Since our founding in 1973, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has established itself as a leader in wildlife conservation, focusing on the African species under greatest risk of extinction. Over the decades, so-called “species conservation” became frowned upon, with a view that only ecosystem and large habitat conservation is worth the funding, focus and energy. This view is not incorrect, and the EWT has spent considerable recourse successfully conserving large tracts of grasslands, mountains, wetlands, riparian systems and drylands.

The value of this work cannot be understated, as space, intact biodiversity and ecosystem function forms the basis of all life on earth. However, there is no doubt that a strong focus on saving species, with research, monitoring and specific activities focussing on the needs to individual species or their families is just as important if we are to stem the tide of extinction that threatens to overtake numerous species whose future survival requires more than just saving their habitat.

The threats facing the survival of individual species have amplified in recent years and include targeted removal from the wild for illegal trade (dead, alive or in parts), poisoning (direct or indirect), snaring, infrastructural impacts, alien invasive species, unsustainable use, and today, more than 48,600 species face the risk of extinction at varying levels. In response, the EWT has broadened our focus and our expert teams of specialists to ensure that we cover lesser-known, but equally important and often more at-risk species that include insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees and succulent plants. This makes the EWT the most diverse and extensive biodiversity conservation organisation in the region. And, if too little is known about the species in a particular area or what may be at risk, we have a specialist team that undertakes rapid biodiversity assessment, or bioblitzes, to quickly reveal the natural secrets that may be hiding in understudied areas, but may be facing a great risk of being lost to this generation or the next.

The IUCN’s Species Survival Commission issued the Abu Dhabi Declaration in 2024, emphasising the critical importance of saving species to save all life, calling on “… diverse sectors – including governments, businesses, Indigenous peoples and local communities, religious groups, and individuals – to prioritise species conservation within their actions, strategies, and giving, recognising that protecting animals, fungi, and plants is fundamental to sustaining life on earth.”

In October 2025, as nearly 10,000 members of the world’s conservation community gathered again in Abu Dhabi for the 5^th IUCN World Conservation Congress, the message was clear: Save Species, Save Life. The congress featured very powerful calls for more urgent work to be done to stem the illegal wildlife trade, halt unsustainable use and prioritise funding, research and action in order to prevent mass extinction rates. Of the 148 motions that were adopted by the IUCN Members’ Assembly, a large number focussed on the need for intensified action and policy to address the issues facing species such as:

• Holistically conserving forests, grasslands, freshwater ecosystems and coral reefs and other marine ecosystems
• Species recovery for threatened taxa
• Sustainable use and exploitation of wild species
• Invasive alien species prevention
• Combatting crimes like wildlife trafficking and illegal fisheries
• One Health

Species can only survive and thrive within larger, functioning and healthy ecosystems, and more space is desperately needed for our ailing planet to retain its viability as a healthy host for all life. But the life that exists in micro-habitats, and those that face ongoing persecution which threatens to decimate all chances of survival, needs rapid and targeted interventions now.

The EWT remains at the forefront of this work, having rediscovered populations of species thought to have gone extinct such as the De Winton’s Golden Mole, the Pennington’s Blue Butterfly, the Orange-tailed Sandveld Lizard, Branch’s Rain Frog and the Blyde Rondawel Flat Gecko, and effectively turning around the fate of others, such as the Cheetah, Wattled Cranes and the Pickersgill’s Reed Frog – once facing imminent risk of extinction, but now heading back to survival and expansion. Our work to discover, save, monitor and protect the most threatened, whether visible or not and whether charismatic or not, is unwavering. Together, we can turn the tide on extinction, on species at a time.