Conservation Uncut

Here it is, EPISODE ONE of Conservation Uncut, the  podcast where conservationist Gianluca Cerullo will be talking about wildlife conservation with people from many different walks of life. This episode Gianluca spoke with David Kwarteng, alongside his filmmaker friend, Alex Moore. In 2009, David co-founded Herp Ghana, a charity focused on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Ghana. David was a keynote speaker at the recent Earth Optimism summit in London, which is part of a global movement to inspire optimism about the future of the world’s wildlife – despite the often depressing headlines. Here, David spoke alongside the likes of Sir David Attenborough and the world’s leading chimpanzee expert, Jane Goodall. In the podcast, David talked about: The importance of engaging local communities during conservation projects; The potential power of harnessing religious beliefs for the protection of wildlife; His  quest to save from extinction the critically endangered Togo slippery frog, a species numbering fewer than 300 individuals worldwide; The strategies and approaches he and his team used to establish the only amphibian focused and community led wildlife reserve in the whole of Africa.

In this episode of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca chats with Apollo Kwilabya about the realities of being a park ranger in Selous National Park, Africa's largest reserve. Apollo talks of training to be a ranger, the logistics of anti-poaching, the day-to-day work involved in protecting wildlife and running a park, the difficulties of working in a dangerous environment often under resourced and with long periods of no pay, as well as some stories from the bush.  

In episode 3 of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca Cerullo chats with Francis Masse about how biodiversity conservation intersects with security, the impacts of different anti-poaching approaches for protecting the rhino, the growing trend of military involvement and techniques in conservation, whether or not the ivory trade funds terrorism and the challenges of a community-based ranger programme in Mozambique. They also discuss the Greater Lembobo Conservancy in Mozambique, a protected area which runs along the border of Kruger national park that has been called the most critical piece of land on the planet for rhino conservation and, but which has also courted controversy for its resettlement of agricultural communities.   

In Episode #2 of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca spoke with Joli Borah. Joli conducts research in remote regions of Northeast India where few scientists have ventured, right on the Myanmar border. She works and lives for months at a time with indigenous tribes who use an ancient agricultural system called shifting cultivation, where she is interested in how this method of agriculture affects bird life. In this podcast Joli discusses the trials and tribulations of being a sometimes dangerously enthusiastic field scientist, the realities of human-elephant conflict in her home state of Assam and the past and future of shifting cultivation; from failed government bans to what we can learn from this traditional farming system.  

This episode of Conservation Uncut was recorded in the middle of a jungle in Malaysian Borneo after a morning spent hunting for dung beetles using traps baited with human crap. Sitting on rotten log in leech-infested rainforest, Gianluca chats with jungle explorer and adventurer Nathan Trowbridge. A few facts about Nathan. He built the largest unofficial structure at the 2010 Burning Man Festival in the Nevada dessert, turned his coffee table into a freshwater fish tank and his garden into a hydroponics testing lab, owned a 2 foot long African lungfish with an anal prolapse for 10 years (along with a whole menagerie of other exotic creatures) and, following a motorbike accident in Vietnam where he shattered his colarbone, owns only three shirts, all of which have been cut to be sleeveless in true jungle fashion. Recently, Nathan quit his corporate job, sold his house and everything he owns (except his shirts of course) and bought a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia to make conservation-themed Youtube videos about insects and other animals.