How can a tailor save a tiger?

The Director General of the Zoological Society of London, Dominic Jermey, talks about the organisation’s work

The fate of wildlife is intimately linked to actions and decisions taken by people. I saw this earlier this year for myself in Nepal, where I met a 34-year-old mother-of-two named Gayatri Rai. She told me she’d left school early to support her parents and together they’d faced the threat of wild animal attacks while foraging in the forest for anything they could sell – just to survive.

Not only were they risking their lives daily, but their reliance on the land was also impacting important Nepali habitats vital to critically endangered species such as wild tigers and rhinos.

Eight years ago, that all changed: Gayatri began a new life as a tailor and with ZSL’s support she bought sewing machines, fabric and thread. Soon she was able to train others, growing a sustainable business that took her family out of the forest and away from danger.

By the time I met Gayatri, she was running a thriving operation, creating beautiful clothes from the piles of colourful fabrics that surrounded us in her shop. Now financially independent, she has four sewing machines and three assistants who regularly join her to learn and work.

ZSL believes that helping people is the best way to help wildlife. We’ve worked in Nepal for 25 years, supporting people like Gayatri and changing attitudes towards wildlife conservation, one community at a time.

With seed money and training, people have been building safer and more sustainable livelihoods such as dairies, B&Bs, beauty salons and tailor shops like Gayatri’s - breaking their dependence on the forest.

And through training in hospitality, jungle-guiding and 4x4 driving - while putting up fencing and early-warning systems to stop animals raiding crops - we’re helping harness ecotourism in the national parks, supporting people and the wildlife they live side-by-side with.

With the health and happiness of their families safeguarded, Gayatri and her neighbours have become ambassadors of their own wildlife, protecting their natural resources from threats such as the growing illegal wildlife trade. Meanwhile, forests are regrowing, animals are returning and wildlife finally has space to thrive.

It’s making a real difference: in 2018 Nepal’s wild tiger population increased to 235, up from only 121 in 2008 thanks to dedicated conservation by local people, the Nepal Government and ZSL. But we need to do more and we need the British public’s help to do it. As human populations grow around the world, demand for land increases and lack of opportunity is forcing more local people in poor rural areas to enter wild landscapes in search of food or firewood.

But these fragile ecosystems are on the brink of collapse: trees continue to be cut down, rivers overfished and deer - which sustain large predators like tigers – are hunted unsustainably.

The survival of the world’s wildlife depends on solutions that work for everyone. That’s why this month we launched the UK Aid Match appeal: For People. For Wildlife.

At ZSL we believe saving wildlife starts with people, and understanding cultures and societies is where we can make the greatest change.

Using funds raised by the appeal, ZSL will expand programmes in Nepal helping more communities to plan and create environmentally sustainable ways to make a living. And we’ll build the same opportunities for people in Kenya too, where the situation is just as pressing.

Drawing on a strong track record of empowering communities across Asia and Africa, ZSL will alleviate the pressures of poverty that make communities in Kenya - home to endangered rhinos and elephants - vulnerable to exploitation by the international illegal wildlife trade.

It's easy to feel powerless reading newspaper headlines about the world’s wildlife hurtling towards extinction every day. But you really can make a difference: your donation, however small, can transform the future, for people and for wildlife. And right now your pound has never been more valuable, as the UK Government will match every pound the British public donate, meaning your generosity will go twice as far.

Life can be challenging for communities living side-by-side with wild animals, but it doesn’t have to be. We believe that big changes start with small actions and bringing people and wildlife closer together is just the beginning.

I’ve seen it work: Gayatri’s children don’t spend their days foraging in the forest like their mother did. Instead they’re in full-time education and there is real excitement about the opportunities ahead of them. We need you to help make more futures as bright as theirs – and secure a future for the wildlife surrounding them.