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Dear Ashish,
Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting
this episode
and newsletter
out to you.
What was
supposed to be
a week or so
of trekking in
Nepal turned
into 18 days,
by which point
I had to rush
back to India
before my visa
expired. It
was rather
difficult to
find the
motivation to
edit while I
had those
majestic
Himalayan
mountains
towering over
me – I simply
couldn’t pull
myself away!
But it’s into those Himalayan mountains that
this month’s
episode of
Protect The
World will
take you. The
rugged
northwest of
Nepal is quite
possibly the
most remote
place I’ve
ever filmed,
but I’m so
glad I made it
out there, and
I hope you
enjoy the
adventure as
well.
Wishing you a restful and joyous holiday
period, and a
very happy new
year.
See you in 2026!
Much love,
Brodie 💚
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Conserving the Landscapes of Northwest Nepal
Watch the latest episode of Protect
The World
For this episode of Protect The World, I’ve
travelled to
Humla – in
Nepal’s rugged
and remote
northwest – in
order to
feature an
organisation
employing
community-led
conservation
strategies to
protect the
region’s
fragile and
vulnerable
landscapes.
With their philosophy of ‘leading by locals’, UKALI strives to engage local communities at
every step of
the way. They
help to
mitigate
human-wildlife
conflict,
assist with
the management
of
community-run
forests, and
conduct
large-scale
biodiversity
monitoring
programs in
the region.
As always, half the money that came into the
Patreon this
month was
donated
directly to
UKALI. This
money will
help the team
to continue
and expand
their work in
a region where
access and
remoteness
poses a
constant
challenge.
If you’d like to help me give more
money to more
amazing NGOs
in future,
please
consider
signing up to
the Patreon for as little as $5 a month.
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Rinzin Phunjok Lama
Born and bred in Humla, Rinzin Phunjok Lama
made the long
journey to
Kathmandu for
study, and
then spent
more than a
decade working
as a forester
across the
length and
breadth of
Nepal.
Passionate
about
protecting his
country’s
unique
landscapes, he
recognised
that the key
to doing this
lay in
developing and
investing in
local
conservation
leaders.
This led to the formation of UKALI, a
community-led
organisation
dedicated to
conserving the
very
landscapes
that Rinzin
grew up
exploring as a
child, which
were rapidly
being exposed
to development
and
urbanisation.
Along the way, Rinzin also developed
a special
fondness for
the iconic
snow leopard,
and is now one
of the world’s
leading
experts on
this enigmatic
and elusive
creature.
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Leading By Locals
Nepal’s northwest poses a variety of
challenges,
and chief
among them is
simply the
remoteness of
the location.
Conducting
fieldwork,
bringing in
equipment, and
even accessing
the region
itself can
prove a
significant
hurdle for
those wanting
to work in its
landscapes.
It’s for this reason that UKALI puts a
particular
focus on
ensuring that
local
communities
are not only
consulted on
conservation
activities,
but are
actively
involved in
them.
The community of Nhyam, for example, consists
of only a few
houses –
without
electricity or
running water
– living
almost
exclusively
off the land.
And yet UKALI
made the six
hour journey
from the
district
capital in
order to
engage with
herders in the
community and
learn more
about their
experiences
with snow
leopards and
other
carnivores.
Ultimately, for UKALI to be able to
successfully
conduct its
work in such a
vast and
rugged
landscape,
they’re going
to need to
rely on local
communities to
be partners in
their
conservation
efforts – and
this is
precisely what
the
organisation
is striving to
achieve.
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Inspiring the Next Generation
As part of their mission to conduct
community-led
conservation,
UKALI
maintains a
special focus
on engaging
the younger
generation in
their efforts.
Through their
youth
eco-clubs, the
children and
adolescents of
Humla are
provided with
training in a
range of
citizen
science
techniques –
including
camera
trapping and
the recording
of field
observations.
UKALI’s long-term goal is to
institutionalise
conservation
in the region,
and to build a
generation of
young people
who are
aligned with
the
organisation’s
goals and
aspirations.
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Human-Wildlife Conflict
Living in such a vibrant and biodiverse
landscape also
comes with its
challenges,
and conflict
is common
between
agro-pastoralists
and the
region’s
predators –
including snow
leopards,
wolves and
black bears.
Humla remains
one of Nepal’s
most
economically
marginalised
areas, and the
loss of
livestock can
be a huge
financial blow
for many
families in
the region.
Consequently, UKALI works directly with
villages that
are
experiencing
depredation
from wildlife,
assisting with
aerial surveys
and long-term
monitoring.
Where
possible, they
also provide
economic
assistance to
families
affected by
human-wildlife
conflict, so
as to mitigate
the risk of
communities
taking matters
into their own
hands.
By fostering harmonious coexistence,
UKALI works
towards
ensuring that
Humla is a
place where
both humans
and wildlife
can thrive.
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Community Forests
One of Nepal’s most successful conservation
programs has
been their
community
forest
initiative.
Throughout the
country, local
communities
are tasked
with caring
for their
nearby
forests, and
there are more
than 95
community
forest groups
in Humla
alone. The
goal of this
initiative is
not simply to
fence off the
forest and
restrict
access, but
rather to
manage the
forests’
resources in a
sustainable
way.
However, many of these community
groups lack
the technical
expertise to
care for such
ecologically
significant
areas. As
such, UKALI
assists with
surveying and
consulting, as
well as with
fundraising,
in order to
ensure the
long-term
prosperity of
the forests.
Ultimately,
the
organisation's
goal is to
increase
collaboration
between
community
forest groups
in order to
establish a
series of
wildlife
corridors
throughout the
entire
district.
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Biodiversity Monitoring
Finally, UKALI is of course engaged in a wide
range of
biodiversity
monitoring
programs that
focus on the
holistic
health of the
landscape.
Using a
multi-pronged
approach that
includes
camera-trapping,
transects, and
household
surveys, the
organisation
consistently
monitors the
health of the
region’s
fragile
ecosystems,
and designs
their adaptive
conservation
programs
accordingly.
While UKALI maintains a key focus on the iconic
snow leopard,
they also work
closely on
monitoring the
often-maligned
Himalayan
black bear, as
well as the
endangered
musk deer –
which is
highly
susceptible to
poaching.
However, by focusing on
landscape-level
conservation,
UKALI ensures
that all
of northwest
Nepal’s
captivating
creatures will
be protected
for
generations to
come.
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Despite getting stuck there a little longer than
expected, Darjeeling was utterly
dazzling.
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An homage to the humble macaque – the world’s
(second) most
adaptable
mammal.
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What I’m Thinking About…
On the evening of December 14th, as Sydney’s
vibrant Jewish
community was
celebrating
the first
night of
Hanukkah, two
gunmen
committed
Australia’s
worst mass
shooting since
Port Arthur –
taking the
lives of 15
innocent
people. I was
less than a
year old the
last time
something like
this happened,
and the events
at Bondi have
shattered my
perception of
Australia as a
place free
from gun
violence.
It has of course also shattered the perception
among our
Jewish
community that
Australia is a
place where
they can feel
safe. And like
many
Australians,
I’ve feared
for what this
event means
for the future
of this
beautiful,
multicultural
country that I
call home.
Above all, we
must take this
moment to
embrace our
Jewish
neighbours,
and to embody
those most
essential
values of
love,
tolerance and
pluralism.
Bondi’s youngest victim was 10-year-old
Matilda, who
was cruelly
taken away
with so much
of her life
left to live.
The oldest
casualty was
87-year-old
Holocaust
survivor,
Alexander
Kleytman. A Holocaust
survivor –
born into a
world of
antisemitic
hatred, who
sought refuge
and built a
life in
Australia,
only to be
killed by that
same hatred
almost a
century later.
It’s a level
of tragedy
that can’t be
put into
words.
On the same day as the events in Bondi, on the
other side of
the world,
two-week-old
Mohammed froze
to death in
Gaza – as
Israel
continues to
block
desperately-needed
humanitarian
aid from
reaching the
enclave. Two
days later,
the same fate
befell
one-month-old
Said. This is
alongside the
more than
20,000
children who
have been
killed during
Israel’s
ongoing
genocide,
including 150
who have been
forcibly
starved to
death.
I’ve always hoped and strived for a world that
has the moral
clarity to be
as horrified,
heartbroken
and outraged
by the events
in Bondi as by
the events in
Gaza. Both are
indescribable
tragedies that
we must do
everything we
can to
prevent. And
yet, in the
days since,
we’ve seen
political
leaders
attempting to
exploit these
tragedies for
personal gain.
Netanyahu’s first words after Bondi were not
sympathy or
solidarity
with the
victims, but
rather an
attack on
Anthony
Albanese,
linking the
shooting to
our recent
recognition of
a Palestinian
state. This
vilification
has since been
parroted in
Australia by
the likes of
Josh
Frydenberg,
John Howard
and Jill
Segal, at a
time when
leaders need
to be doing
everything
they can to
foster harmony
and reduce
social
tensions.
In contrast to Netanyahu’s narrative, it is
precisely the
conflation of
Judaism with
the actions of
the Israeli
state that
creates the
conditions
where Jewish
people are
wrongfully
targeted. It
is in western
countries like
the US, the
UK, Germany,
France and
Australia –
places where
the line
between Israel
and Judaism is
unnecessarily
blurred – that
we’ve seen a
dramatic rise
in
antisemitism
since the
beginning of
Israel’s
genocide.
Conversely, countries that firmly separate
Jewish
identity from
the actions of
Israel are
better placed
to ensure that
justified
anger towards
Israel isn’t
misdirected at
the broader
Jewish
community. If
our goal is to
reduce
antisemitism –
as it must be
– we need to
ensure that
there is space
for legitimate
criticism of
the Israeli
state, while
firmly
denouncing the
extension of
this criticism
to the Jewish
community as a
whole.
Ultimately, this moment requires us
to steadfastly
support our
Jewish
brothers and
sisters, to
fortify the
vibrant
multiculturalism
that defines
our nation,
and of course,
to continue
opposing
Israel’s
unrelenting
atrocities.
And if we
can’t hold all
of these
truths
simultaneously,
then what kind
of Australia
are we even
striving for?
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Get In Touch
Questions? Comments?
Suggestions?
Don’t be shy.
Hit reply to
start a
conversation.
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If you’re not already a subscriber, you can support
my work by
signing up to
the Patreon.
Every month,
half the money
that comes in
helps me to
keep sharing
stories, while
the other half
is donated
directly to an
incredible
not-for-profit
organisation
tackling
inequality or
biodiversity
loss.
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Brodie Hopkins
Media. All
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