In early 2010 The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) contacted Cheetah Conservation Botswana to be a partner to develop a national Needs Assessment for Conservation. The Smithsonian had received funding to carry out conservation related capacity building workshops in Southern Africa and selected Botswana as a focus country. CCB was asked to assist with contacting conservation practitioners in country to start off the process. There was a great national response from Botswana and a conference was planned to further develop Botswana’s conservation capacity needs. Topics that the Smithsonian could provide support for included: reducing human wildlife conflict; combating illegal trade; community based natural resource management and biodiversity monitoring. The conference took place in Gaborone on August 10-12th and was well attended by 32 participants who spent 3 days developing and prioritizing potential training programs for the country. It was extremely successful and the next step will be to decide on which of the training programs will take place in 2011. Many thanks to the Smithsonian group for choosing Botswana as the recipient for this significant support!
As well as the Smithsonian conference, in July CCB held a successful series of workshops with Conservation International in the Western Kalahari Conservation Corridor (WKCC). The first workshop was for service providers that work with the regions farming community to discuss how we can most effectively support the farmers to reduce the high levels of predator conflict currently existing in the region. The following workshops were held for farmers to distribute the manual developed by CCB and CI for farmers and discuss the best way to implement improvements to current methods of livestock and range management to maximize production and reduce predation. The workshops were very well attended and well received and a great spirit of mutual support was developed. The next steps are a competition for the Best Farmer in the WKCC; testing of promoted methods at 4 locations, 10 mobile workshops to raise awareness for predator conservation and best management practices; school talks across the region and a teacher training workshop to encourage the infusion of conservation education into schools in the WKCC. Many thanks to Conservation International and the farmers and service providers of the WKCC for making this initiative such a success so far.
As well as the Smithsonian conference, in July CCB held a successful series of workshops with Conservation International in the Western Kalahari Conservation Corridor (WKCC). The first workshop was for service providers that work with the regions farming community to discuss how we can most effectively support the farmers to reduce the high levels of predator conflict currently existing in the region. The following workshops were held for farmers to distribute the manual developed by CCB and CI for farmers and discuss the best way to implement improvements to current methods of livestock and range management to maximize production and reduce predation. The workshops were very well attended and well received and a great spirit of mutual support was developed. The next steps are a competition for the Best Farmer in the WKCC; testing of promoted methods at 4 locations, 10 mobile workshops to raise awareness for predator conservation and best management practices; school talks across the region and a teacher training workshop to encourage the infusion of conservation education into schools in the WKCC. Many thanks to Conservation International and the farmers and service providers of the WKCC for making this initiative such a success so far.
RSS Feed
