Charles Emogor: Going All-in on Public Engagement

Charles’ first steps in public engagement happened in Nigeria where he was doing an internship with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) after his BSc.

Between anti-poaching patrols and dung sampling adventures to monitor Cross River gorilla populations, Charles and his colleagues were going to schools and local communities to foster interest in the conservation of this endangered species.

Alongside gaining experience in conservation education, Charles saw first-hand the importance of having local people invested in wildlife conservation, which is now a key aspect of his PhD focused on yet another charismatic but endangered species: the white-bellied pangolin.

Like the other seven pangolin species only found in Africa and Asia, white-bellied pangolins are rare, even on Nigeria’s Cross River National Park where Charles' research is based.

They have a low reproduction rate and are threatened by a combination of poaching and habitat loss. Charles visits Nigeria regularly to collect data about pangolins' behaviour and habitat, as well as about the illegal hunting and trade of this unique mammal.

If his research life is divided between Cambridge and Nigeria, his public engagement work is split between a global online presence and in-person activities around the Park.

This wasn’t always the plan. Charles' first target for engagement were the communities responsible for the hunting and trafficking of pangolin scales and meat.

But because these communities living adjacent to the landscape where he is working have limited access to the internet, reaching them required an in-person approach to foster engagement about pangolins.

Charles first identified suitable communities through WCS and a team of rangers who have worked extensively in the landscape and know areas with regular pangolin-related arrests and confiscations, suggesting active pangolin poaching.

While trekking to his campsite on his first fieldtrip, Charles unsurprisingly encountered multiple hunters with pangolins going the opposite direction. Charles then engaged in a transparent conversation about his work, which became the primer in his public engagement journey as he realised that findings from his research alone may not save pangolins.

"I had never seen a pangolin alive before, and I could not bear the thought that if those were the last ones existing my conservation work would be already too late"

Charles Emogor

Honesty calls for honesty, and one of the hunters invited Charles to speak to all the hunters of his community as ‘I would not be happy if after letting a pangolin escape because I spoke with you, the same pangolin got killed by another hunter’.

This was his first opportunity to foster local involvement in pangolin conservation.

The chat with the hunters of that community, mediated by the head of the hunters, led to speaking to the head of the whole community, who recommended reaching out to a neighbouring community selling wild meat at the same market.

In an upward spiral, Charles is now meeting regularly with hunters in four communities where he plans to implement a community-based intervention that transform will pangolin hunters into guardians that will monitor pangolin populations and support their conservation.

Charles does not speak the languages of the communities he has been engaging, and he thinks that language is not a barrier as long as trust is established.

However, his knowledge and understanding of the social and cultural context – Charles is from the Cross River region – is fundamental as it allows to understand people’s rationale. This empathy results in openness with the community.

Charles’ advice is to never preach to people, but to always begin with presenting a problem and listening, even when they debate with each other. In summarising their viewpoints, you often find someone who matches what you wanted to suggest, and if it comes from them, it has more chances to be embraced.

The encounters between Charles and local communities are sometimes precious moments of truth: communities realise they are doing more harm than they thought they were, and Charles is confronted with the day-to-day dilemma of knowing that the hunters pose a direct threat to pangolins.

Changing adults’ attitude is challenging, Charles devotes a lot of effort in engaging with children: the next generation who are still in their formative years.

Charles’ activity with schools in Nigeria is another example of how investing in building a relationship even with a single person interested in your work is a seed that can become a tree with many branches.

Because of his research topic, Charles met Lauren Martinez, the pangolin coordinator of the Global Conservation Force (GCF), a California-based organisation that financially and technically supports grassroots organisations.

Charles set up regular meetings with Lauren to brainstorm ideas that could have an impact on pangolin conservation. They decided to create a workbook for primary and secondary schools in Nigeria about pangolins to be delivered ahead of 2021 World Pangolin Day.

Charles applied to the University of Cambridge Public Engagement Starter Fund to have money to cover the expenses of a group of volunteers to deliver the workbooks to the schools and reward the students who completed the workbook activities with Pangolin Champion stickers.

The workbook itself was created with no costs thanks to a chain of contacts generated Lauren and Charles.

In addition to the workbook, Charles and a team of other researchers and conservationists have deployed over 1,300 and 350 pangolin-branded notebooks and t-shirts, respectively, to students and adults in six communities in southeast Nigeria.

Some of the volunteers delivering the activity in Nigeria are Charles’ regular research collaborators, and some of the people that became involved with the workbook have also contributed to Charles’ global-scale social media engagement project Pangolino.

#PangolinoArtChallenge Day 5: White-bellied pangolin

The white-bellied pangolin is Pangolino's focal species. They are relatively common & are named after the white skin on their belly. Onto Day 6 of the Art Challenge! 💚 Let's see your art!

More:https://t.co/HXpLFTxCNJ pic.twitter.com/4QnLHXy8gj

— Pangolino (@pangolino_org) February 6, 2021

Pangolino complements Charles’ awareness-raising activities in Nigeria, as he can also engage to members of the public from other parts of the world.

To build a movement to save pangolins, Charles thought that social media is very cost effective. He tested the approach with his personal accounts sharing his research, especially his fieldwork.

This gave him a measure of the interest about his work and gave people the opportunity to contribute to the conversation beyond asking questions.

An art lover himself, who can spend days appreciating art in galleries and enjoys wildlife photography and music, Charles thought that the variety of media art had the potential to open a dialogue with multiple demographics.

Initially, Charles and his collaborators had to invite people and professional artists to join their monthly campaign of art inspired by pangolins on their Pangolino's Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Nowadays they are contacted by artists and people who submit their artworks inspired by pangolins.

These social media channels have been used to promote other awareness and fundraising campaigns. For instance, Charles’ 8-hour run in a pangolin costume around Cambridge which raised more than $9,000 for the non-profit Save Pangolins has been featured on the accounts.

“Currently, I am the only mammal on the planet with scales!”

On #WorldPangolinDay, meet PhD student @CEmogor from @CamZoology who talks about these scaly mammals.@StEdmundsCam @Pangolino_org pic.twitter.com/1zHmvHQThl

— Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) February 19, 2022

These social media channels, as well as Charles’ Twitter account, are also avenues for people interested in pangolin conservation to reach Charles.

A school in Sheffield (UK) who created their own Pangolin Protection Squad asked Charles to answer questions and reveal anecdotes on pangolins based on his direct experience with them.

We've had an amazing morning. We had our zoom meeting with @CEmogor :)
Talking to someone who knows so much about pangolins was such a privilege, we are very lucky. We've learnt so much more to use in our work and had lots of our questions answered.#LearningisFun #SavePangolins pic.twitter.com/rE8OmYof2e

— Sharrow Pangolin Protection Squad (@Y4PangolinSquad) April 29, 2021

“Today’s world is full of options and people can get confused especially with social pressure. One person might be enough to inspire someone to pursue their calling, and this might increase diversity and representation in science.”

Charles Emogor

Schools are not the only ones contacting Charles. News websites, podcast hosts and other media have recently approached Charles to talk about pangolin conservation.

In the past, and occasionally still now to promote specific initiatives, Charles has reached out to the media himself. For instance, he has been on air on various Nigerian radios to raise awareness about wildlife conservation on World Pangolin Day (the third Saturday of February).

Our new podcast explores the most shocking wildlife crimes in the world.

In our first episode, wrap your ears around pangolins. How have they become the world's most trafficked mammal?

Listen on our website or wherever you get your podcasts. https://t.co/q8NkxUKPHX

— Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) July 1, 2021

When Charles accepts invitations to talk about pangolins, he hopes he also inspires under-represented groups, especially Black people to follow their dreams.

Charles has embraced engagement as part of a scientist’s role need to achieve maximum impact. He is planning to focus on increasing children’s knowledge about pangolins in Nigeria, and he plans to assess the impact of his workbooks by comparing children’s knowledge before and after the activities.

His global approach will also target the Cambridge community, collaborating with the Museum of Zoology for children outreach, and perhaps with a fancy costume run where everybody can dress as their favourite animal and run with Charles to fundraise for wildlife preservation.

Until then…‘Keep loving pangolins!’

Follow the work of Pangolino on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Follow Charles on Twitter.

Hi! What you see is NOT a pinecone but a white-bellied #pangolin. Thrilled to be studying their ecology (for a PhD) after over a decade of being an enthusiast. We NEED more diversity in STEM! #BlackBirdersWeek #BlackInSTEM #BlackAFinSTEM #BlackInNature

Follow @Pangolino_Org pic.twitter.com/8Yz3rWhI4V

— Charles Emogor (@CEmogor) June 5, 2020

Thinking about scaling up in public engagement?

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Images:
- Elephants on the savannah in Lopé National Park, Ngangorica
- Pangolin art, @mycolourfullworld_by_katerina