Washington Wachira: For the love of birds
Washington Wachira: Pelo amor às aves
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.
beautiful birds we have in Kenya,
que nós temos no Quénia,
à vossa volta,
of different sizes,
de diferentes tamanhos,
astonishing pieces of technology
peças de tecnologia
has helped birds to keep dry,
ajudou as aves a manterem-se secas,
can actually make a feather.
consegue realmente fazer uma pena.
who can make something
que conseguem fazer algo
"fazedoras de penas".
and any other animals we have on earth,
e outros animais que temos na Terra,
you cannot call yourself a bird.
não nos podemos considerar aves.
que estamos presos ao chão,
to conquer gravity
conquistar a gravidade
in an extraordinary way.
you could fly like a bird?
como os pássaros?
each one of you thinks about them.
como cada um de vocês pensa nelas.
is because they are beautiful.
por que eu gosto tanto delas
is uniquely beautiful.
tem uma beleza única.
to all the birds of the world.
a todas as aves do mundo.
part of our lives and cultures
das nossas vidas e culturas
tem uma história sobre aves.
childhood stories of different birds
ouviram histórias sobre aves diferentes
would follow flocks of vultures
seguiam bandos de abutres
onde é que as carcaças
have been dropped by large carnivores,
pelos grandes carnívoros,
and eat part of that meat.
e comiam parte dessa carne.
and labels all over the world.
e rótulos por toda a parte do mundo.
emblem for the US
como emblema nacional dos EUA
in virtually all habitats of this earth,
em todos os habitats da Terra,
these beautiful penguins
you can imagine.
que possam imaginar,
mesmo o mundo.
have conquered this world.
da construção civil
we call the weaverbirds,
a que chamamos tecelões,
in which they weave their nests.
como tecem os seus ninhos.
just like us humans.
como nós, humanos.
that males dress to impress the women,
para impressionar as fêmeas,
a época de acasalamento,
e enroscar-se, tal como os humanos.
just like humans.
wondering about this one.
sobre esta.
(Risos)
a trair os cônjuges.
to cheat on their spouses.
com múltiplos machos
to find other males to mate with
de outros machos com quem acasalar
to take care of the chicks.
que fica a cuidar das crias.
no nosso ecossistema todos os dias.
in our ecosystems each day.
disease-causing pathogens,
micro-organismos causadores de doenças,
that would otherwise cost us lots of money
que nos custariam muito dinheiro
is capable of bringing down a carcass
é capaz de reduzir até ao osso
the environments of rodents
o ambiente de roedores
because it saves us money --
porque nos poupa dinheiro
to buy harmful chemicals
químicos nocivos
we see in our environments
que vemos à nossa volta
da Natureza,
pollinators like insects,
como os insetos,
that we depend on for many years.
de que dependemos há muitos anos.
is by far not perfect.
está longe de ser perfeita.
every day wherever they live.
todos os dias, onde quer que vivam.
enfrentadas pelas aves
especially migratory species
especialmente as espécies migratórias
em corpos de água.
bandos que permanecem unidos,
to flocks that like to stick together,
are electrocuting birds
estão a eletrocutar as aves
estão a matar as aves
of climate change
de alterações climáticas,
from better breeding and feeding grounds
a migrar em busca de novos locais
where they used to live
costumavam viver já não é habitável.
towards birds was changed
sobre as aves mudou
magoando-lhe a asa e a perna,
of a bird we called the augur buzzard.
bútio-do-augúrio.
in a similar situation,
numa situação semelhante,
any biologist by then,
não pensasse em vir a ser biólogo,
and we decided to house the bird
e decidimos acolher o pássaro
and then let it free.
para o soltarmos.
to feed on beef from our school kitchen,
com bife da nossa cantina,
for its dinner every day.
em redor do recinto, para o jantar dele.
ele tinha recuperado forças
changed the way we looked at birds.
como nós víamos os pássaros.
within our own high school.
fizeram de mim
made me the conservationist I am today.
should especially matter for Africa
especialmente importante para a África
of the most amazing bird species
mais espantosas
"cegonha-bico-de-sapato".
a República Democrática do Congo
in highest numbers of diversity
no número mais elevado de diversidade
to provide the continent
ao continente
de que África precisa.
services that Africa needs.
do turismo de observação de aves.
in avian tourism.
vão beneficiar dos grupos de turistas
will benefit from groups of tourists
só para observarem aves endémicas
just to see the endemic birds
nessas aldeias.
para todos vocês
to their continued survival,
da sua sobrevivência,
by becoming a citizen scientist.
cientistas cidadãos.
around the world,
em torno do mundo,
where people are sharing information
em que as pessoas partilham informações
about traffic updates,
acerca da atualização do tráfico,
we realized as bird-watchers,
como observadores de pássaros,
are found everywhere,
se encontram por todo o lado,
e todos os outros em África
and everyone else in Africa
they find where they live,
que encontram onde vivem,
or even where they work,
with a map of every single species,
um mapa de cada espécie,
os cientistas serão capazes
aos esforços de conservação
conservation efforts
in the continent of Africa,
no continente africano,
(Mapa das Aves do Quénia)
that occur in my country, Kenya.
que ocorrem no meu país, o Quénia.
têm agora bases de dados "online"
now have online databases
submeterem dados,
into very interactive websites
em "websites" muito interativos
e com os quais pode decidir.
and make decisions from.
houve um grande problema.
there was a big challenge.
from bird-watchers,
de observadores de aves, dizendo:
e não consigo aceder a um computador.
and I cannot access a computer.
what birds live in my home,
que aves vivem onde habito,
ou onde trabalho?"
and come up with a sustainable solution.
uma nova estratégia e solução sustentável.
que o uso dos telemóveis
common in Africa
mais comum em África
could get access to one.
havia acesso a um.
mobile phone applications
and on your Android phone,
e no Android,
enthusiast out there.
entusiastas existentes.
which is used by the Kenya Bird Map,
que é usado pelo Kenya Bird Map,
o African Raptor Observations,
the African Raptor Observations,
pelo African Raptor DataBank.
by the African Raptor DataBank.
para o nosso trabalho
enormous amounts of data
enorme quantidade de dados
out there in the regions.
existente nas regiões.
de que aquela ciência cidadã
that citizen science
citizen science is adaptive.
convert many bird-watchers
muitos observadores de aves
could be a huge gateway
podiam ser um imenso portal
of other forms of animals.
de outras formas animais.
in the Virtual Museum for Africa,
no Museu Virtual da África,
and damselflies,
para as libélulas e libelinhas,
estamos até a mapear cogumelos.
we are even mapping mushrooms.
um mapa de cogumelos?
we've created a community of people
uma comunidade de pessoas
com a Natureza em África.
na promoção do valor das aves
sobre as aves,
to love and care for that which we know.
a cuidar e a amar o que conhecemos.
do vosso tempo livre,
in your free time
at school, or maybe at home,
na escola ou talvez em casa,
and see which beautiful birds are there.
para verem que belas as aves há ali.
in the places where you visit.
nos lugares que visitam.
ao vosso filho ou ao vosso irmão
how beautiful these birds are.
quão belas são estas aves.
they will want to care
eles possam querer cuidar
to love our feathermakers,
a amar as nossas "fazedoras de penas",
para apreciar todas as formas da Natureza.
to appreciating all forms of nature.
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