Huge congratulations to Paula Kahumbu for being recognised as one of the 25 most influencial women of 2022 by the Financial Times!
Paula Kahumbu has been a voice for conservation for a long time and has done transformational work. Her “Hands Off Our Elephants” campaign drew attention to the threat of their extinction in Kenya and convinced people across a very broad spectrum, including at the highest political levels, to support conservation.
Her efforts, together with others’, have had a direct impact on the increase in the number of elephants in our country: the population has doubled since the late 1980s. Paula’s advocacy has created more awareness in the global community of the responsibility that we all have for the conservation of wildlife and particularly elephants. She believes they don’t belong to any individual country, but that we hold them in trust for humanity and for the future.
Paula has the ability to look at conservation issues as a whole, identify the priorities – where the dangers are real, where extinction is a real possibility – and address them. Many people are capable of doing the advocacy. She is unique in raising issues and providing possible solutions too. She’s a serious thinker and a pragmatic person. She is also a pioneer who chose a field that is not comfortable for many women. ‘I have a lot of respect and admiration for Paula’ says Amina Mohamed, a former Kenyan cabinet secretary and ambassador to the UN.
