In 2001, a young man named Josh’s Ponte responded to a newspaper ad seeking out a Conservationist to live in Gabon with sixteen Gorillas and a handful of scientists to help the government create a network of national parks to protect more than eleven percent of the country. Gabon is an extraordinary place. This West African nation is home to some of the world’s most precious and unique biodiversity. But perhaps most crucially, Gabon is home to the ‘Lungs of Africa’ - the planet’s most important forest ecosystem after the Amazon. As one of the world’s few highly forested, low deforestation nations, this natural, green superpower plays a central role in the global fight against climate change. Josh is now Creative Director of the African Conservation Development Group - a company at the heart of efforts to get this ‘Green Capital’ acknowledged and accredited on the global stage. At COP26 in Glasgow, Josh sat down with freuds’ Zulum Elumogo to discuss his journey, Gabon’s status as a Global Carbon Superpower and the power of storytelling in conservation.