Why our work is Important
Within recent decades, human activities have brought nearly one million plant and animal species to face extinction.
The threads woven through interconnected systems that sustain our lives are breaking. The world’s biodiversity is at risk, and with it, the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and culture.
Despite the impacts this loss has on human life, public awareness is limited and solutions fall short.
Interconnect Project stories illuminate solutions to biodiversity preservation...
These solutions are rooted in the cultural and traditional practices of Indigenous and local communities around the world. Our stories provide insights for policy makers, researchers, and NGOs to empower these communities through inclusive policy, data collection, and action.
Our writers are farmers, researchers, educators, journalists, and documentarians who are passionate to inspire and educate readers about proactive ways to advocate for the Indigenous and local communities preserving the biodiversity that sustains life on our planet.
Through solutions journalism, we inform readers about the causal factors of biodiversity loss and the benefits of its restoration when practiced under Indigenous and local leadership. The data that informs our journalistic research is from the voices and actions of these communities, centering them as the protagonists of their own stories and bringing their vital knowledge into the mainstream. We call our approach solutions journalism for biodiversity.
How is solutions journalism for biodiversity structured?
This journalistic approach first presents readers with a problem. In our case, a specific instance describes the loss of biodiversity in a particular region.
Biodiversity loss affects readers no matter where they live or how they perceive it. Our job is to show readers that we are all interconnected. Not only is the loss of biodiversity widespread, but the loss of one species creates a ripple effect that decimates environments, economies, and human health for centuries.
Our stories describe particular Indigenous and local practices that attempt to prevent the biodiversity loss initially described in the story. These practices demonstrate dynamic community responses to the problem – in other words – solutions.
Most journalism today would leave readers with this depressing news and move on to the next story. IP’s Solutions Journalism for Biodiversity shows them what is being done to fix the issue. Our stories describe particular Indigenous and local practices that attempt to prevent the biodiversity loss initially described in the story.
In order to effectively deliver the technical elements of solutions journalism, our stories are descriptive and full of imagery. Illustrative writing brings readers into the narrative. The plot is dynamically driven by the tension between the problem and the solution, engaging audiences in an empathetic experience that develops their understanding of the social and environmental issues described.