Wildlife filmmaker Malaika Vaz says protecting wild habitats is imperative in preventing global health crises

• Malaika Vaz is a 24-year-old National Geographic explorer, TV presenter, and wildlife filmmaker.
• Her work has highlighted the relationship between environmental conservation and public health.
• Vaz spoke with Insider about supporting biodiversity to achieve peaceful coexistence.

Malaika Vaz, a National Geographic explorer, TV presenter, and wildlife filmmaker, has seen why ecosystem conservation is crucial for all species on Earth. The 24-year-old windsurfer and free diver, who is also the founder and creative director of the documentary-production company Untamed Planet, has swum alongside tiger sharks in the Maldives and studied the endangered Kolar leaf-nosed bat in a cave in Kolar, in the Indian state of Karnataka.

"We live in an interconnected world," Vaz told Insider. "Regardless of what sector you work in, your actions directly impact wildlife conservation."

Ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22, Vaz gave Insider insight into her treks around the globe and why environmental protection and sustainability are the keys to peaceful biological coexistence and a healthier planet.

Can you elaborate on what you learned about bat conservation while filming your segment on Al Jazeera's "Wild Recovery"?

Bats, despite being vilified, are some of the most important animals for our ecosystems. They keep insect populations down and are plant pollinators, which helps global agricultural systems through seed dispersal. Yet nearly 200 species of bats are threatened with extinction today. Humans and bats can be both vectors and victims to each other, whether that is COVID-19 or white-nose syndrome that is devastating bat populations. So while protecting them is important for ecological reasons, it's also critical from a public-health standpoint, as we've learned from this pandemic.

The location where my team and I filmed this episode was one of the few conservation reserves in the world created to conserve a small, lesser-loved species like the Kolar leaf-nosed bat. One aspect that I would've loved to dive into more in the program was the ripple effect that protecting these bats has had on the ecosystem. Once granite mining stopped and the reserve had a chance to bounce back from those pressures, vegetation started growing back, the birds came back, and, recently, the forest department has spotted larger predators like leopards coming back into the region. The fact that a tiny bat could be an umbrella species for a host of other beleaguered biodiversity is incredible.

How might other forms of conservation and environmental protection save us from future public-health global crises?

We need to phase out wildlife trade. Given that consuming wildlife is still seen as a marker of "making it" in parts of Asia and globally, I think storytelling can make a difference. Powerful films can advocate for a world where we're not consuming endangered species. Also, protecting wild habitat and rewilding spaces is imperative if we want to prevent future global health crises. COVID-19 could be that galvanizing event that pushes us to protect our natural world with more urgency.

You've been investigating elephant tourism and trafficking. What have you learned in your investigation thus far?

Wildlife tourism is way more insidious than we can imagine and something that we can change through our actions. I investigated how elephants are brutally trafficked from the wild, negatively impacted by a life in captivity, and also filmed the solutions out there to protect them and ensure a wilder future for them.

One thing that everyone can do is be more cognizant of our impact on wildlife protection. Any wildlife experience that allows you to get up close with a wild animal and interact with it the way you would with a pet or domestic animal is not ethical.

With more people getting vaccines and wanting to travel, are you concerned about the rise in tourism and the potential increase in habitat disturbance around the world?

No, I think that wildlife tourism, if regulated, can be a force for good. In many parts of the world, the communities that live alongside wildlife are driven to illegal activities like logging and wildlife trafficking from a place of genuine desperation. Economics drives conservation, and if those same communities can find employment in tourism, that will substantially reduce their dependence on the forest for their survival.

Having said that, I think it's key that tourism is equitable for rural communities living alongside wildlife and that some of the revenue generated from safaris, wildlife experiences, and the hospitality sector actually trickles down to the locals.

What sort of changes in the corporate sector do you think would make the biggest difference in promoting a cleaner world?

The majority of the environmental pollution and habitat destruction that we see around us is fueled by mega-sized corporations in the oil and gas, textile, food-production, and automobile sectors, among others. These businesses need to rethink how sustainable every stage of their production is and invest in eliminating harmful impacts like toxic chemicals being emptied into the ocean and pristine forests being slashed for new industrial zones.

There's been a lot of talk about the importance of working toward making the world cleaner and waste-free by 2030. Do you think that timeline is plausible?

People should make changes in their lives if they can and if it is possible given their constraints. But the onus is on the corporate sector and our governments. Companies like Impossible Burger and Tesla are slowly changing how the food we consume and the cars we drive impact our planet while also keeping consumers happy.

Similarly, we need bold innovations in the plastics sector, subsidized by governments. If these alternatives are available at scale, are as effective, and come at a similar price point to plastic, there's no reason why we can't create a waste-free world by 2030.

Your series "Living with Predators" for National Geographic Wild highlighted the tribal communities that peacefully coexist with big cats. Why is it important to show that sort of coexistence between humans and animals?

For the longest time we've depicted the communities who live alongside wildlife as human barriers to conservation or as unempowered recipients of international (often neocolonial and interventionist) conservation efforts. The reality could not be more different. Local conservationists, tribes, and trained forest rangers have the potential to protect species and conserve habitats in ways that no outside nonprofit or government entity could hope to.

I do not think that humans and wild animals can coexist everywhere on our planet. A one-size-fits-all approach to conservation will never work, and it's important that we consider some wild spaces inviolate and allow people and animals to coexist together in other places.

What advice do you have for people who want to help conservation efforts?

Donating [to conservation organizations] does help, but try finding smaller grassroots, community-led organizations that you can support rather than just the more visible global NGOs that have name recognition.