News

Reimagining our relationship with the ocean begins by remembering we were never separate from it

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:31:49 +0200

I didn’t grow up near the ocean. But the moment I was properly in it, not standing at the edge, not wading, but actually in it, something shifted. Not dramatically. More like a recognition. Like remembering something I hadn’t known I’d forgotten. That’s the thing about the ocean. It doesn’t feel like an introduction. It feels like a reunion. And I’ve been trying to understand why ever since.

For most children, the ocean first arrives as a place attached to memory. A family holiday. Wet slippers in a hotel corridor. Sand stubbornly stuck to the backseat of the car. A horizon that feels endless in a way children notice instinctively. They arrive with buckets and leave with sand in their shoes and salt on their skin, carrying the ocean back with them without knowing it. Without realising that, in a sense, they never left it.

Because the ocean is not somewhere we visit. It is something we are already woven into, something that has been part of us long before any of us first stood at the edge of the sea. And one of the quietest, most important things we can do, for children, for the communities they will grow into, for the future of life on this planet, is help them remember that.

World Wildlife Day 2026: A Unified Global Response to Wildlife Trafficking

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:45:48 +0100

Integrating Biodiversity Protection Across Species, Landscapes, and Communities

World Wildlife Day, celebrated every year on 3 March, is the largest global annual day dedicated to wildlife. The date marks the conclusion of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In this blog Dr Zara Bending talks about this year’s theme, including how chimpanzees enjoy a special connection to it.

Our 2025 summary

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:03:47 +0100

We are really grateful and proud of what we achieved this year :

More than 12,745 trees planted all over Belgium with 6 tree plantings organised, which supports the reforestation of 275,000 trees in Burundi.
Our commitment to education and youth empowerment led us to conduct 333 workshops with 6,923 children across Belgium, we have nearly doubled since last year!
We received more than 2000€ of donations for helping the chimps and supporting our work in Chimp Eden sanctuary and Dindefelo Reserve in Africa. To our actual Chimp Guardians who have supported the centra on a recurrent basis, we express our deepest gratitude for being part of this mission year after year.

Release of a children's book in Belgium in collaboration with Jane

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 11:59:39 +0200

Willow the Nature Hero is back with a brand-new adventure, and this time he has some special company!
None other than Jane Goodall, world-renowned biologist, anthropologist, and pioneer in chimpanzee research. The book, created in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute Belgium takes children aged 5 and up to the lush jungles of Tanzania.