The camp aims to build the capacity of young Indonesians as the next generation of conservationists. Through the camp, Tambora Muda Indonesia and KMP raised young people’s awareness on main challenges faced in biodiversity conservation in Indonesia, as well as building their capabilities in designing studies, field surveys, data analysis and scientific publications. It also serves as an eye opener for the young people about the opportunities for higher studies and career in biodiversity conservation.

Tambora Muda and KMP realise that young people is the frontliners in many scientific fields, and conservation is no exception. The need for expertise in conservation has become urgent with the degradation and loss of habitats of some species , leading to the risk of their extinction. On the other hand, capacity of the current resources to tackle the issue is still lacking. In universities, studies relating to biodiversity, such as forestry and biology, are somehow less popular than other studies, therefore making it crucial to build and optimize the capacity of researchers and practitioners in this field. Conservation Camp is one of the ways to build capacity of those who care about environment conservation. A lot of knowledge was shared , including peatland management, wild life observation, the role of ecotourism in conservation and many others. 18 young people of various backgrounds from across Indonesia joined this year’s camp.

“All the knowledge shared in this camp is very interesting. I have never specifically studied about conservation, research nor data collecting, so all of this is new to me”, said Andi, who is also actively participating in Youth Act Kalimantan for peatland restoration.

Not only Conservation Camp enables young people to know more about conservation, it also makes them see that conservation is one very interesting and fun subject.