Ecology has been a passion of mine for most of my life and the opportunity to spend so much time researching and writing this book has been a joy. I am really grateful for the enthusiasm with which Bradt took up my initial idea; their commitment to highlighting quality issues and wanting to know which companies really are making a difference never faltered from day one.
I’ve travelled widely to research the book and one of the key lessons that hit home to me was the interconnectedness of global problems – wildlife and environmental conservation cannot be disentangled from political, social and economic issues. The policies designed to resolve the latter often have a knock-on effect on the former. In fact, it is estimated that three species of plant or animal life become extinct every hour. If this statement is true, the need for conservation volunteering has never been greater.
At the time of writing, the credit crunch continues to bite deeper, but surprisingly the volunteer sector seems to be bucking the trend and experiencing a mini boom. Conservation volunteer organisations are finding that people being made redundant or opting for early retirement, are reassessing their options and deciding to use the opportunity to do something they’ve always wanted to do. So if you’ve toyed with the idea of volunteering in the past, but put plans on the shelf for fear of leaving an unstable job market, then maybe its time to get them down and dust them off. There’s never been a better time to make the leap. You can use the time away from work to contribute in a meaningful way and enhance your CV at the same time. Conservation volunteering offers all this and more, so go for it!
