Nelson Mandela's Legacy of Conservation

[MoonRiver]

Mandela spent his life working for political justice and fighting against South Africa’s apartheid policies. Most notably, he was imprisoned for 27 years for plotting to overthrow the RSA government, but he later became South Africa’s first black president and the first to be elected in a fully democratic election.

While imprisoned, Mandela said he “felt the lack of the wild.” A born conservationist, his accomplishments in that regard are many. In 1995, Mandela supported the establishment of Open Africa, a pan-African project that worked to create travel routes to promote responsible tourism and contribute to rural economies. In 1997, together with Dr. Anton Rupert, Mandela founded Peace Parks Foundation, an organization that works to establish transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs)—protected areas that conserve animal migration routes. Mandela was quoted expressing his deep passion for the program:

“If we do not do something to prevent it, Africa’s animals, and the places in which they live, will be lost to our world, and her children, forever. Before it is too late, we need your help to lay the foundation that will preserve this precious legacy long after we are gone.”

http://www.awf.org/news/awf-mourns-passing-nelson-mandela-lifelong-conservationist-and-political-activist