Nella Ekpenyong-Duke emerges one of Africa’s Most Influential Young Conservationist

Nella Ekpenyong-Duke the second daughter of a former governor of Cross River (Donald Duke) has been recently nominated to make the first ever list of ‘Top 100 young African conservation leaders’. 

This list represents one hundred youth from 23 countries on the African continent who were recognised in March 2021 as the top youth leaders in conservation in Africa.

According to the Scouts Movement, these young persons including Ekpenyong-Duke have been on the vanguard of ‘advocating and creating huge positive impact in sustainable agriculture and food security, forest and land restoration, ocean protection, wildlife conservation, waste management, clean energy access and research, education and awareness. These Top 100 youth and many more who did not make it to the list have demonstrated that the youngest generations are not the future, but the present driver for change in Africa.

‘Among these selected top 100 young African leaders there are youth who have started their community-based organisations to build the capacity of local populations on conservation issues in addition to pursuing research on endangered species and using the information to further strengthen their conservation initiatives. Others have tapped into their hobbies, such as sports, to create awareness and act to protect and conserve nature through tree planting, clean up campaigns or recycling initiatives.’

As part of the selection, judging and verification processes, over 400 youth networks and conservation organisations were invited to nominate young African leaders under the age of 35 who are actively involved in impactful conservation work at community, national, or international levels in Africa. There was a total of 565 nominations in receipts.

Ekpenyong-Duke, 28, an International Relations graduate from Loughborough is the CEO of Obudu Conservation Centre (OCC), an NGO given to land and forests restoration.

-Negroid Haven