Mission and History

The mission of the Nurture Nature Campaign is to end the harmful trade in pet wildlife in Trinidad & Tobago, and to make Trinidad and Tobago a place where all wild animals are respected, protected, and treated with kindness.

The Nurture Nature Campaign was developed through a research project into the illegal wildlife trade in Trinidad and Tobago undertaken by the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF) in 2018-2020.

This project was supported by the Caribbean Programme of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Centre for the Rescue of Endangered Species in Trinidad and Tobago (CRESTT), Michigan State University, the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, Sustainable Innovation Initiatives (SII), and alumnae of the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Program, Laura Baboolal and Aliya Hosein.

Two important project results were a greatly expanded understanding of the local and regional wildlife trade and, most importantly of all, a programme of action supported by a diverse group of local and regional NGOs. The Nurture Nature Campaign ultimately came to life with a planning workshop and MoU signing with coalition members in early 2020 and our public campaign launch in January 2021.