Robin's Nest from American Humane - Expanding Africa’s Wild Frontiers with Peter Chadwick

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

In this episode of Robin’s Nest, Dr. Robin Ganzert sits down with Peter Chadwick, CEO of the Conservation Landscape Institute, to discuss the launch of the Brad and Alice Andrews Preserve and the expansion of South Africa’s Bushman’s River Biodiversity Corridor, a milestone for the Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa. With nearly 40 years of experience across 25 African countries, Peter shares how modern conservation is driven by community engagement, cutting-edge technology, and ecosystem restoration. Together, he and Robin explore how rewilding efforts are creating safe passage for endangered species like black rhinos and elephants, while empowering local communities through sustainable development and ecotourism.A celebrated conservation photojournalist, Peter also highlights how powerful storytelling can inspire global action and policy change. Tune in to learn how one preserve is helping to reconnect Africa’s wild landscapes, protecting biodiversity and building a future where people and wildlife thrive together.

Welcome to Robin's Nest. Many of us fill a deep bond with animals, from the pets we cherish at home to the endangered species in nature. Join us for lively informative conversations where together we will build a more humane world. Welcome back to Robins Nest. Today I'm honored to welcome Peter Chadwick, a distinguished conservation specialist with nearly 40 years of experience across 25 African countries. As CEO of the Conservation Landscape Institute, he is leading efforts to restore and connect critical ecosystems in South Africans' Eastern Cape, protecting endangered species while supporting local communities. A pioneer in counterpoaching strategies and a globally recognized conservation photojournalist, Peter's work has inspired millions. Well, I'm so excited to be with you today, Peter, because you've inspired so many. you have done work, impressive work, in 25 countries over 40 years.

And I'm looking at you and I'm thinking it should be 40 countries, 25 years, because I can't believe you've been doing this since you were a baby, it sounds like. Yeah, very fortunate and thank you for this opportunity. You know, I grew up in the bush of Zimbabwe. My father inspired me to stay out in the outdoors and I think that grew the passion for conservation. I think certainly when I studied conservation, I never believed that I. I'd end up doing it and working in the places that I have. So it's been a rough sometimes journey, but incredible.

And I think an incredible privilege of what incredible continent that we have here in Africa. And I think the sort of the learnings across those countries have pulled me back to the Eastern Cape as an opportunity that can really pivot all of the learnings in different places of the continent because it's all happening in one environment. So we can take the Eastern Cape as an incredible pivot to the rest of the globe. What do we do for conservation into the future? And I think what we're developing with this partnership is going to be innovative. It's going to be catalytic and it's going to transform how things are done in the future,

all from this unknown province here. You know what is amazing. What you've just said is so remarkable because, again, having done work over 40 years and to say this, What we're doing today is so impactful and so future forward in thinking and has such impact not just for the Eastern Cape, but again, as a model for around the world, it's so exciting. It's so very exciting because you have seen it in 40 years. And what you said is important, too, for the next generation of conservationists who might be tuning in today to Robin's Nest. It's hard work. And in 40 years, you've had good days and bad. Tell us a little bit about some of the challenges you've seen driving frontline conservation work. over 40 years. Yeah, you know, I think there's definitely good and bad, and that's part of the growth. I think, you know, some of the big changes that I've seen, I think, is sadly around wildlife and environmental crime increasing as a global syndicated criminal activity, and we can delve

into that. But if we've also made progress in that time, and I think it's important you can drown very quickly in the world is slipping backwards and yes it's we've never been at such a pivotal point of our future existence because of the state human induced state of the earth but i think we had such an exciting point because never in the history of mankind has there been such a global movement for moving forward yes in a positive direction i think a good example you know when i started orphan conservation way back when elephants were still being culled some of my first duties were on those culling operations and it was tragic you know you're taking from the little one

right through to the matriarch and the bulls but through that process we actually moved the first elephant calves to a new protected area with sadly without their their parents and and heard it didn't it wasn't the right thing to do from a social perspective for their elephants, but it taught us that then if we can move calves, we can move adults, and now we're able to translocate elephants. And I think because of that, you know, culling has stopped in many places. Wonderful. And it means that where people have a problem in front of them, we're able to find a solution. And that keeps me excited. That keeps me positive is let's find those solutions that pivot us in the right direction. That's a great story and a great

example of it too in terms of the progress that has been made. That's a significant victory, significant victory for the animals. Your CEO of Conservation Landscapes Institute, please tell us a little bit about your work. So again, you know, exciting. We're in a privileged position because we're very much at a starting off position where through the inspiration of the likes of Andrew Muir and Wilderness Foundation, they've got this bigger vision of connect. landscapes across a six to eight million hectare landscape from coast all the way through to the arid carou but the vision needs to be implemented and and I sit with a privileged position of being the implementer and figuring out the strategy that will allow us to achieve this vision of

taking the current fragmented conservation landscape which is probably about 450,000 hectares through to fruition of a million plus hectares. It's challenging because we're starting from ground zero. But where do you get an opportunity like that in the world? And I think importantly, you know, it's not about conservation landscapes institute or wilderness foundation. It's about the environment. It's about biodiversity, but it's also about the people. So how do we integrate the systems within the landscape?

that will bring benefits to all. And our role really at Conservation Landscape Institute is to come up with a strategy, implemented, but then also facilitate the variety of negotiations that we need to have with the national government, provincial government, and private landowners and NGOs. And I think one thing I do have to say is in my 40, no, I'm not quite 40, but decades in conservation is that Eastern Cape, there's a willingness between national government, provincial government,

NGOs, private sector, farmers, hunters, conservationists to actually sit around the same table in the same direction and with the same bigger achievement of a global vision. And I think that's really what's going to unlock this innovation and transform that we can learn from.

That is so exciting. I mean, and what we are sitting at right here is an example of your very important work. And what I think is so insightful, particularly for the conservationist, tuning into today's episode, is that it is the collaboration, federal, local community,

importantly economic incentives involved, landowners, all different kinds of landowners to come together to drive this. And what we're sitting in right now is this beautiful Bushman's River, which is part of a new project, that you're working on at Tanglewood, a great partnership that we're working on together. And today we're here to celebrate the Brad and Alice Andrews Preserve that Global Humane Society

is bringing as a stakeholder and your work here. So please describe where we're at and why this is so beautiful. So Tanglewood, it's about 1,000 hectares, 2,000-odd acres. It's situated in the Bushman's River Valley. What's really important with this is that we haven't. network of current private reserves situated to the north of us. Yes. And we have a big private reserve situated to the south of us.

The gap in between is this Bushman's River corridor, which is new conservation land. So we're able to drive new thinking, new innovations, but importantly link these fragmented current properties. So individually, you might have 10,000 hectares in one property, 20,000 in another, but their fences in between. Yes. So our first vision and drive is first join these gaps between north and south, but then eventually drop fences, which will create a landscape of 15,000, no, 150,000 acres. 150,000 acres, which then becomes significant because it means you can have viable populations of critically endangered black rhino, their suitable cheetah habitat, elephants, and we'll have

a through flow. Amazing. And that brings ecosystem functioning. We'll be able to restore the Bushman's River to its full ecological functionality. But importantly, again, once we start getting to that scale, we can start talking about real socio-economic benefits. It's very difficult as a small property or fragmented property to be able to create meaningful benefits for our communities

that live in the landscape. Again, within this landscape, it's complicated because we've got NGOs, we've got private landowners and you, we've got a hunting fraternity at the one end, but we've also got a very established conservation landscapes together with new thinking and new ideas. So it's certainly a challenging project

but look at it. I mean it's the Eastern Cape is an unknown province and if we look at Tanglewood and the Brad and Alice Preserve we're looking at over a thousand species that we've documented in a very short period of time and there's plenty more that

And many of them, I think at least 20 of those are threatened and endangered species. That's remarkable. And so we've been able to automatically make a difference in improvement with Global Humane's partnership right on the ground here with the Braddon Aless Andrews Preserve. And I think importantly, you know, take into context that that land was a hunting area. And let's be honest, not a very positive hunter. he was anything that kind of moved he took out yes and certainly not progressive to the landscape and um being able to to get to have new land ownership i think is critical i think what's what's

really exciting is this is the first fence that drops yes so people in a new initiative say yeah we hear what you're doing but no it's not going to happen but this is happening this is real It happened a day. This is unlocking enthusiasm for others to actually say, let's be part of this early on and grow this thing because it is going to be real. And, you know, just speaking to provincial government representation today, they've come out and they've seen this landscape and said, man, it's the place for black rhino. It's the place for elephant. We've got to make this happen. And isn't that exciting to be part of something?

that is leaving a legacy for the future. Well, on behalf of Global Humane Society, we're happy to be at the ground level with you as a partner and as a stakeholder and to being able today to cut the fences for the Braddon, Alice Andrews, I get a big shout-out to our wonderful friends, Braddon Alice Andrews,

for making our dreams at Global Humane Society come true and being an initial stakeholder with you, Peter, on this great and ground division is very, very important to CLI and, of course, Wilderness Africa. You know, you are men with many skills and many talents. And one is photojournalism and your ability to be telling stories through photographs. You're a visual storyteller. You're also an excellent audio storyteller.

But please share with us about some of the stories that have really impacted you and your journey as a conservationist. So people ask, who am I? And I wear many different hats. And I think, you know, people ask about my photography. And for me, photography's always been part of the journey. I think it's a conservation tool, which when used appropriately, can have massive impact. I think in today's crazy world, where we're being bombarded with social media, we're a millisecond world.

We're not even in a seven-second world anymore. And how do you grab someone's attention? And the quickest way to do that is through an impactful image. Yes. If you can get hope people to look at the image, you can hopefully get them to read the headline and then the story and I think you know there's a collective that I work with across the globe the International League of Conservation Photographers and what we try and do is look at what are the critical stories that need to be told you know war photographers conflict photographers have been

very effective in bringing realities the horrors of reality to to the public and we try and do the same thing so what are the what are those critical stories that need to be put out there. I think, you know, I've been privileged to work on a number of larger stories from the global plight that seabirds are facing through to the importance of marine protected areas. Yes. One of my long-term projects, I do a lot of work countering wildlife and environmental crime. Yes. So documenting that process across the African continent. It's very sad. It's a horrific and story that's hard to tell. And people actually only get a sliver of the reality of it. And I think, you know, the value of imagery bringing that

to a four in a non-horific manner, but in an awareness-raising manner. And I think, you know, if I look at some of my images, I've been very privileged that it is on an international basis. We've We've worked with photographers against wildlife crime. Yes. And that has gone into China, that the Chinese Communist Party have actually endorsed the work that we've been doing and have looked at their, the way they have sort of worked with wildlife in the past. And it has brought some benefit at a global awareness level. That's incredible. Some images get seen by sort of 40, 50 million people.

So it's not the solution. It's part of the biggest story. You have to drive the awareness. You know, obviously you can't protect what you don't love. You can't love what you don't know. And on the flip side, you can't solve for problems if you're not aware of those problems. And so you're using your incredible talents to show the horrific side that people don't see in terms of animal abuse and cruelty. And that drives meaningful change. Thank you for that.

I want to ask you about, on the flip side, we all love animals. You're here because you fell in love with an animal. What was the animal that changed your heart and mind? Sure, that's a difficult one. I mean, they're many favorites, but I think probably the one that I'm currently focused on is Black Rino. Black Rino. And I think, you know, Black Rino for me is an icon of Africa. Yes.

It's independent. It's strong. maybe a little bit grumpy, misunderstood in many cases. But if we can look after the black rhino, it means that we're looking after places like this. Because for black rhino to thrive, they need a healthy environment. Yes. If black rhino occur on the landscape,

it means the little butterflies, the birds, the elephant and everything else can thrive. And I think, you know, it's a conservation success story. It's under immense threat through poaching. But if you look at the commitment from people, we've made change. Yes. We can hope the distraction. We can find futures. We can find solutions.

We can make people and landscapes and animals thrive if we choose. If we choose. Well, I think through your work, people are making that choice and making a meaningful difference. And we have to act with urgency because we know the biodiversity crisis is real. And we must act together. in collaborations, collaborations that you are creating through your important work, important work in partnership with global humane society, important work, you know, in partnership with Wilderness Africa.

Peter, it's so great to be with you today to celebrate this beautiful victory for the Bushman's River Corridor here at Tanglewood. It is glorious. And I hope to meet you next year at this time, looking over with a cup of coffee together and seeing black and white rhino reintroduced. Absolutely. No, that'll be fantastic. Really look forward to it.

And as a sort of a closing comment, I think this is not a journey that you take alone. No. Success is about partnerships. And the more that we can excite people and enthuse people and grow that partnership, the greater the success, the greater the impact. So thank you for this opportunity immensely. Thank you so much for being today with us in Robbins Nest. We'll see you soon.

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