Washington Wachira: For the love of birds
Washington Wachira: Per amore dei 'Creatori di Piume'
Birder and ecologist Washington Wachira started the Youth Conservation Awareness Programme to nurture young environmental enthusiasts in Kenya. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
qualcosa di bello.
beautiful birds we have in Kenya,
più belli che abbiamo in Kenia,
di grandezze, forme
of different sizes,
astonishing pieces of technology
più stupefacenti della tecnologia
has helped birds to keep dry,
gli uccelli a manterersi asciutti,
can actually make a feather.
può creare una piuma.
who can make something
che possono creare
and any other animals we have on earth,
fra gli uccelli e gli altri animali sulla Terra,
you cannot call yourself a bird.
non sei un uccello.
to conquer gravity
agli uccelli di vincere la gravità
in an extraordinary way.
in un modo straordinario.
you could fly like a bird?
come un uccello?
each one of you thinks about them.
in cui pensate a questi animali.
is because they are beautiful.
is uniquely beautiful.
to all the birds of the world.
a tutti i volatili del mondo.
part of our lives and cultures
delle nostre vite, delle nostre culture
childhood stories of different birds
storie per bambini sugli uccelli
would follow flocks of vultures
seguivano gli stormi di avvoltoi
have been dropped by large carnivores,
lasciate dai grandi carnivori,
and eat part of that meat.
di parte di quel pasto.
and labels all over the world.
ed etichette in tutto il mondo.
emblem for the US
in virtually all habitats of this earth,
ovunque sulla Terra,
hanno conquistato il mondo.
these beautiful penguins
you can imagine.
più caldo che possiate immaginare.
have conquered this world.
hanno conquistato il mondo.
we call the weaverbirds,
in which they weave their nests.
just like us humans.
e si comportano come noi.
that males dress to impress the women,
per impressionare le femmine.
just like humans.
come le persone.
wondering about this one.
to cheat on their spouses.
a tradire il loro coniuge.
con diversi maschi
to find other males to mate with
con cui accoppiarsi,
to take care of the chicks.
a prendersi cura della prole.
in our ecosystems each day.
un ruolo fondamentale nell'ecosistema.
disease-causing pathogens,
that would otherwise cost us lots of money
ci costerebbero molti soldi
is capable of bringing down a carcass
può smaltire una carcassa
the environments of rodents
a sbarazzarsi dei roditori
because it saves us money --
to buy harmful chemicals
dannose sostanze chimiche
we see in our environments
che vediamo nel nostro ambiente
di impollinazione
pollinators like insects,
that we depend on for many years.
da cui dipendiamo da molti anni.
is by far not perfect.
la storia degli uccelli non è perfetta.
every day wherever they live.
numerose sfide, ovunque si trovino.
della disponibilità di cibo.
especially migratory species
soprattutto le specie migratorie
in corpi idrici.
to flocks that like to stick together,
a cui piace stare uniti,
are electrocuting birds
fulminano gli uccelli
sui cambiamenti climatici
of climate change
from better breeding and feeding grounds
verso luoghi
e il foraggio,
where they used to live
towards birds was changed
è cambiato
of a bird we called the augur buzzard.
un uccellino chiamato poiana augurale.
in a similar situation,
in quella situazione,
non poteva aiutarsi da solo.
any biologist by then,
and we decided to house the bird
e decidemmo di dargli una casa,
and then let it free.
per poi liberarlo.
to feed on beef from our school kitchen,
del manzo della mensa scolastica,
for its dinner every day.
per nutrirlo ogni giorno.
di vederlo spiegare le ali
changed the way we looked at birds.
il nostro modo di vedere gli uccelli.
within our own high school.
made me the conservationist I am today.
l'ambientalista che sono oggi.
should especially matter for Africa
dovrebbe essere importante
e per tutti gli africani,
of the most amazing bird species
delle più belle specie di uccelli
in highest numbers of diversity
al più alto numero di diversificazione
to provide the continent
continuano a svolgere
services that Africa needs.
ha bisogno, nell'ecosistema,
in avian tourism.
al turismo aviario.
will benefit from groups of tourists
beneficerebbero di gruppi di turisti
just to see the endemic birds
gli uccelli endemici
solo in quei villaggi.
la vostra passione per gli uccelli
to their continued survival,
by becoming a citizen scientist.
dei cittadini scienziati.
around the world,
è un trend in crescita nel mondo,
where people are sharing information
si scambiano informazioni
about traffic updates,
we realized as bird-watchers,
come osservatori di uccelli,
are found everywhere,
and everyone else in Africa
they find where they live,
vivono in quel territorio
or even where they work,
with a map of every single species,
una mappa di ogni specie,
conservation efforts
che più ne hanno bisogno.
in the continent of Africa,
nel continente africano,
that occur in my country, Kenya.
circa 1.100 specie presenti in Kenia.
now have online databases
esiste ora una banca dati online
di aggiungere dati,
into very interactive websites
su un sito molto interattivo.
and make decisions from.
e da lì prendere decisioni.
there was a big challenge.
from bird-watchers,
dagli osservatori di uccelli,
and I cannot access a computer.
e non ho accesso a un pc.
what birds live in my home,
quali uccelli vivono qui,
and come up with a sustainable solution.
e trovare una soluzione strategica.
common in Africa
could get access to one.
mobile phone applications
and on your Android phone,
sul vostro iPhone o Android,
enthusiast out there.
which is used by the Kenya Bird Map,
usato dalla Mappa dei Volatili in Kenia.
the African Raptor Observations,
l'Osservatorio dei Rapaci Africani,
by the African Raptor DataBank.
enormous amounts of data
out there in the regions.
that citizen science
citizen science is adaptive.
convert many bird-watchers
could be a huge gateway
fossero un gran tramite
of other forms of animals.
di altri animali.
in the Virtual Museum for Africa,
and damselflies,
e gli zygopteri,
we are even mapping mushrooms.
we've created a community of people
una comunità di persone,
to love and care for that which we know.
ad amare ciò che conoscono.
in your free time
del vostro tempo libero
at school, or maybe at home,
a scuola, o magari a casa,
and see which beautiful birds are there.
quali bellissimi uccelli ci sono intorno.
in the places where you visit.
how beautiful these birds are.
la loro bellezza.
they will want to care
to love our feathermakers,
ad amare i creatori di penne,
to appreciating all forms of nature.
per apprezzare tutta la natura.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Washington Wachira - Wildlife ecologist, nature photographer and safari guideBirder and ecologist Washington Wachira started the Youth Conservation Awareness Programme to nurture young environmental enthusiasts in Kenya.
Why you should listen
If you take a walk, the animals you're most likely see are birds. Birds are some of the most fascinating creatures on earth. We wake up to their songs in the morning; they're in our cities, farms and even schools. They are, however, facing many challenges, and we should do something to help them.
By age 14, Washington Wachira was already on a career path towards nature interpretation and conservation. Wachira holds a BSc in environmental science and is currently taking an MSc animal ecology from Kenyatta University. Washington founded Youth Conservation Awareness Programme (YCAP) to nurture young environmental enthusiasts in Kenya. He is a keen writer and has published multiple articles in a variety of local and international publications. As a result of his conservation passion, he has won many awards including Mr. Environment and Ambassador for Nairobi Province in 2012 and The Daisy Rothschild Award in 2015. He is a passionate and talented nature photographer featured in many publications worldwide. He has won multiple photo awards including the first position in the underwater category of the 2016 East African Wild Life Photo Competition and Honourable Mention in the Best of Nikon Kenya 2016 Photography Competition.
Wachira is an experienced safari guide and has led many expeditions and research projects across Kenya. He founded Cisticola Tours, a tour company that leads professional birding and nature tours across Kenya and the rest of East Africa. Through Cisticola Tours, he has been leading multiple sustainability projects to support bird conservation and help communities to appreciate birds and nature. He is also a member of the Bird Committee of Nature Kenya, Chair of the National Bird of Kenya Sub-committee, the Country Representative for Kenya at Youth Africa Birding and Manager for the Kenya Bird Map Project. He is a National Geographic Explorer for his work with African Crowned Eagles, and he is a birds of prey graduate student with The Peregrine Fund.
Washington Wachira | Speaker | TED.com