In this conversation, Dr. Stuart Pimm and Andy Schiffer speak with Malcolm Kobak, a Papuan-born conservation leader and co-founder of YAPPENDA. Malcolm reflects on his upbringing among the Yali people in the Papuan Highlands and how his family heritage and name shaped his identity. He also shares how twenty-five years in Canadian law enforcement influenced his perspective before returning home to help build an Indigenous-led conservation organization.

The discussion explores how YAPPENDA works with communities to secure land rights and support the protection of more than one million hectares of rainforest. Malcolm describes the connection between culture, land tenure, and forest stewardship in Tanah Papua and offers stories from YAPPENDA’s restoration sites, where nearly 10,000 trees were planted in 2024, including more than 3,000 mangroves.

A major focus is the rediscovery of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna in the Cyclops Mountains. Malcolm explains how the expedition was developed, the importance of trust with Indigenous landowners, and what this conservation breakthrough means for Papuan communities and for science.

Additional topics include education partnerships with UNCEN, UNIPA, and Oxford; efforts to provide elementary and adult conservation training; the integration of Indigenous knowledge with emerging tools such as AI-assisted wildlife monitoring; and the importance of livelihoods, women’s empowerment, and cultural resilience in designing effective conservation programs.

Malcolm concludes by sharing his long-term vision for the future of Tanah Papua and what meaningful support from the global community looks like.