The abiding image of Charles Darwin is of the naturalist in his later years, bearded and with a face etched by time, sitting in his garden at Down House in Kent. But he was a youthful 22-year-old when he embarked on what would be one of the most consequential expeditions in human history: his five-year journey onboard HMS Beagle, beginning in 1831, which gave rise to the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Two centuries on, a magnificent Dutch three-masted topsail schooner — the Oosterschelde — has docked in the shadow of Tower Bridge after a two-year conservation expedition retracing Darwin’s steps, having stopped at big ports where the Beagle made landfall. But whereas Darwin’s voyage forced humanity to reconsider its past, this project looks to the future.
The Darwin200 initiative was spearheaded by the British naturalist and geographer Stewart McPherson, 43, who sought to harness the naturalist’s legacy to inspire and train a new generation of scientific thinkers.
Laya Pothunuri, Heather Needham, Ali Ashworth and Jessica Tax, who conducted conservation research on the Oosterschelde
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
At each of the ports where the Oosterschelde docked, young conservationists climbed aboard for a period of intensive research and fieldwork in their area of expertise, from the threats facing manta rays in the Galapagos to the impact of marine traffic on pilot whales in Tenerife. “What we’ve tried to do is upskill these young people and empower them in their careers for the next 50 years or more to work in conservation and change the world of tomorrow,” McPherson said.
With climate change accelerating, global temperatures increasing and more than 47,000 species threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, tomorrow’s world is strikingly different from the one Darwin encountered in the 1830s.
Jessica Tax, 26, from the Netherlands, joined the Darwin200 voyage on its South American leg to research the fragmentation of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, one of the world’s most biodiverse yet threatened biomes. When Darwin set foot there in 1832, he wrote that he “could not penetrate the entangled mass of the living and dead vegetation” such was its density, and that “no art could depict so stupendous a scene”.
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“Since he visited,” Tax said, “more than 80 per cent of the forest has been lost, mainly due to threats like illegal logging, land conversion and urban sprawl, and the remaining habitat is fragmented by roads, a 187km [116 mile] oil pipeline and pasture.” Her project focused on reconnecting areas of forest through natural corridors, which are vital for species’ access to food and water, as well as for maintaining genetic diversity.
Charles Darwin
RHS LINDLEY COLLECTIONS/PA WIRE
Stewart McPherson, director of Darwin200
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
Tax is part of a network of 106 young conservationists who hold the title of Darwin Leader, a global community heralding from 45 countries. Ali Ashworth, 21, from northwest England, spent her research period in Cape Verde helping to produce the archipelago’s first green turtle database.
“They’ve had green turtles arriving in the Cape Verdean waters for the last ten years and they’re not really sure why,” she said. “They think a turtle maybe got lost, because they feed along the west coast of Africa. The community loves them, but have little idea of the effect the species is having on local biodiversity or the food chain.”
Working with Biosfera, a local NGO, Ashworth carried out detailed geotagging, DNA sampling and physical assessments of the turtles, which will allow populations to be tracked. She has also remained in touch with the project leaders, and is returning in three weeks to continue her research — and there will be at least one turtle she recognises. “They very kindly named the first catalogued turtle Ali, which was an honour,” she said.
Darwin200 Leader Jessica Tax
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
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Similarly, for Laya Pothunuri, a 24-year-old conservationist from India, the Darwin200 expedition was an opportunity to create invaluable relationships. Her investigations into the waste streams of plastic pollution and fish by-products in the Galapagos focused heavily on local empowerment and building trust among affected communities.
“Darwin200 is what has helped me to go back and continue my project, which I wouldn’t be able to do without those connections, or in terms of being able to source the NGO,” she said. “Especially in a place like the Galapagos where tight social dynamics exist, they wouldn’t necessarily trust someone from outside if not for programmes like this.”
Manta rays are endangered, in part because of plastic pollution
DESANT7474/GETTY IMAGES
As the Oosterschelde returns to its home in the Netherlands with more than 43,000 nautical miles in its log, it leaves a hopeful legacy in its wake.
“The world is changing exponentially faster every day, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late,” McPherson said. “Often it comes down to one individual refusing to let an incredible animal, plant or ecosystem fall off the cliff of extinction.”
Thanks to Darwin200, there are now dozens more of these stubborn optimists, to borrow a term from the Costa Rican climate diplomat Christiana Figueres, as well as the countless people they have inspired, helping to change the world for the better.