Recognition matters: Why we need the Tusk Awards

Tusk has made a tremendous contribution to conservation since its establishment in 1990. Not only has it increased global awareness of the threats to wildlife but, more importantly, it has raised significant sums for conservation. The projects that Tusk supports are helping to protect a wide range of endangered fauna.

In recognising individuals, the Tusk Conservation Awards – which our CEO attended earlier this week – serve a vital purpose in drawing our attention to the dedicated and courageous people working in often very challenging and dangerous circumstances. Many of these people, especially the rangers, risk their lives and the well-being of their dependents as guardians of an environmental heritage vital to us all, wherever we may live.

The decline in tourism due to Covid-19 has had a dramatic impact on the livelihoods of the majority of people employed in wildlife areas in Africa, and yet they continue in their work of protecting a natural world from which we in richer countries benefit. Longer term, climate change, which disproportionately affects developing countries and these fragile wild spaces, can only be mitigated by the efforts of the industrial world.

The Tusk Awards – hosted by Ninety One – bring a wide spectrum of people together to recognise the challenges facing our precious natural world and the efforts that people from diverse backgrounds are making to protect it. Awards like these remind us that it is in our collective interest to strive to improve that protection, and that we can all make a contribution.

The 2021 Tusk Awards were hosted in partnership with Ninety One.

Miles Geldard is a Non-Executive Director at Brunel and a Trustee of Save the Elephants