated by the Rural District Council. Instead, authority for the utilisation and management of wildlife has been conferred to the community or collective resettlement scheme plot holders. And with the authority only designated in 2003, their CAMPFIRE programme is relatively in its infancy, with the infrastructure only just beginning to grow.
A survey in 2013 discovered the 77% of the population said they had experienced human wildlife conflict between the year 2000 and 2010. With this background, we expected a very different conversation to the one we had at the Jamanda Conservancy but as we’ve found throughout this series, there are always surprising – and often uplifting – stories to hear.
We start with a shocking story of bravery in the face of a crocodile attack from Morina and her son Gideon. Thankfully, the story ends well.
Mr Chirhilele is a farmer and rancher and describes how scouts and monitors go some way to protecting residents’ cattle but could do more. He asks that the wildlife population be maintained at an optimal number to ensure coexistence for him and his family, and for future generations.
Dr Shylock Muyengwa is Managing Consultant at the Centre for Impact Evaluation and President of the Zimbabwe Evaluation Association and since 2007, has studied community-based natural resource management systems (CBNRM). Kevin Mfishani is a member of Community Leader’s Network and a project officer with the Zimbabwe CAMPFIRE association.
They discuss the past, present and future of life alongside wild animals and the importance of empowering communities to make decisions and revenue, utilising their natural resources.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/-0fYvwrhQoo
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Chizvirizvi-resettlement-area-Chigonda-2017_fig1_328048741
https://twitter.com/forevaluation?lang=en
https://www.communityleadersnetwork.org
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How to Balance Representation of Sustainable Use ft. Professor Adam Hart
Beneath the Baobab
09/22/22 • 44 min
This time, Gordon chats with scientist, conservationist and broadcaster Professor Adam Hart about how we can move international public understanding of sustainable use forwards.
Adam shares his story, from young entomologist to sustainable use convert and co-director of a successful volunteer programme in South Africa.
He also discusses the wider consideration of habitat when working to conserve wildlife whilst benefitting from its resources.
Adam has developed a rhino-thick skin when taking to social media to challenge misinformation around sustainable use in conservation and says strong reactions and harassment on these forums can be a deterrent to academics advocating for these approaches. He does however share how he’s been watching coverage become more positive as public understanding increases.
Adam and Gordon also discuss the role of media more widely in representing complex issues such as hunting and natural resource use, causing Gordon to reflect upon his own work as a wildlife filmmaker.
And we hear from Adam’s colleague Lynne Mactavish, who shares her passion for wildlife. She also reveals the tough day-to-day decisions she makes as custodian of the Nkombi volunteer conservation programme founded by her father.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
Adam discusses wildlife during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020
Listen to ‘Big Game Theory’, Adam’s BBC Radio 4 Documentary about hunting
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Community Rights to Resources ft. Dr Shylock Muyengwa and Dr Brian Child
Beneath the Baobab
08/25/22 • 37 min
Gordon Buchanan meets two of the pioneers of CBNRM or Community based Natural Resources Management in this episode of Beneath the Baobab.
Dr Brian Child and Dr Shylock Muyengwa have teamed up from their homes on other sides of the world for years, conducting fieldwork and research with communities to help develop increasingly sophisticated models and practises for wildlife conservation with people at their heart.
Brian’s childhood in Zimbabwe inspired a career defending the rights and wellbeing of rural people and today he is Associate Professor at the University of Florida.
Shylock has an enormous breadth of experience across Zimbabwe’s agriculture, food, security and livelihoods sector. He’s Managing Director at the Center for Impact Evaluation and Research Design as well as CBNRM Manager for Resource Africa Southern Africa.
Their work together on community governance in reinstating rights through participatory democracies continues to provide new insights for the future of conservation in communities living together with wildlife.
They explain how the pioneering CAMPFIRE programme worked to devolve rights for the use, management, disposal of and benefit from wildlife resources and how learnings have been built upon to build modern-day CBNRM. They also discuss the legacy of colonial land practises and laws in contemporary conservation and share ideas for overcoming this.
Brian and Shylock discuss the social and practical aspects of this approach but also share details of the governance dashboard they developed with villagers to help them create participatory democracies for decision-making.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
https://twitter.com/africa_resource
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Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods ft. Dr Dilys Roe and Sam Shaba
Beneath the Baobab
07/14/22 • 58 min
In this episode of Beneath the Baobab, Gordon Buchanan takes a look at the human dimensions of conservation.
Dr Dilys Roe @dilysroe and Sam Shaba share examples of models for supporting livelihoods and wildlife to thrive in shared spaces, from ecotourism and carbon credit schemes to incentivisation of the sustainable use of natural resources.
Dilys is Chair of the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods (SULi) specialist group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This global volunteer network aims to mobilise cross-sector expertise to support sustainable use models that also meet human needs and priorities. She’s also member of the UK government Darwin Expert Committee and Illegal Wildlife Trade Advisory Group, and a trustee of Resource Africa
But the thing that most inspires Dilys in her work is visiting locations to connect with communities, people and practises and to find out how community-based conservation is working. She explains how she’s working with international expertise to bring these voices and experts to the forefront of conservation innovation and policy.
Sam Shaba then talks to Gordon about his work at Tanzanian initiative Honeyguide, which works in landscapes where community conservation is key to wildlife conservation. He explains how their projects have developed and gained pace in Wildlife Management Areas like Randilen, where community partnerships are central to conservation.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more amazing international projects.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/honeyguide-foundation/about/
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How agriculture is affected by human wildlife conflict
Beneath the Baobab
05/30/24 • 42 min
Kasungu National Park forms part of the trans-frontier conservation area between Malawi and Zambia. The area used to have a thriving wildlife population but due to poaching, it was left depleted with the resident elephant population coming close to extinction.
A translocation plan, put in place by the Malawian government, IFAW and African Parks, has returned the elephants to the park. Despite a positive long-term vision, the short-term effects have resulted in a number of human deaths, animal predation and crop damage – and with the country’s economy being agriculture-focussed, this aspect of human wildlife conflict is a particular concern in Malawi.
Fences are also proving to be a contentious issue. An area being fully-fenced goes against the principles of landscape-scale conservation and prevents free movement but it does provide extra protection to local communities. The tensions are laid bare in this episode.
Malidadi Langa is an economist and retired public servant with extensive experience across decentralisation, rural development, natural resource management governance and public policy – and community based natural resource management, otherwise known as CBNRM. He’s currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the KAWICCODA community association, represents Malawi CBNRM associations in the Southern Africa Community Leaders Network, advocating for community rights around sustainable use and benefit sharing.
Senior Chief Lukwe describes a highly populated country in comparison to its neighbours, the need for civic education of the risks from wildlife, and the importance of compensation for victims of human wildlife conflict.
Catherine Chunga is education and extension officer at the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Leonard Moyo is Education Division Manager and Ndaona Kumanga is National Park Manager at Kasungu. They describe Malawi’s unique relationship with wildlife, the challenges the local communities face, and what they are doing in their roles to manage and resolve human wildlife conflict.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/YCNrvMNfGQ0
Elephant Conservation in the Context of High Human-Wildlife Conflict | African Parks
ifaw's response to elephant tragedies in Malawi
https://www.voanews.com/a/villagers-in-central-malawi-face-attacks-from-elephants-/7280441.html
https://www.malawitourism.com/regions/central-malawi/kasungu-national-park/
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How Government & Community Works Together For Wildlife Coexistence
Beneath the Baobab
05/02/24 • 41 min
In this episode, we visit the Mahenye community and Jamanda Conservancy in Zimbabwe where the hope is that tourism revenue will aid those living alongside dangerous, and sometimes life-threatening, wildlife.
The Jamanda Conservancy is the location for the first Communal Area Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) and today boasts an upmarket tourist lodge called Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge. This has resulted in an increase in revenue for the community and employs many of their members. The creation of the conservancy created a 10km border with Gonarezhou National Park and has re-established the ancient elephant migration route between Gonarezhou and Chimanimani in Mozambique.
Maxwell was the victim of a horrific crocodile attack on the Save River, but 20 years after, shares his story and his relationship with wildlife after such a life changing event.
Chief Mahenye represents every family in the community as part of his role. He explains how the challenges of coexisting with wildlife match up with the monetary benefits that come from hunting and tourism.
Liberty Chauke is a CAMPFIRE community association board member and feels that changes in land management, herding and accessibility to water would go a long way to improving the quality of life for the Mahenye.
And Clive Stockil is a wildlife expert and partner in the lodge and warns that unless mechanisms can be put in place to maintain and improve coexistence, the people’s wishes will win over the wildlife.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/PX-QPUGW0Ws
https://www.communityleadersnetwork.org/tag/mahenye-community/
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How Organisations Aid Coexistence
Beneath the Baobab
04/18/24 • 55 min
In this episode, we travel to Botswana to discover how innovative methods, and the role of organisations, are aiding the coexistence of people and wildlife. We visit the Chobe enclave, where despite a thriving tourism economy, the wildlife from the nearby National Park can cause life-changing and sometimes devastating challenges to local residents.
Mr Mwezi is a community leader, a chief and a cattle rancher. He describes the challenges he faces from raising his herd in an area prone to drought and at risk by predators – but also the tragic loss of two close relatives.
The Chobe Enclave Community Trust (CECT) is run by Moses Sinchembe and he acknowledges that humans and wildlife need to coexist – and that wild animals in the area can be what he describes as “a blessing and a curse”. He believes that by understanding the ‘language’ of the wildlife that surrounds the people, animals and humans can live alongside each other much more effectively.
Letlhogonlo Kamuti comes from Ncongo (the Ngamiland Council of NGOs), a community based capacity-building organisation and umbrella body for NGOs (non-governmental organisations). He discusses the cultural importance for wildlife in the community, and the opportunities that come from hunting quotas and tourist safaris.
Mubuso Kakambi was born and raised in Kavimba village and in her younger years, feared the wildlife around her. Now working for WildCRU (the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit), she helps her fellow residents see the benefits of coexistence and believes that education is key for the community.
Andrew Mukwati is a community guardian for WildCRU and has built over 70 ‘kraals’, adapting traditional practices to create modern enclosures, designed to protect cattle and other livestock from predators.
Jess Isden is WildCRU’s head of project and has been in Botswana for many years, building trust within communities and helping tip coexistence solutions in local people’s favour. The Trans-Kalahari predator programme is one of many programmes under WildCRU looking at the movement of large predators across the landscape.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/itb33f8pX7A
https://www.trickleout.net/index.php/directory-pilot/botswana/chobe-enclave-conservation-trust
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Life After Attacks & Loss Of Livelihood
Beneath the Baobab
04/04/24 • 48 min
In this episode, we remain in Namibia to look at the human wildlife conflict that takes place in, and around, conservancies and discover how, despite some horrific stories, governments and communities can come together to create an effective co-existence between humans and wildlife.
We visit the Nakabolelwa Conservancy in the Zambezi region to hear how it can be flooding, rather than drought, that affects farmers – but also how elephants and buffalos not only damage the crops that villagers need to survive, but can also maim and sometimes kill them.
The country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry & Tourism offers some compensation and support for those affected by human wildlife conflict, there is the acknowledgement that more can – and sometimes needs – to be done.
Both Richard Poniso and a farmer named Michael tell their stories.
Dominic Muemma, operations manager for IRDNC (Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation) in the Zambezi region, explains how they empower local communities to manage their natural resources and help form conservancies, which results in revenue from tourism and the sustainable utilisation of wildlife.
Despite the challenges and some heart-breaking stories in this episode, with 86 conservancies in the country, communities are also able to accrue benefits from the natural resources around them, alongside the tourist trade, and receive 100% of the income to be used in ways they see fit in their local areas.
We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/6JX8G7c3Gms
https://www.nacso.org.na/conservancies/nakabolelwa
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Back Home With Scotland's Beaver Population
Beneath the Baobab
06/27/24 • 49 min
In this final episode of the series, presenter Gordon Buchanan heads home to Scotland to see the work that the Beaver Trust is leading to “regenerate the beaver species to regenerate the landscape”.
The Beaver Trust is a charity working to restore animals to habitats where they thrived in the past, building climate resilient landscapes across the UK and we speak to Elliot McCandless from the charity. We also chat to Tom, a fifth-generation farmer on the land but with a very different role to his predecessors.
Our conversations take place, thousands of miles away from the baobab – but with similar ambitions, challenges and conflicts to navigate.
We spoke to both Elliot and Tom alongside the mud banks of a beaver lake, home to the second family of beavers that were brought to Tom’s land in February 2022. Translocation and reintroduction of the species in Scotland brings its own controversies with conservationists, farmers, government and local people holding different perspectives on the beaver population as we’ll explore in this episode.
Whilst this is the last episode of series 2, we will be publishing a special bonus edition of Beneath The Baobab in the coming weeks, bringing together all the key points and fascinating conversations from the last 9 programmes.
So please follow, like or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it – and leave a written review if you’ve enjoyed the series; it’ll help more people join us in our global conversation, beneath the baobab.
Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.
The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/5FOfzoGgy48
https://beavertrust.org/nature-boost-in-perthshire-as-second-group-of-beavers-moved-to-argaty/
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FAQ
How many episodes does Beneath the Baobab have?
Beneath the Baobab currently has 24 episodes available.
What topics does Beneath the Baobab cover?
The podcast is about Conservation, International, Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Nature, Wildlife, Podcasts, Resources and Science.
What is the most popular episode on Beneath the Baobab?
The episode title 'Co-existing with Zambia’s hippo population' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Beneath the Baobab?
The average episode length on Beneath the Baobab is 41 minutes.
How often are episodes of Beneath the Baobab released?
Episodes of Beneath the Baobab are typically released every 13 days, 23 hours.
When was the first episode of Beneath the Baobab?
The first episode of Beneath the Baobab was released on Jun 17, 2022.
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