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Investing in Nature Brings Me Hope

by Tim L. Tetzlaff, Director of Conservation,
Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens
first saw Naples in 1969 when my critical cash income and elevates a woman’s status as a breadwinner.
family moved into The Moorings. We Building on this, African People & Wildlife (APW) created the
I walked through patches of sandspurs Mama Asali Women’s Enterprise Center where honeycombs are
to the beach and played in the fields and processed to streamline getting products to market such as the
trees that covered nearly a city block honey and lip balm I enjoy. To foster even greater success, Naples
across the street from our house. Before Zoo funds the salaries of five of APW’s Queen Bees – community
I was a teenager, I was attending school members who work with other women to increase the success
with kids who lived in the apartments of their beekeeping activities. We also fund APW’s Women’s
and condos built on those lands – just as the generation before Empowerment Officer to expand educational and entrepreneurial
me once played on the land where my house stood. And panthers opportunities.
and bears once denned on these lands before them. This protective rule for beekeeping also benefits wildlife like
Conversion of wild habitat to agriculture to suburban and lions and leopards by maintaining wilderness. And to promote
urban centers is a longstanding pattern as each of us needs coexistence, Naples Zoo funds the annual salaries of five of APW’s
resources to live. But with notable foresight, our local, state, Warriors for Wildlife. These men and women collect and analyze
and federal parks now protect 13% of the USA’s land. Indeed, real-time technical field data and monitor the presence of big cats
this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Big Cypress National and elephants so that community members can keep their livestock
Preserve, a noteworthy example of collaboration and compromise and crops safe. And when a human-wildlife conflict event occurs,
and I am honored to have a Zoo-Park Partnership with Warriors work to help.
them. These protected lands are enriched by programs such as These innovative programs near and far and those committed
regulations on air and water pollution as well as conservation to ensuring our collective needs give me hope. While the
easements where privately-held land is set aside for future neighborhood fields of my youth may just be a memory, the wild
generations. Services from these healthy ecosystems are critical areas we depend on today don’t need to be.
to our wellbeing and range from crop pollination and water April Lecture: Visit www.napleszoo.org/speakers to meet
purification to storm protection and soil retention to name but a the co-founder and CEO of African People & Wildlife,
few – all bringing tens of trillions of dollars of value to our global Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld, at the inaugural lecture in the new
economy that are worth investing in. Hamill Family Education Center.
Such efforts for unprotected land are key for us here, but also
even in places like Tanzania, which has about 40% of its land
protected. This brings us to a fascinating law I encountered that
protects beekeeper income. Tanzanian law regulates the cutting
of trees and agriculture in areas where people have beehives,
an activity typically done by women. Beekeeping provides

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