International group ‘running wild’ in Namibia

NAMIBIA is playing host to the second annual international course in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management attended by 21 participants from nine countries.

The programme is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Training Programme (WCMTP), and is presented in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) and Wilderness Safaris (WS). “Conservation transcends borders and individual lifetimes.Education and training are the tools to sustain biodiversity for the future.We are pleased to collaborate in this important international course,” said CCF Director, Dr Laurie Marker in a press release issued by the CCF.The month-long course runs until July 29.According to the CCF, the course instructors are international and national experts in the areas of conservation biology, landscape ecology, population genetics, veterinary medicine and reproduction.The first week took place at the Ministry of Higher Education’s Training Centre in Windhoek.Following that, the participants are exposed to field research techniques at CCF’s Research and Education Centre near Otjiwarongo.The last part of the course includes a couple of days in Etosha at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s Training Centre at Namutoni.Course topics include population genetics and biology, biodiversity inventory and monitoring, animal ecology and behaviour and protected areas management.Each student is expected to conduct a variety of individual and group projects.Many of the course participants are professionals from the ministries of nature conservation or agriculture in their countries.They come from Algeria, Indonesia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, and the United States, as well as from different regions of Namibia.The course leader is Dr Rudy Rudran from the Smithsonian Institution’s National – this one is his 100th.His score includes well over 2 000 trainees from more than 80 countries.The second International Training Course in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management is the fourth in a series of six courses funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Topics at past courses have included environmental education and game capture.Additional courses in the series are scheduled for 2004.”Conservation transcends borders and individual lifetimes.Education and training are the tools to sustain biodiversity for the future.We are pleased to collaborate in this important international course,” said CCF Director, Dr Laurie Marker in a press release issued by the CCF.The month-long course runs until July 29.According to the CCF, the course instructors are international and national experts in the areas of conservation biology, landscape ecology, population genetics, veterinary medicine and reproduction.The first week took place at the Ministry of Higher Education’s Training Centre in Windhoek.Following that, the participants are exposed to field research techniques at CCF’s Research and Education Centre near Otjiwarongo.The last part of the course includes a couple of days in Etosha at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s Training Centre at Namutoni.Course topics include population genetics and biology, biodiversity inventory and monitoring, animal ecology and behaviour and protected areas management.Each student is expected to conduct a variety of individual and group projects.Many of the course participants are professionals from the ministries of nature conservation or agriculture in their countries.They come from Algeria, Indonesia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, and the United States, as well as from different regions of Namibia.The course leader is Dr Rudy Rudran from the Smithsonian Institution’s National – this one is his 100th.His score includes well over 2 000 trainees from more than 80 countries.The second International Training Course in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management is the fourth in a series of six courses funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Topics at past courses have included environmental education and game capture.Additional courses in the series are scheduled for 2004.