The Missing Middle: Parataxonomists as a Foundation for Peace

Natacha Merritt, Compound Eyes Foundation (France)

Ecological degradation, conflict, and human trafficking cascade from climate stress. As climate reshapes local economies, it intensifies food insecurity and migration pressure, fueling both armed conflict and exploitation while peacebuilding has historically treated the environment as resource management rather than a system for preventing conflict. Uganda shows the paradox: policy exists, implementation is fragile. With 16% protected land and shared park revenues, the ecology-livelihood link is recognized, yet violent conflict persists. Only 3-6% of communities recognize the vulnerability dynamics. What is missing: a trained workforce of conservation scientists and parataxonomists generating verifiable data to prevent conflict. Survivors Saving Biodiversity trains trafficking survivors as conservation scientists in Uganda, generating verifiable data on the ecology-conflict-trafficking nexus. Anchored in home communities and run with EverFree, Makerere, and Mbarara Universities, designed to create livelihoods while driving policy and community-level change. A retail job stabilizes one individual; a conservation science role shifts the vulnerability equation of an entire community. SSBI reframes conservation workforce development as a core strategy for environmental peacebuilding.