Blog: 60 years marks conservation turning point for Twycross Zoo

Dr Rebecca Biddle, Director of Conservation, Twycross Zoo writes for BIAZA about their new conservation strategy and what it means for the Zoo…

Last year, Twycross Zoo celebrated its 60th Anniversary. In celebration, the Midlands-based zoo published its first ever external facing Conservation Strategy. As a conservation charity, Twycross Zoo has always prioritised actions to support the survival of species and habitats, however with the challenge of conservation getting greater every day, the new strategy allows us to effectively prioritise our work between now and 2030, to maximize our chances of having a positive conservation impact.

In 2019 the IPBES report highlighted that up to one million species are threatened with extinction, within decades. This rate of extinction is tens to hundreds of times higher than over the last ten million years, and it is accelerating. The report also states that 75% of terrestrial environments and 66% of marine environments have been severely altered by human actions. So, the scale of our problem is vast, and zoos need to act now.

I, like most of us working in zoos and conservation science, do so, because I am passionate about reversing this extinction rate and inspiring change for the future. Therefore, I relished the chance to work with such a dedicated team at Twycross Zoo to focus our future activities, giving us the best chance of saving species and creating impact. As zoos, it is so important that we lay out our intent and goals, and track progress against these using effective methods for measuring success and failure, so that we can report on these and build an open and transparent account of the role that zoos can play in conservation.

It is also vital to accept that no one organisation can do this alone, so our strategy relies heavily on collaborative working, with other zoos and conservation charities, our visitors, universities, schools, community groups, and of course our zoo associations including BIAZA, EAZA and WAZA. We also highlight how our goals and targets link directly into the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to the Global Biodiversity Framework, showcasing that zoo are important as role models and drivers of societal change working towards key global targets.

In any zoo, conservation must be embedded across the senior leadership team to ensure that all staff are engaged and enabled to play their part, and our strategy includes goals from across the entire organisation, spanning ex-situ population management and breeding, to conservation education, sustainable procurement and waste management.

For each of our six goals, we have clear targets, for example, to ensure that we support healthy ex-situ populations of managed species (goal 1) we will have increased the number of EEP species housed at the zoo to 75%, with 60% of species listed as at least ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN Red List, by 2030. To support our in-situ work to build conservation resources and capacity (goal 2) we have pledged to annually increase conservation financing, and to inspire positive change for the future (goal 3), by 2030 we will have welcomed an additional 200,000 students, including at least 1,500 enrolled onto new undergraduate and postgraduate courses co-developed with universities as part of our new National Science and Conservation Centre.

Goal four is focused on enhancing the value of zoos for society, and to support this we will increase our involvement with our zoo associations by increasing the number of roles held by our staff to at least 60, to ensure we are contributing effectively to the collective zoo voice. Goal five is aimed at supporting UK native species and as part of this we have pledged to increase the amount of land we actively manage and protect for wildlife from 15% to 30%, and to have trained 5,000 native species community champions by 2030. Finally goal six will involve working towards becoming a sustainable organisation and minimising our contribution to global climate change, through improving our waste and recycling, ensuring that our suppliers have sustainable credentials where possible, and reducing energy usage with the introduction of alternative methods including solar energy, heat pumps and energy efficient lighting.

I’m sure you will agree that we have some high targets set within each of these six focal areas, to achieve by 2030. Our progress will be documented through annual reporting, and full details can be found in our strategy document found here.

Getting there won’t be easy, but together we can make a difference.

- Dr Rebecca Biddle

Director of Conservation, Twycross Zoo

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not necessarily a reflection of BIAZA's positions.