You might be wondering how I went from waking up at five in the morning, to a fleeting glimpse of a black rhinoceros in the northwestern corner of Namibia, and from there to forming a team that would create the most ambitious environmental award in history. The answer lies in a critical contradiction that this visit revealed to me, between the optimism and determination I observed there, and the anger and despair that would flood the headlines of the world just a few weeks later. The diverse wildlife I saw thriving during that visit was etched into my heart and memory. The model of community organizations is an excellent example of how a simple, optimistic solution can lead to long-term benefits for both nature and people. Above all, it is a success story worth repeating and scaling up. I wanted to find a way to combine this innovation with the community spirit that gave birth to it and to produce it on a large scale, globally.

However, when I returned to the United Kingdom, as the world's attention was now focused on the next round of climate change negotiations in Poland, I was struck by the wave of global pessimism. The headlines were dominated by a sense that world leaders were not moving fast enough. There were many accusations, deep political and geographical divisions. For those of us watching from afar, the scene was concerning. Of course, I understood where this despair was coming from. The challenge facing our planet is enormous. We are entering the decade that scientists consider the most critical in history. People have fished too many fish from the sea. They have cut down too many trees, burned too much coal, produced too much waste. The damage we are causing is now increasing at an exponential rate, and we are rapidly reaching a critical point.