Community-Led Conservation: How Health, Livelihoods and Local Leadership Can Protect Nature

Ashley Emerson, co-CEO of Business and Scale at Health in Harmony; Adam Miller, co-founder and executive director of Planet Indonesia; and Sam Shaba, CEO of Honeyguide, are leading organizations that demonstrate how empowering local communities can deliver lasting conservation results. Working across Indonesia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Brazil and other regions, their organizations help communities protect forests, wildlife and biodiversity by addressing the needs that make conservation possible, including healthcare, livelihoods, land rights and local governance. Health in Harmony uses its Radical Listening approach to fund community-designed solutions, while Planet Indonesia supports community rights, sustainable livelihoods and locally managed institutions, and Honeyguide helps wildlife management areas become financially self-sustaining. In this episode, Ashley, Adam and Sam discuss why conservation must work alongside communities rather than exclude them, how investing in local priorities can improve both human well-being and environmental outcomes, and why successful conservation depends on listening, humility and collaboration. They also share their vision for scaling community-led solutions by equipping local organizations to lead independently, shifting resources and decision-making power toward frontline communities, and redefining conservation success by how many landscapes can thrive without continued dependence on external NGOs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.