Meet the "Protectors" of our Planet

Meet 5 extraordinary individuals who are dedicated to conserving precious ecosystems and protecting endangered wildlife. Nominated to The Explorers Club 50, an honorary program of trailblazing explorers, scientists, artists & activists, these 5 people are impacting real change on local and international levels.

Check out their inspiring work and how they're making a difference.

Don't miss the panel discussion with The Protectors, streaming live on explorers.org on Wednesday, April 14 at 7P ET. Visit The Explorers Club to find out more about the Speaker Series and learn about all 50 honorees.

April 07, 2021

By: Discovery and The Explorers Club

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Photo By: TREE Foundation

Photo By: Tyrel Bernardini.

Photo By: David Chancellor

Photo By: Jacques van der Westhuizen

Photo By: Tyrel Bernardini

Photo By: Natalia Espinoza

Photo By: Callie Broaddus

Photo By: Natalia Espinoza

Photo By: SHANE GROSS

Meet Supraja Dharini, a sea turtle conservationist and campaigner working along the Indian east coast. Her effort during the last 18 years is exemplary for its multi-disciplinary approach, involving people from all sections of society, particularly unemployed youth from artisanal fishing communities.

Inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall, Supraja established TREE Foundation in 2002 to reverse the decline in olive ridley sea turtle populations. Since then, she and her ‘Sea Turtle Protection Force (STPF)’ protect 1,000km of nesting beaches along the east coast of her native India.

With the training imparted by TREE Foundation, STPF members educate other fishers in their villages about the importance of conserving turtles, retrieving ghost nets, reducing pollution and caring more for their ocean environment in general. Through innovative education programs she has brought targeted awareness to approximately 300,000, students and educators as well as 200,000 fishing community members.

Most recently, she has gained the provisional support of over 2,000 trawl fishermen for the planned introduction of Turtle Excluder Devices in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Meet Jeneria Lekilelei, who is driving and inspiring lion conservation work on both the local and national level. Jeneria is the Director of Community Conservation at Ewaso Lions, an organization dedicated to promoting coexistence between people and lions in Kenya. Back in 2010, Jeneria conceived the Warrior Watch programme in 2010 and has since been responsible for engaging dozens of Samburu warriors in lion conservation. He is pictured here with Warriors on foot patrol.

Jeneria, at the center, engages with other warriors about the importance of lion conservation. Early on, Jeneria only saw lions as killers of goats and cows, a threat to his community’s livelihood. However, spending time observing lions caused a massive shift in Jeneria’s thinking – and he began to see them as threatened rather than the threat.

Jeneria scans the landscape for lions.

For Jeneria, it's about solving a problem to allow one of the most iconic animals to roam free on our landscapes. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of people. It also means keeping a culture – his culture – alive in the face of a lot of changes.

Meet Callie Broaddus, a photographer, youth leader, and lifelong conservationist. She is the Executive Director of Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, an organization she established in 2019 to bridge the gap between youth activism and tried-and-true methods of biodiversity conservation.

Callie leads the Reserva’s Youth Council, a team of fifty globally based, diverse youth, in their efforts to establish the 244-acre reserve in Ecuador’s Chocó cloud forest. Across the mountainous, dense terrain, Callie and her team of young members surveyed the forest that Reserva is working to protect, documenting dozens of critically endangered and new-to-science species of plants and animals. Pictured here is a chironius monticola.

Named for the genus of striking orchids found in this region, the reserve will be a 244-acre expansion of Fundación EcoMinga’s Dracula Reserve corridor, one of the most threatened, biodiverse, and underexplored ecosystems in the world. Sitting on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border, it is home to critically endangered species including the Brown-headed Spider Monkey, the Black-and-chestnut Eagle, and many more, as well as iconic species such as the Spectacled Bear and Puma. Callie photographs deforestation near the Colombian border of Ecuador on expedition.

Meet Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, the Executive Director of the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), which is protecting the Bahamian marine environment through education, outreach, research and policy.

Casuarina is passionate about sailing, diving and advocating for the marine environment that sustains our way of life. She is involved in all aspects of BREEF’s work - from developing and implementing educational programmes at the BREEF Coral Reef Sculpture Garden and Coral Nursery, to creating awareness campaigns targeting specific threats to the ocean, and driving action for ocean policies that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Casuarina taught science and coordinated student research at the Cape Eleuthera Island School. She is a divemaster and is generally happier underwater than above. Casuarina is dedicated to protecting the marine environment that sustains our way of life in The Bahamas and around the world.

Meet Onkuri Majumdar, a wildlife conservationist, who is focusing on ending wildlife trafficking by training and supporting governments and the private sector. She is currently working on a bi-continental species-ID smartphone application with information on 600+ trafficked species for use by border and transport officials as well as by the general public. She is also jointly developing an anti-trafficking data fusion center.

Onkuri has provided investigative support to law enforcement through analysis and intelligence gathering on tiger, pangolin, ivory and exotic pet trafficking syndicates, and has been deputized by a police agency to go undercover to gather evidence. Over a career spanning nearly 20 years, she has trained over 900 officials in Asia and Africa. She hopes her work will lead to long term upgrades and more general participation in systems of nature protection.

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Meet the "Protectors" of our Planet

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