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As a toddler, Bella loved to go on adventures in her garden and watch the ants scurry and the snails glide as they went about their day-to-day life. When Bella grew older, her admiration and passion for nature continued – only now, she was able to venture wider than her garden. She travelled to other places, watched videos, read books and searched the Internet to see and learn about animals.
Bella discovered Sir David Attenborough’s videos and was in awe of his amazing work. She started writing him letters with questions and he would reply. Bella developed a special passion for Great Apes and was fascinated by the fact that we humans are really just another species of Great Ape.
When Bella was 11 years old, she watched a video about deforestation. She was horrified to learn that cutting down rainforests was causing Orangutans to lose their homes and die. ‘How could it be that we humans felt entitled to destroy the homes of an animal so closely related to us?’ she thought to herself. This marked the start of Bella’s campaigning. A few weeks later she spoke in an assembly at her school to encourage her classmates to join her in the fight against deforestation. She also set up a Twitter account to reach other young people who didn’t go to her school. And she hosted fundraisers such as lemonade stands to raise money for charities combatting deforestation.
Bella’s latest endeavour has been co-founding the charity Reserva. Reserva has a vision to create the first youth-funded nature reserve in the Choco rainforest in Ecuador, helping children and young adults raise money.
Bella believes that young people are in a perfect position to act. In 2021, Bella received the Points of Light award from the Prime Minister, recognising the change she is making. She says, ‘I think young people have an advantage – it’s rarer for them to be speaking out so when they do, people generally stop and listen.’
