A blueprint to create 250 million wildlife activists

picture this

you’re surrounded by nature with birds

chirping

and fresh breeze blowing across your

face isn’t it ecstatic

well that’s exactly how my childhood was

growing up in the western guards

hello everyone i’m a 15 year old

wildlife activist

and the founder of project civic a

project that aims to raise awareness

about wildlife conservation

the very project that landed me at the

united nations headquarters

and the same one that has gotten me onto

this tedx stage

today i’m not here to talk to you about

how difficult or challenging it was to

establish project civil

or how everyone should try and be more

like me but i’m here to share an idea

that i believe can create 250 million

wildlife activists

in the next few years i’m sure most of

you are thinking

what is she saying that’s crazy talk

well i’m here to tell you

that this very idea is what i’m working

towards to implement

to start off let’s go back two years

from now when i got the opportunity to

create a project called civit

which aims to raise awareness about

coexistence and conservation of wildlife

through management of man-animal

conflict we do so by creating youth

leaders who

champion for these causes we’ve held

interactive sessions

workshops seminars at schools located

near the buffer zones of forest

because these students come from

families who are victims of man-animal

conflict

and are located right next to the forest

therefore coming in contact with the

wildlife on a daily basis

we started off with one school believe

it or not

the results were mind-blowing we managed

to create 150 such enthusiastic youth

leaders

who have impacted their entire community

by not just teaching them

on how to conserve the wildlife but why

we should do so after this i got the

opportunity to present my project

at the united nations headquarters at

the annual 101b youth summit

which was being attended by u.n

delegates country ambassadors

and global leaders but as i walked out

of the un

i thought to myself what next

what else could happen then came the big

idea

that if i can do this in one school what

if i can do it in

every school in india because there are

250 million

people in india who are students alone

and that is why i will be launching my

project civil

across 10 000 schools in india which are

mainly situated near the buffer zones of

forest

because awareness at grassroots and for

young minds

is the first step to ignite a revolution

and civit aims to revolutionize

education

with this wild initiative think about it

if coding can be taught in every school

so can wildlife conservation

this is not a request but a necessity

we’re facing an existential crisis here

and why are people taking this topic so

lightly is it because we’re not facing

any immediate consequences by not

getting involved

or is it because we’re thinking how is

this even related to me

well hear me out because for every

species going extinct

due to human activity we’re not just

losing that particular animal

but an entire ecosystem that was

co-dependent on each

other which in turn impacts the

biodiversity

and the planet as a whole and if that

still does not convince you

on why we should conserve our wildlife

it’s this simple

our wildlife is the glue that’s holding

this planet earth together

if we destroy it we’re destroying our

planet

our only home we cannot afford to

continue practicing deforestation

and poaching because it’s nearly

impossible

to recreate the forest be exactly the

way they were

despite practicing reforestation there

are many instances where we have come

together

and showed a united front in conserving

our wildlife

which has had a tremendous impact take

the example

of project tiger i remember first

hearing about it

in fourth grade from a teacher which

intrigued me

and made me research more about it and

finding out that our tiger population

has grown

from nearly 1400 in 2006

to nearly 3 000 by 2019

was exceptional a great part of this

success is due to the conservationists

and activists but mainly because of how

these issues

were being viewed by the general public

everyone was aware about the tiger

endangerment

it was being talked about at conferences

media

and even at schools that got the whole

nation to unite

and conserve our national animal and the

kerala elephant tragedy

where a pregnant elephant died due to

the consumption

of pineapples filled with firecrackers

in it this

triggered outrage nationwide everyone

was furious

we all started to campaign for wildlife

conservation all over the social media

platforms

if this is what we are capable of doing

creating a social media frenzy

and bringing about awareness on tiger

conservation on a global level

why can’t we take just one school and

teach the students

about wildlife conservation if we can

create a buzz about coding in all

schools across india

why can’t we do the same for wildlife

i’ve said it before

and i’ll say it again this is not a

request

but the need of the r we have lost

almost

60 percent of our wildlife population in

the last 50 years

on top of which we’re losing 150 such

pcs

every single day because the greatest

threat to our planet

is the belief that someone else will

save it

that is why we need more on ground

activists

because today everyone is an online

activist

but the activism dies as soon as a new