Wallets open for rhinos. Corporate coffers and philanthropy dollars flow for elephants. The world has pitched in to fight the illegal wildlife trade in Africa, and there are promising signs that the slaughter of endangered species is slowing.
But this work presents a challenge for environmentalists like Simangele Msweli-Ratsoana. She understands the devastation caused by wildlife poaching, but also that it’s just one of many problems to solve. Msweli-Ratsoana wants greater focus on a less charismatic species: humans. In particular, young humans.
“To fundraise for rhinos, you just say, ‘I’m fundraising for rhinos!’ It’s relatively easy,” she laughs. “But say you’re fundraising to bring people together to better understand each other and take conservation action?’ Donors are not as interested. It worries me: we should spend energy building up young people, so that they take the lead and there is sustainability in conservation policies and initiatives. I’m passionate about conservation, but I’m more passionate about people, because they will do this work.”
If you are comfortable with leadership and care about the cause, you need to be investing in people.
As a scientist and community organiser, Msweli-Ratsoana is intent on energising Africa’s youth – a vast resource comprising about 70% of the continent’s population and, according to World Economic Forum projections, 42% of the global youth population by 2030.
As senior manager of the Youth Leadership Program at the African Wildlife Foundation, a conservation organisation funded mainly through philanthropy, Msweli-Ratsoana develops training courses in policy and field conservation and supports youth-run businesses to build and promote careers in environmental protection.
It’s complex work across 10 nations – from Cameroon to Kenya to Zimbabwe – reckoning with the impact of colonisation, linguistic and cultural differences and an almost unquantifiable diversity of climate, species and habitats.
Plugging the Foundation into existing networks is key, says Msweli-Ratsoana. She supports the Youth Leadership Program’s environmental advocacy, co-organises conferences and works with a range of youth groups on specific initiatives. She has co-led the design and fundraising for individual projects, such as the newly launched ‘Building a Movement of Young Conservation Change Agents’. Created by the AWF in partnership with the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, the programme aims to reach 80,000 students in 137 schools
Born a “river person”
Education has made all the difference to Msweli-Ratsoana. She describes growing up as a “river person” in the Mfekayi village at the edge of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in north-eastern South Africa towards the Mozambique border. On Saturdays, her community walked to the river to collect fresh water before washing their clothes and enjoying a swim.
Even then, she says, they recognised that the rivers were drying up and the fruit trees were disappearing. Joining an environmental club at her school helped her to understand the gravity of the situation.
“In the environmental club, we had cleanups around our school and village and created songs to educate people about the environment,” says Msweli-Ratsoana. “Among students, concern was strong and discussed in the context of climate change. But with our elders, it was still more about what the loss of resources meant for us. I was about 14 when I learnt about climate change and biodiversity loss and I was like, ‘Okay! When I grow up, I think I’m just going to fix it all,” she says.
I arrived at university thinking science would solve problems.
The first step was gaining a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and a Master of Science in Biology (specialising in pollination biology) at University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa. Attending a United Nations biodiversity conference as a 19-year-old undergraduate student opened her mind to the potential for policy and people to drive conservation action.
“I arrived at university thinking science would solve problems. But once there, I saw the multidisciplinary possibilities, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is science plus … plus, plus, plus! I thought I made a good scientist, but later realised that maybe my role was to make room for more young professionals to get into the conservation space.”
A continent of contrasts
As a student in 2018, Msweli-Ratsoana co-founded the South Africa Youth Biodiversity Network to inspire involvement and action in environmental issues, and she’s still involved as an advisor.
“One of the network’s co-founders came from the [South African] province of Limpopo, where her biggest problem was illegal sand mining, which caused erosion and flooding. In my area we had no sand mining: it was unrelatable,” says Msweli-Ratsoana.
“It was an important lesson. Even in the same country, the circumstances and the extent to which we experience environmental issues can be very different. It means we must also approach conservation in a way that accommodates others and their realities.”
A serious bout of tuberculosis, still common in many parts of Africa, derailed Msweli-Ratsoana’s PhD study. After she’d recovered in 2020, she took up a community engagement and education role with the WildTrust – a South African-based non-profit conservation organisation – and their WildOceans program, based not far from her home village.
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While creating education programmes and community hubs and working with local people to develop economic alternatives to activities such as shellfish harvest, with the coastal environment, Msweli-Ratsoana found her calling as connector of people, particularly young people.
In 2021, she joined the African Wildlife Foundation to create a strategy and programme to harness and develop young Africans as protectors of biodiversity and ecosystems.
The work with youth organisations has allowed her to be part of broader discussion when African nations are revising their conservation/land-use strategies in line with the historic international agreement on sustainability, the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Training, resourcing and supporting young people on the ground amplifies the Foundation’s impact.
Creating local champions
“It’s important for regional representatives or national champions to own issues and run the conservation agenda,” she says. “They understand best what matters for people in their region. I’ve found that decentralising and letting people champion their own issues is way better than you trying to control it all at the centre.”
There’s one thing Msweli-Ratsoana can’t control: the passing of time. Youth is just a slim chapter in a human life, yet her objective is to sustain youth groups through generational change, in the face of urgent conservation need.
While she still takes a keen interest in the South Africa Youth Biodiversity Network, she has passed the baton to a new leaders, which she sees as critical for its future.
The great thing about working with young people is that it forces you to start to think about succession – you can’t be in a youth network forever.
“If you care about the cause, you need to be investing in the next generation. It must always be on your mind, because this work doesn’t start and end with you, it is intergenerational.”
Story by Michelle Fincke
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