Optics for Africa
In 2018 MBP Africa members said that to improve their wetlands educations and engagement, they need more resources, including binoculars and telescopes. But delivering brand new optics can be difficult.
Some centres in Europe saw the potential to ask their visitors to donate old but working optics. Especially in the UK and the Netherlands where bird watching is a common pastime, visitors might upgrade to new or better binoculars while their current set still works fine.
Download supporting materials
Binoculars guide for kids & teachers
How to use binoculars safely and effectively, written for children, with additional content for teachers.
Download in English
Download in French
West Africa waterbirds
Fold-out guide illustrated by Lamine Dramé.
Download for phone (smallest file) (bigger file).
How to identify birds
A one-page guide on how to tell what species of bird you are looking at, using the MBP fold-out guide or any other bird guide.
Download in English
Other organisations, including our partner Wetlands International West Africa and Vogelbescherming in the Netherlands already have a similar system, where the optics are used primarily for the International Waterbird Census. Inspired by this model we have also added other educational activities. Very small binoculars might not be much use for distant wader studies, but we have all seen the excitement they spark for a child on their first visit to a wetland.
Contact Connor Walsh at WWT for donations or other feedback.
Local wetlands educators will use the binoculars and telescopes not just at visitor centres but also for the huge citizen science African Eurasian Waterbird Census every January.
Optics for Africa and decolonising conservation
Decolonisation is an essential step in sustainable conservation. We should analyse Optics for Africa in this light.
Sending old products from Europe to Africa is initially an alarming thought – the global minority disposing of their unwanted, lower quality purchases, as if saying 'these are good enough for Africans'. In this case, the suggestion for donated old optics came from practitioners at Wetlands International Afrique: it was reported that importing new optics had failed, with them going missing, or raising suspicion of military use. Older optics, by contrast, are more likely to reach birders and educators.
A deeper way of analysing looks at why optics: do we discount traditional ecological knowledge by observing wildlife from afar? Using the optics to contribute to standardised datasets such as the International Waterbird Census, are we undermining local naming conventions and understandings of species? Are we enforcing a global minority way of valuing birds, habitats, and ecosystems?
We welcome your input on this by email to WLI@wwt.org.uk.