Dan Marsh, Director of Education at the award-winning Cincinnati Zoo, presents a wildlife conservation talk on “Success and Consequences: Who does Namibia’s wildlife belong to?”

Sponsored by Individualized Studies (Western Program) and the Western Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Miami University.

Southern African countries have seen remarkable localized wildlife conservation success in the past two decades. Notable among these countries is Namibia, in the southwest region of the continent, which has the only growing population of black rhinos and lion on the African continent. Concurrent with this, the international community has been very vocal about how Namibia should manage certain species. This has agitated a long-smoldering tension that flashed recently with Namibia threatening to lead southern Africa out of the CITES accord. This development raises important questions, such as:
1. Who does Southern Africa’s wildlife belong to?
2. What options do African nations have when wildlife populations reach carrying capacity?
3. How much control should the developed world have over wildlife that resides in developing countries?