The Impact of Small Actions on Biodiversity Conservation

Small actions can inspire significant change in biodiversity conservation and community engagement.

### The Power of Small Actions in Biodiversity Conservation
* 🌍 Ursula Peutot emphasizes that **small actions**, often perceived as insignificant, can lead to **enormous positive impacts** in biodiversity conservation.
* 💔 She shares her initial feelings of **helplessness** regarding biodiversity loss, recognizing it as a **significant problem outside her control**.
* 🙏 However, she finds hope in the belief that anyone, regardless of their status, can contribute to change, as exemplified in biblical stories where **God uses the humble**.
* 🌳 Stanley Baya from A Rocha Kenya highlights the **urgency of land conservation** in Dakatcha Woodland, home to unique species like the **Sokoke Scops Owl**.
* 💰 Faced with overwhelming challenges, the A Rocha team prayed and took action to purchase **4,600 acres of land**, preventing its destruction by **illegal activities**.
* 🚀 Baya reflects on how their **small beginnings** have grown into a **larger movement** involving the community and various stakeholders.
* ❤ He concludes with a powerful message that despite the scale of environmental issues, taking **even small actions** can **inspire others and create a collective impact**.

My name is Ursula Peutot. I live in Switzerland. I am the National Director for A Rocha Switzerland. So when we think about something small, it's often very negative. We think about something which is insignificant, which is powerless, which can't make a difference, which you're not going to notice. But in fact, there is a completely different story behind there. Because small things can have a really incredible, enormous impact. I think that for me, for a long time, I didn't realize how badly biodiversity was doing. Biodiversity loss is such an enormous problem. And I didn't actually feel like I could do anything about it to start with. It just felt like something completely outside of my reach. I think realizing that we can still do something about it is really a big thing. Often we think that we have to wait for politicians to make the changes or the big guys to do the stuff, and that's what's going to create the impact. I think it's really encouraging to see that God can use anybody

and often he will actually use our weaknesses to do something great. There are so many good signs of that in the Bible as well. God doesn't choose big guys to do stuff. He goes and gets the Davids and the small people. We find our hope in God. My name is Stanley Baya, and I work with A Rocha Kenya. My main work at the moment is land purchase for conservation in an area called Dakatcha Woodland. Dakatcha Woodland is the only other ecosystem where you find the Sokoke Scops Owl and the Clarke's Weaver, apart from Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Because we are a small organization, we were really overwhelmed by the rate the forest was getting lost. So our director marshaled the whole team of A Rocha. We went to Dakatcha Woodland, and we thought all we need to do is pray about it. You could just feel the breeze as you look at the ecosystem; you really felt like, no way, this cannot just go up in smoke.

Then we came back and we said, okay, let God do his miracle. Around 2012, one of our employees came to me and told me that my father wants to sell 200 acres of his land, and we know if he sells it to any other person, it will be destroyed. There was no land use plan, so anybody who gets a title deed, they can do whatever they want with the land. So eventually, Collin and I decided, let's look for money to buy it. It was really a race against time because lots of people were coming from all over Kenya with lots of money to buy land. Fortunately, we managed to generate a lot of interest from many supporters, and up to now, we have more than 4,600 acres of land that we have purchased. If we hadn't bought the 4,600 acres that we bought, then certainly more than 3/4 of it would have gone up in smoke. It was really a step of faith because we felt so small.

and the amount of money that individuals were deriving from the illegal trade of charcoal production, it was huge. But we did it out of faith. And from those very small beginnings, we have grown. Now it is not only us that we are talking of—a whole community and other stakeholders as well. So what made a really big difference with me was to really, really realize how much God loves all of his creation. He is going to heal the land. He is going to restore. He is going to bring his Kingdom. Which is also why I like small things because when you look at every single little detail of what God has created, you can see how much creativity and love there is in it. My encouragement is despite how big the problem is, you cannot wish it away; the thing is to take action. Do something about it, however small it is. You don't know how many people you are going to inspire by taking that small step. Because you can end up with a whole army behind you in what you're doing.

Am I too small to make a difference?

A Rocha International

The Power of Small Actions in Biodiversity Conservation

Ursula Peutot, the National Director for A Rocha Switzerland, emphasizes the significant impact small actions can have on biodiversity conservation.

She shares her journey of realizing the urgency of biodiversity loss and the importance of individual efforts in making a difference.

Stanley Baya from A Rocha Kenya highlights the organization's work in land purchase for conservation in Dakatcha Woodland, stressing the power of prayer and collective action in addressing environmental challenges.

In 2012, the speaker's father wanted to sell 200 acres of land, which was at risk of being destroyed due to a lack of land use planning.

The speaker and Collin decided to raise money to buy the land, racing against time as others were also interested.

They successfully generated support and ended up purchasing over 4,600 acres, preventing the destruction of the land.

The illegal trade of charcoal production was highly profitable, but the speaker's motivation came from faith.

Their small beginnings have now grown to impact the entire community and other stakeholders.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking small actions to address big problems, as they can inspire others and create a larger movement.