My focus on climate and conservation is not just academic; it's a personal mission born from my lived experience. I grew up in Mbolive, a village in Cameroon where over 90% of people depended on agriculture. My family and our community would trek to farm in an area we called Mbamkov,which literally means 'the place that was once covered with forest.' Between my childhood and today, I witnessed a profound and accelerating crisis. I saw the River Mbolive dry up, forcing my community to migrate daily for water. I watched as farms that once sustained us stopped yielding. This was driven by a double threat: the escalating impacts of climate change,like prolonged dry spells,and unsustainable local practices like slash-and-burn agriculture, which destroyed the forest, degraded the soil, and shattered the ecosystem. The consequences were devastating and personal. My parents sponsored my education from that struggling farmland. I saw a generation, from around 2005 onward, lose their livelihood. Productivity plummeted, exacerbated by new climate-driven pests like the fall armyworm. Many from my community were forced to migrate in search of new land or urban work. Witnessing this direct link between environmental collapse and human displacement ignited my resolve. That’s why I pursued a degree in Geography at the University of Yaoundé, with the direct aim of finding solutions. This academic path gave me the tools to analyze the systemic nature of the crisis. For my Master’s thesis, I researched post-harvest management and its socio-economic impacts. The work was an eye-opener; it revealed how climate vulnerability and ecosystem loss create cascading failures that entrench poverty. This journey,from seeing the dried riverbed in my village to understanding the data behind the decline,has shaped my entire perspective. It compels me to advocate not just for local solutions, but for the protection of vital global ecosystems like the Congo Basin and the Amazon. I understand that the battle my community faces is a microcosm of a global challenge. For me, climate action is a collective battle for our collective survival and dignity.