Society for nature conservation SABUKO, with partner organizations BSPB (Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds) and DD (Doga Dernegi) and with support of the European Commission in 2018 embarked upon a project, called “Youth-led advocacy for wildlife conservation”.

The project’s overall aim was to enhance the capacity of youth in wildlife conservation.

Activities such as trainings, workshops and exchange programs have been successfully completed throughout the project.

On 3d and 4th of October, 2019, SABUKO organized and held the Capacity Building Conference for youth in Wildlife Research and Conservation in Georgia, Tbilisi. The attendees of the conference were the participants of YLAWC project, speakers from different organizations as well as countries and students – young researchers, who took chance to participate in the poster session along with discussions during these two days. The agenda included more than 10 sessions covering interactive workshops, presentations and panel discussions.

All of the topics related to Wildlife conservation in different perspectives: Challenges and Importance of participation and collaboration; Monitoring and data analyses of birds, Camera traps for wildlife monitoring, Photography in wildlife conservation, Agriculture practices; Illegal killing, Windfarms and Hydro power plants, CBD – Convention on Biological Diversity and etc. These two days meetings provided attendees with expanded learning and networking opportunities.

Despite limited time, the primary outcome of the conference was achieved – increased dissemination of knowledge on wildlife conservation among the youth enhanced by a dedicated group of professionals from different countries.