Washington Wachira: For the love of birds
واشنطن واشيرا: لأجل حب الطيور
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,
من أجمل الطيور لدينا في كينيا،
of different sizes,
من الأحجام المختلفة،
astonishing pieces of technology
القطع التكنولوجية إدهاشًا
has helped birds to keep dry,
الطيور أن تبقى جافة،
can actually make a feather.
من أقسام شجرة الحياة تكوين الريش.
who can make something
التي يمكنها صنع شيء
and any other animals we have on earth,
أي حيوانات أخرى لدينا على كوكب الأرض،
you cannot call yourself a bird.
فلا تسمّ نفسك طيرًا.
to conquer gravity
in an extraordinary way.
you could fly like a bird?
على الطيران كالطير؟
each one of you thinks about them.
التي يفكر بها كل منكم فيهم.
is because they are beautiful.
هو لأنها جميلة.
is uniquely beautiful.
to all the birds of the world.
part of our lives and cultures
جزءًا من حيواتنا وثقافاتنا
childhood stories of different birds
would follow flocks of vultures
يتتبعون أسراب النسور
have been dropped by large carnivores,
التي أسقطتها آكلات اللحوم الكبيرة،
and eat part of that meat.
من ذاك اللحم ليقتاتوا عليه.
and labels all over the world.
وشعارات في جميع أنحاء العالم.
emblem for the US
in virtually all habitats of this earth,
كل البيئات تقريبًا في هذه الأرض،
these beautiful penguins
you can imagine.
التي يمكن تخيلها حرارة.
have conquered this world.
we call the weaverbirds,
in which they weave their nests.
just like us humans.
تمامًا مثلنا البشر.
that males dress to impress the women,
أن الذكور تغير ملابسها لتبهر النساء،
just like humans.
wondering about this one.
to cheat on their spouses.
to find other males to mate with
to take care of the chicks.
in our ecosystems each day.
في أنظمتنا الإيكولوجية يوميًا.
disease-causing pathogens,
المسببة للأمراض حرفيًا،
that would otherwise cost us lots of money
التي كانت لولاهم ستكلفنا أموالًا طائلة
is capable of bringing down a carcass
قادر على التهام جيفة
the environments of rodents
because it saves us money --
لنا فهي توفر لنا المال...
لشراء الكيماويات الضارة
to buy harmful chemicals
we see in our environments
pollinators like insects,
that we depend on for many years.
التي نعتمد عليها لسنين عدة.
is by far not perfect.
ليست مثالية على الإطلاق.
every day wherever they live.
لها كل يوم أينما يتواجدون.
especially migratory species
خصوصًا الأنواع المهاجرة منها.
to flocks that like to stick together,
التي تحب الطيران معًا،
are electrocuting birds
of climate change
from better breeding and feeding grounds
من حيث مقومات التزاوج والتغذية،
where they used to live
towards birds was changed
في المدرسة الثانوية،
of a bird we called the augur buzzard.
in a similar situation,
any biologist by then,
على الإطلاق وقتها،
and we decided to house the bird
وقررنا إيواء هذا الطير
and then let it free.
to feed on beef from our school kitchen,
على اللحم البقري الذي كان في مطبخ المدرسة،
for its dinner every day.
حول المجمع السكني لعشائه كل يوم.
changed the way we looked at birds.
الطريقة التي نرى بها الطيور.
within our own high school.
made me the conservationist I am today.
المحافظ على البيئة الذي أنا عليه اليوم.
should especially matter for Africa
ذا أهمية خصوصًا لإفريقيا،
of the most amazing bird species
in highest numbers of diversity
to provide the continent
services that Africa needs.
جدًا تحتاجها القارة.
in avian tourism.
في مجال سياحة الطيور في العالم.
will benefit from groups of tourists
التي ستنتفع من جماعات السياح
just to see the endemic birds
to their continued survival,
by becoming a citizen scientist.
أن تكون عالمًا تشاركيًا.
around the world,
where people are sharing information
فيها الناس المعلومات
about traffic updates,
we realized as bird-watchers,
are found everywhere,
and everyone else in Africa
وإقناع الجميع في إفريقيا
they find where they live,
التي يرونها في أماكن سكنهم،
or even where they work,
with a map of every single species,
خريطة بها كل نوع من الطيور
conservation efforts
in the continent of Africa,
الجارحة في قارة إفريقيا،
that occur in my country, Kenya.
من الطيور الموجودة في بلادي، كينيا.
now have online databases
قواعد بيانات على الإنترنت
into very interactive websites
and make decisions from.
واتخاذ القرارات بناءً عليها.
there was a big challenge.
from bird-watchers,
وصول إلى جهاز كمبيوتر.
and I cannot access a computer.
what birds live in my home,
بأنواع الطيور التي في مكان سكني،
and come up with a sustainable solution.
وإيجاد حل مستدام.
common in Africa
could get access to one.
mobile phone applications
and on your Android phone,
هاتفك الآيفون أو الأندرويد،
enthusiast out there.
which is used by the Kenya Bird Map,
الذي تستخدمه خريطة طيور كينيا،
the African Raptor Observations,
"African Raptor Observations"،
by the African Raptor DataBank.
بيانات الطير الجارح الإفريقي.
enormous amounts of data
out there in the regions.
that citizen science
citizen science is adaptive.
convert many bird-watchers
العديد من مراقبي الطيور
could be a huge gateway
أن تكون مدخلًا ضخمًا
of other forms of animals.
على الأشكال الأخرى من الحيوانات.
in the Virtual Museum for Africa,
أنه في المتحف الافتراضي لإفريقيا،
and damselflies,
وأزهار الأوركيد، والعناكب،
we are even mapping mushrooms.
خرائط لعش الغراب حتى.
we've created a community of people
هيأنا مجتمعًا من الناس
to love and care for that which we know.
وأن نهتم بما نعرفه.
in your free time
من أوقات الفراغ
at school, or maybe at home,
أو ربما في البيت،
and see which beautiful birds are there.
لمعرفة أنواع الطيور الجميلة عندكم.
in the places where you visit.
في الأماكن التي تتردّدون عليها.
how beautiful these birds are.
مدى جمال هذه الطيور.
they will want to care
to love our feathermakers,
to appreciating all forms of nature.
لتقدير كل صور الطبيعة.
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