Fauna & Flora shows why conservation now depends on local power

Fauna & Flora shows why conservation now depends on local power | Photo: Juan Giribet

Published on 30 June 2026 at 00:32 GMT

By Editorial Team SDG15

Fauna & Flora works in a conservation landscape that has changed sharply over recent decades. The central challenge is no longer only how to protect threatened species, but how to do so in ways that strengthen local rights, avoid exclusion and respond to the pressures reshaping ecosystems at speed.

The organisation’s focus on community-based conservation reflects a wider shift in environmental thinking. Biodiversity loss is driven by habitat destruction, climate change, illegal wildlife trade, pollution, overexploitation and poorly planned development. Yet many of the people living closest to forests, wetlands, grasslands, coastal zones and wildlife corridors are also among those with the least formal power over land-use decisions.

This tension matters because conservation can succeed or fail locally. Protected areas, species recovery plans and restoration schemes may be designed by governments, donors or international experts, but their long-term viability often depends on trust, legitimacy and practical benefits for communities. When local organisations are excluded, conservation can become fragile. When they are supported, protection can become more durable.

Fauna & Flora describes its purpose as protecting the diversity of life on Earth for the survival of the planet and people. It works with local partners, governments and communities to protect species and ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, grasslands and marine habitats. Its 2023 impact reporting says it works with local conservation partners in more than 40 countries.

The strongest public-interest question is not whether wildlife should be protected. It is who gets to define conservation priorities, who carries the costs and who benefits when biodiversity protection becomes part of national and international policy. These questions are becoming more urgent as governments negotiate climate, biodiversity and development goals that often overlap on the same land and water.

The connection to the Sustainable Development Goals is direct but complex. Biodiversity protection relates to SDG 15 (life on land) and SDG 14 (life below water). It also connects to SDG 13 (climate action), because healthy ecosystems store carbon and reduce climate risks. Where conservation affects livelihoods, land rights or access to resources, it also becomes relevant to SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions).

That breadth is both a strength and a risk. Conservation is often presented as universally positive, but real-world projects can involve difficult trade-offs. Restricting access to forests, fisheries or grazing areas may protect ecosystems, but it can also affect food security and income if alternatives are not agreed and supported. Community-based models try to address this by treating local people as decision-makers and partners, rather than as obstacles to protection.

The urgency is clear. Species decline is not an abstract scientific problem. It affects crop pollination, fisheries, soil health, water quality, disaster protection, disease risk and cultural heritage. For communities in biodiversity-rich regions, ecological damage can translate quickly into economic insecurity. A lost wetland may mean weaker flood protection. A depleted fishery may mean lower income. A degraded forest may mean reduced access to food, medicine or materials.

Threatened ecosystems also sit inside political and economic systems. Forests may be cleared for agriculture, mining, roads or real estate. Coastal habitats may be damaged by poorly regulated development. Wildlife may be targeted by organised trafficking networks. Local conservation groups often face these pressures with limited funding, legal support or public visibility. The work of international organisations can be useful when it helps strengthen those local institutions rather than replacing them.

This is where Fauna & Flora positions itself. Its partnership model is based on supporting local organisations and community-led approaches, while contributing technical, scientific and advocacy capacity. The editorial significance is that conservation is increasingly judged not only by hectares protected or species monitored, but also by whether local leadership is being built for the long term.

There are practical reasons for this. Local organisations often understand land tenure, seasonal use, community priorities and political sensitivities better than outside actors. They may know which areas are culturally significant, which species are under pressure and which livelihoods are most vulnerable. They can also remain present after international funding cycles or media attention move elsewhere.

At the same time, community-based conservation should not be romanticised. Communities are not uniform. Local interests may differ by gender, age, income, ethnicity, occupation or legal status. A project that benefits one group may disadvantage another. Conservation partnerships therefore need transparent governance, inclusive consultation and accountability mechanisms. Without those, the language of local participation can become symbolic rather than substantive.

The debate is especially important in Indigenous territories and areas managed under customary systems. Globally, many of the world’s remaining high-biodiversity landscapes overlap with lands stewarded by Indigenous peoples and local communities. Conservation that ignores their rights risks repeating older exclusionary models. Conservation that recognises their knowledge and authority can produce stronger ecological and social outcomes.

International biodiversity policy has increasingly acknowledged this point, but implementation remains uneven. Governments may commit to expanding protected areas, restoring ecosystems or halting species loss, while local agencies lack resources and communities lack secure rights. This gap between global ambition and local reality is where many conservation efforts either become credible or break down.

The financial model also matters. Biodiversity work often depends on grants, philanthropy, public funding or project-based finance. Short funding cycles can make it difficult for local organisations to plan, retain staff or respond to threats. Long-term conservation needs patient support, especially in places where communities are dealing with climate stress, weak public services or economic insecurity.

There is also a risk that conservation becomes too narrowly focused on charismatic species. Flagship animals can attract public attention and funding, but ecosystems are held together by less visible relationships among plants, insects, fungi, soils, rivers and local climate conditions. Ecosystem conservation needs to look beyond individual species and address the wider habitats that allow life to recover.

That does not mean species protection is outdated. Species can be indicators of broader ecological health. A threatened primate, turtle, orchid or amphibian may reveal deeper pressures on forests, rivers or wetlands. The challenge is to use species conservation as an entry point into landscape-level protection, not as a substitute for it.

Civil society organisations play a monitoring and accountability role in this wider system. The International Union for Conservation of Nature provides scientific assessments and policy guidance, including the Red List framework used to assess extinction risk. BirdLife International works through national partners to protect birds and habitats. World Wildlife Fund operates on global conservation, climate and freshwater issues. Fauna & Flora is part of this broader field, with a particular emphasis on locally rooted partnerships.

The political context is becoming more demanding. Climate finance, carbon markets, nature-based solutions and biodiversity credits are bringing new money and new actors into conservation. These tools may help fund restoration and protection, but they can also create new risks if land rights are unclear or benefits are not fairly shared. The credibility of nature finance will depend on safeguards, transparency and community consent.

For public-interest journalism, the story is not simply that an organisation protects wildlife. It is that biodiversity protection has become a test of governance. The fate of species and ecosystems is tied to questions of land, poverty, science, corporate conduct, state capacity and local democracy. Conservation that ignores those realities may protect nature on paper while failing in practice.

Fauna & Flora is relevant because its work points towards a model in which global conservation depends on local institutions. The approach does not remove conflict or guarantee success. It does, however, recognise that biodiversity loss cannot be reversed by distant pledges alone.

The future of conservation will be decided in landscapes and seascapes where people are already negotiating survival, development and environmental change. Protecting nature will require science, law and finance, but also trust. That is why local conservation partnerships are becoming central to the next phase of biodiversity protection.

Further information:

* Fauna & Flora, this is the official website of the organisation and explains its work to protect biodiversity, threatened species and ecosystems. https://www.fauna-flora.org

* Photographer: Juan Giribet, Brilliant nature and wildlife photographer, internationally recognised. https://www.juangiribet.com/ 

* International Union for Conservation of Nature, this institution is relevant because it provides scientific conservation assessments and global biodiversity policy expertise. https://www.iucn.org

* BirdLife International, this organisation is relevant because it works through local and national partners to protect birds, habitats and biodiversity. https://www.birdlife.org

* World Wildlife Fund, this organisation is relevant because it works internationally on wildlife, ecosystems, freshwater, forests and climate-related conservation. https://www.worldwildlife.org