Radical collaboration: Adult ducks usher their ducklings away from imminent danger Linden Young
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
“Radical collaboration is hard. It requires us to adopt a different mindset; it requires us to listen to, share and work with people who we may have previously seen as competitors.” Christiana Figueres, 10 years ago she masterminded a global collaboration on climate action. Known as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, it unified all nations on a pathway to keep global warming at or below 1.5°C.
Our previous story Why is Echidna Walkabout a ‘Travel for Nature’ Leader?, was about Goal 1: Climate Action in our Conservation Travel policy. This article is about Goal 2: Global & Local Collaboration
Key Takeaways
- Radical collaboration requires a shift in mindset to work with potential competitors for urgent solutions.
- Examples of successful radical collaboration include the Paris Agreement and the global vaccine effort during Covid-19.
- Radical collaboration is essential for addressing climate and biodiversity crises in travel, as traditional methods often fail.
- Echidna Walkabout engages in various collaborations to promote conservation, including supporting the Koala Clancy Foundation.
- By leveraging collective action, radical collaboration fosters lasting change and builds stronger community connections.
All communal animals, including humans, use radical collaboration to escape danger. A flock of birds chased by a falcon, a school of fish attacked by a shark or a mob of kangaroos hunted by dingoes; they all devise instant, radical, strategies for avoiding the predator.
Most of humanity’s highest achievements have resulted from radical collaboration. Examples abound and include the global anti-apartheid movement that culminated in the collapse of South Africa’s pro-apartheid regime. Another more recent example was the collaboration between science and industry to create vaccines against Covid-19, breaking all records in the process.
Another stunning collaboration was ten years ago last week when 98% of nations signed the Paris Climate Agreement to accelerate climate action.
In my life I have been involved in radical collaborations with numerous organisations that have successfully changed the course of history so that we now have national parks and world heritage areas in north Queensland, south-west Tasmania, Kakadu and Eastern Victoria.
None of these wins could have happened without radical collaboration.
But what is radical collaboration?
What makes radical collaboration different from regular collaboration is an urgency, especially in times of difficulty, to purposely step beyond what is easy and find radical solutions. Some solutions may be immediate, others take time, but it’s always imminent peril that forces radical decisions.
But often we humans avoid being “radical” because we think it’s somehow antisocial. Imagine the result if the bird chased by a falcon stopped to ponder its radical escape plans? Bye bye bird!
So in the face of human-induced climate and nature crises on a global scale, looking for radical solutions must be embraced as being positive and prosocial.
As Christiana Figueres says: “Radical collaboration pushes past the status quo and shakes up power dynamics.” (In The Guardian: “If we keep abusing nature it will collapse, taking us with it. We need a new mindset.” Nov 2022)
Joining others to think outside the box
By locking ourselves into thinking there is only one solution to a problem we ignore other solutions that may be viable alternatives. Of those there may only be a few worth considering but that’s better than one. Choosing the right solution is then just a matter of a group agreeing to work together to make it happen.
One of the best — and funniest — examples I’ve seen of thinking outside the box was in the 2001 Australian television series, “Bush Mechanics”, where a group of First Nations men use radical collaboration to keep old cars on the road. Watch “BUSH MECHANICS – The Original film” (the flat tyre fix at 8:15 minutes is a classic radical collaboration)
Why is radical collaboration important to Echidna Walkabout’s all-in-one plan?
Some of the world’s current problems are at a point where we can no longer rely on traditional solutions. Two problems directly affecting travel are the climate and biodiversity crises. As destinations become less desirable due to extreme weather or nature loss (or both) the travel industry becomes increasingly vulnerable as people cut or curb their travelling.
Urgent solutions are required which is where radical collaboration comes in. Concurrent with the evolution of the Paris Climate Agreement, many commercial enterprises have changed the way they do business by building in solutions that reduce carbon emissions and support biodiversity.
Some major advocacy groups have arisen including the We Mean Business Coalition which Echidna Walkabout supports. At the time of writing this 12,099 businesses, globally, supported the Coalition.
It’s Now For Nature is another coalition having enormous success convincing businesses to create Nature Strategies where business plays an active role in protecting nature.
In 2021 Echidna Walkabout was a launch partner of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism that was signed off at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. The Declaration is managed by the United Nations’ One Planet Network and currently has over 400 tourism business signatories including some from Australia.
In our previous article we mentioned our relationship with Sustainable Travel International that is providing us with support as we build our plans for reducing our carbon footprint as part of our Travel for Nature solutions. Included in our collaboration with STI is a radical approach to carbon offsetting that includes ethical, community led action on biodiversity in a number of countries. You can read about one of them here: Keo Seima Community Offset Project in Cambodia
Radical Collaboration in Australia
Echidna Walkabout help found the Koala Clancy Foundation and we continue to contribute $10 from every person on our tours to the Foundation. You too can help grow koala forests here
We were a founding member of the Australian Wildlife Journeys that advocates for biodiversity solutions by supporting businesses that showcase wildlife in the wild. Part of doing that is through a major sustainability policy that all members are encouraged to emulate.
As a subsidiary of Australian Geographic Travel, Echidna Walkabout helps contribute to Australian Geographic’s overall profits, all of which are donated to conservation programs through its charity the Australian Geographic Society. Donations support conservation projects throughout Australia.
3 reasons why radical collaboration works
Having been directly involved in many projects that used radical collaboration to prioritise change I can share how success changes you and the world around you:
- In difficult times new ideas bring people together to build purposeful changes
- Changes made by collective input last longer because they are flexible and have strong foundations in the community that built them. The conquests of Apartheid and Covid-19 are prime examples of successful, long term solutions.
- Because radical collaborators work as a collective, they build bridges that channel ideas to broader networks which tend to grow exponentially, becoming stronger. On the other hand, combative competition has a tendency to become isolated, defensive and weak.
Now is the time for tourism to build on radical collaboration.
Help unleash the power of Conservation Travel
Step into the future of travel. Join one of our Conservation Travel tours. An increasing number of these tours include an important Citizen Science project.
➡️Echidna Walkabout is a Founding Member of Australian Wildlife Journeys.
➡️We create, guide and operate tours for Australian Geographic Travel
➡️$10 from every person on tour goes to Koala Clancy Foundation
➡️Donate to Koala Clancy here
