Deadline: 28 February 2025

The Wilderness Trust is inviting applications for its Wilderness Impact Challenge to advance environmental protection and sustainable practices while building on Wilderness’ longstanding commitment to preserving Africa’s rich biodiversity.

As they launch this new competition, they aim to foster an ongoing effort that seamlessly integrates conservation tourism with the latest thinking in innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship. Aligned with their impact strategy – the Wilderness Impact Challenge marks a bold step forward in their commitment to making a lasting positive impact on their world.

Recognizing that traditional methods are not advancing quickly enough to meet today’s challenges, they’ve launched this initiative to ignite dialogue and engage a diverse, global audience. The goal is to inspire creativity and collaboration in finding innovative solutions to address critical issues and drive meaningful progress.

Types of Entries to Explore

§  Technological Innovations

§  Early warning systems: Develop sensors or monitoring devices to detect wildlife movements and alert communities.

§  Non-lethal deterrents: Create devices or methods (e.g., lights, sounds, scents) that deter wildlife without harming them.

§  Fencing and barriers: Innovate cost-effective, eco-friendly barriers that protect crops or livestock from wildlife.

§  Community Engagement and Education

§  Conflict mitigation strategies: Develop community-driven approaches to manage interactions with wildlife, such as community patrols or conflict resolution techniques.

§  Education programs: Design educational materials or programs to raise awareness about wildlife behavior, conservation, and sustainable practices.

§  Livelihood and Economic Solutions

§  Alternative livelihoods: Introduce income-generating activities that reduce dependency on wildlife-related resources (e.g., fresh food provision, sustainable agriculture).

§  Insurance and compensation: Develop innovative insurance or compensation schemes for farmers or communities affected by wildlife-related losses.

§  Data and Monitoring Solutions

§  Data analytics: Utilize data analytics and remote sensing technologies to understand wildlife movements and behavior patterns.

§  Monitoring systems: Develop tools for real-time monitoring of wildlife populations and human-wildlife interactions.

§  Collaborative and Multi-stakeholder Approaches

§  Partnerships: Foster collaborations between NGOs, governments, local communities, and businesses to implement holistic solutions.

§  Capacity building: Strengthen local capacities through training, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

§  Behavioral and Psychological Insights

§  Human behavior: Solutions that deal with human perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards wildlife to inform targeted interventions.

§  Social psychology: Apply behavioral science to understand and influence decision-making related to wildlife conservation and conflict mitigation.

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Funding Information

§  Following a comprehensive review process, a panel of judges will evaluate the submissions and award USD100,000 to the most impactful project, providing the winning entrant or team with the resources needed to bring their idea to life

Eligibility Criteria

§  This global call to action invites innovators, researchers, and community leaders to propose bold solutions, offering them the opportunity to turn their conservation visions into reality.

§  Guided by Wilderness’ three pillars – Educate, Empower, and Protect – this year’s challenge emphasises the Protect pillar. It invites entries that focus is on improving human-wildlife coexistence and strengthening wildlife security. Proposals should target the specific needs of wildlife protected areas and their surrounding communities in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda.

For more information, visit Wilderness Trust.