January 18, 2017 – This week, America will pass the baton of power over to a new administration. I think it is fair to say that regardless of the eventual outcome of Donald Trump’s time in office, the history of remarks that he and some of his closest advisors have made in the past are genuine cause for concern within the international climate community.
However, it is also now clear that the rest of the world will not have their resolve to tackle climate change weakened in any way whether or not the US continues to participate in a leadership role on this critically important issue.
Here at Wildlife Works, we are accustomed to overcoming challenges in the work we do, as most societies have a long history of valuing the destruction of forests for “economic gain”. We are amongst a very small but growing vanguard who are beginning to prove the case for forests being more valuable alive than dead.
As a result we tend to wait until challenges become real before worrying too much about how we will overcome them. I see the election of Donald Trump no differently. We must wait and see what specific challenges his election poses to our work, and then rally our colleagues, partners and supporters to overcome those challenges, just as we have overcome so many challenges before.
His election does nothing to weaken our resolve, nor our belief that our work is of critical importance to the future of forests, wildlife, and rural communities.
Furthermore, I do believe that the truth will prevail. Because of the now increasingly widely understood role of forests in mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, our work will continue to be acknowledged to be of great importance to everyone including Donald Trump. So please join me in celebrating the recent progress we have made highlighted in this newsletter, and look forward to many more newsletters to come.
Thank you!
Mike Korchinsky
