Day One: Pathways Africa Conference Windhoek, Namibia
January 8, 2018
After a 30 hour journey through Airports and daunting security checks, I’ve arrived in Windhoek, Namibia for the Pathways Africa Conference. Pathways is a conference and training program
esigned to address the myriad of issues that arise as people and wildlife struggle to coexist in a sustainable and healthy manner. I’ve been invite by Dr. Laurie Marker, founding director of CCF Cheetah Conservation Fund, to help facilitate the workshop as part of my AZA SAFE Cheetah public Engagement responsibilities. The conference and workshop is a critical wildlife conservation effort, with participates form all over the world. Including many of the NGO The Living Desert Supports, i.e. representatives from Action for Cheetahs in Kenya and The Grevy's Zebra Trust. Other participants representing 12 African countries including Namibia, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and several other African Nations. The mission of the conference is to increase professionalism and effectiveness in the human dimensions of fisheries and wildlife management field.
The conference intends to set the precedent for future research, innovation, and collaboration and also to further the application of research in the field of human dimensions of wildlife
management in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Pathways is important for Africa and conservation where so many innovative and interesting wildlife management projects are based. Pathways Africa in Windhoek, Namibia features visionary Wildlife managers, leaders in conservation policy, and the students and academics that are forging new frontiers.
Pathways Africa (Namibia) will include a training workshop (3-day hands-on training with emersion) Jan. 6th – 11th 2018 for early and mid-career field staff at the Safari Hotel in Windhoek, Namibia. This capacity building training will provide a unique and valuable opportunity for practitioners to exchange ideas and build their human dimensions tool box. Training participants will attend skill building sessions focused on community-based conservation and monitoring, education, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, communication, and more. The hands-on portion will be immediately followed by the Pathways Africa Conference (Jan. 8th – 11th 2018), at which trainees will have the opportunity to present. These interactions will provide them with excellent examples of the breadth and depth of human dimensions research and application as well as networking opportunities.
Dr. Marker and the team from Colorado State university have assembled a team of volunteers to coordinate the proceedings. Today we helped prepare the meeting rooms, stuffed swag bags, organized registration and greeted the training attendees.
