Laurie Marker Executive Director of Cheetah Conservation Fund:The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between US$50-150 billion annually

BY Shaban Hadia

cheetahs are now found in only 23% of their historic African range due to habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and illegal trade

Before becoming Executive Director of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in 1990, Dr. Laurie Marker began her career working with cheetahs at Wildlife Safari, a wildlife park in the United States. She first traveled to South West Africa (now Namibia) while conducting research into the rewilding of captive-born cheetahs.

Dr. Marker’s research proved that cheetahs held in captivity could be taught to hunt but, more importantly, it was during this time she discovered livestock farmers were killing wild cheetah by the hundreds. Without intervention, the future of the species would be in jeopardy. For this reason, Dr. Marker decided to found CCF and move to Namibia.

The “30-30” initiative is not enough to protect ecosystems and we need many initiatives for our survival

What is Cheetah Conservation Fund and its purpose

The cheetah is the most endangered big cat in Africa with less than 7,000 individuals remaining in the wild.

In the past 100 years, cheetahs have lost over 90% of their habitat and over 90% of their populations, and are extinct in 20 counties.

Today, cheetah populations are found in 23 countries, in 31 populations with over 20 of the populations less than 100 individuals.

The cheetah is being pushed to the brink of extinction by multiple threats including Human Wildlife Conflict, Loss of Habitat and Prey, and the Illegal Wildlife Trade, all human caused.

In addition, the cheetah lacks genetic variation making them more vulnerable to ecological and environmental changes.

Over 80% of the remaining populations are found outside protected areas on rural livestock farmlands.

CCF was founded in 1990 by Dr. Laurie Marker, a conservation scientist and global leader in cheetah research and conservation.

CCF is an international non-profit organisation headquartered in Namibia with a field base in Somaliland, as well as working throughout other cheetah range countries.

CCF is the longest running and most successful cheetah conservation organisation worldwide, a global leader in research and conservation of cheetahs, dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.

Founded in Namibia in 1990, CCF is a registered charitable organization in Namibia with affiliates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Australia.

In addition, CCF has partner fundraising organizations in Germany.

CCF believes that understanding the cheetah’s biology, ecology, and interactions with people is essential to conserve the cheetah in the wild.

Its strategy is a three-pronged process of research, conservation, and education, beginning with long-term studies to understand and monitor the factors affecting the cheetah’s survival.

Results are used to develop conservation policies and education programs.

CCF works with local, national and international communities to raise awareness, communicate, and educate.

CCF has built a proven record of creating successful, innovative collaborations between environmentalists and local communities that offer a solution to the dilemma that so often thwarts species conservation efforts:

how do we motivate humans to view wildlife species as an asset to their future as opposed to being a roadblock?

CCF Vison Statement

To see a world where cheetah flourish in co-existence with people and the environment.

CCF Mission Statement

To be the internationally recognized centre of excellence in the conservation of cheetah and their ecosystems.

CCF will work with all stakeholders to develop best practices in research, education, and land use to benefit all species, including people.

Core Values

Fostering conservation, education, research, habitat protection, community involvement and developing policy to save the cheetah and its ecosystems.

Our core values are: Passion, Pride and Initiative in our work, Collaboration and Cooperation with Governments and other NGOS, Care for Animals and Local Communities.

How is financing Cheetah Conservation Fund?

CCF is a non-profit foundation and funds come from private donations and grants. CCF welcomes support and donations via its website – http://www.cheetah.org

It is better to have cheetahs within their open ecosystem in forests or to be in zoos or parks and public parks?

CCF is dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.

Cheetahs used to thrive in numbers of over 100,000 over a range that stretched across most of Africa through Asia; today there are less than 7,000 remaining, occupying only 9% of their natural range.

The cheetah is Africa’s most endangered big cat. Namibia, with an estimated 1,500 wild adult and adolescent cheetahs, has approximately a fifth of the remaining cheetahs.

It is better to keep cheetahs in the wild – problems facing cheetahs include loss of habitat, loss of prey, human wildlife conflict and illegal wildlife pet trade.

80% of all wild cheetahs are found outside protected areas and share land with humans and their livestock –

Zoos pay a key role in maintaining a genetically healthy captive population which can be used to restock ranges where cheetahs once lived.

Soon there will be programs which is called a One Plan, where the captive and wild populations will be working together to save the wild cheetahs.

Zoos play a key role in research and conservation.

Cheetahs do not breed will in captivity and all the captive cheetahs are a part of global management plans, working together to maximize the genetic variation within the populations.

Laurie Marker Executive Director of Cheetah Conservation Fund

Cheetahs are predators. Does protecting predators save the environment?

Cheetahs play a key role in the health of ecosystems and help maintain and grow biodiversity with in their environment. As a top predator, they also feed the ecosystem.

Are cheetahs becoming more at risk of extinction than before? How to protect it from extinction?

Yes, they are running their most important race – the race for survival.

The cheetah is the most endangered big cat in Africa with less than 7,000 individuals remaining in the wild.

In the past 100 years, cheetahs have lost over 90% of their habitat and over 90% of their populations, and are extinct in 20 counties.

Today, cheetah populations are found in 23 countries, in 31 populations with over 20 of the populations less than 100 individuals.

The cheetah is being pushed to the brink of extinction by multiple threats including Human Wildlife Conflict, Loss of Habitat and Prey, and the Illegal Wildlife Trade, all human caused.

In addition, the cheetah lacks genetic variation making them more vulnerable to ecological and environmental changes. Over 80% of the remaining populations are found outside protected areas on rural livestock farmlands.

Compounding this, the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is on track to double by 2050.

Double. The continent is not prepared to handle the strain of this explosive growth.

Conservation will take a back seat to concerns about clean water, housing, food supply and other human issues. Wildlife species on the tipping point will certainly be lost.

We only have a small window to secure a future for cheetahs, so we must act decisively. NOW.

Are African countries able to protect wildlife or the ecosystem?

Namibia is a model for wildlife conservation – through its Constitution that was the 1st in the world to put the protection of the environment in its constitution and laws that have supported Community Based Natural Resource Management, Namibia has over 45% of its country under conservation.

Namibia is famous for its conservancies – today there are over 85 conservancies where communities live in harmony with wildlife and nature. Kenya has also developed very successful conservancies.

There needs to be vision, leadership and good government laws in order to move forward.

What is the size of the black market for trade in cheetah? How can it be addressed?

Although trade in wildlife species products is regulated by both international and national laws, the illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between US$50-150 billion annually.

Cheetahs, listed as an Appendix 1 species under CITES, are often removed from the wild for their body parts or, more so, the illegal pet trade.

CCF has been monitoring illegal cheetah trafficking and organizing confiscations through the proper authorities whenever possible.

CCF works to educate the public about illegal trade. Even though the intrinsic nature of illegal wildlife trafficking makes it difficult to collect full or reliable information, CCF has recorded hundreds of cases involving nearly 2,000 cheetahs.

CCF holds the most extensive database for illegal cheetah trafficking worldwide.

CCF takes every opportunity at national and international forums to ensure that the problem is not ignored CCF participates in the CITES inter-sessional working group on the illegal trade in cheetah and was instrumental in making recommendations unanimously adopted by CITES at CoP17.

The trade is ongoing, with research showing:

• 1,884 incidents of trade over the decade between 2010-2019 at least 4,184 individuals (87% live animals)

• These are equivalent to nearly 200 incidents per year involving over 400 animals.

• Trade detected in 15 range states and 41 non-cheetah range states

• Preliminary data from 2020 to date shows at minimum 205 cheetah in trade (based only on confiscation cases and reported cases to CCF in Somaliland)

• Data collection in demand countries is not conducted due to lack of resource sand appropriate bodies to conduct it (sensitive data)

• To stop the trade, CCF is implementing the following projects:

• CCF will work to reduce cheetah trafficking and poaching in the Horn of Africa (HoA) by developing a comprehensive monitoring strategy for cheetah populations on the ecological and molecular level, to understand the sources of cheetah cubs in illegal trade, and levels of human-wildlife conflict for informing environmental strategies in the HoA.

Provide robust scientific data, through surveying and genetic sampling to governments in Somaliland, Puntland, and SRS Ethiopia to strengthen the development of data-driven National Conservation Plans.

In addition, veterinary capacity will be built to allow emergency care of confiscated cubs in Ethiopia.

• “Enhancing transboundary wildlife conservation in the IGAD Region – Opportunities for regional legal harmonization”.

To enhance transboundary wildlife conservation and presented the national legal status quo and opportunities for legal harmonization.

to develop an IGAD legal instrument on transboundary conservation.

• Strengthening the protection of wildlife resources at the community, national, and regional levels in Ethiopia and Somaliland.

At the community level, the project will develop a Community-Based Natural Resource Management conservancy and train community members in livestock and predator management to reduce human-wildlife conflict.

At the national level, to develop new wildlife crime information exchange platforms, and support the redrafting of Forestry and Wildlife Laws.

On a regional level, the project will create an IGAD-level legal protocol for national anti-trafficking task forces.

• CCF is working to assess the feasibility of implementing Namibia’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) approach and conservancy model in Somaliland to mitigate conflicts between rural communities and wildlife, reduce wildlife crime, and build local governance systems.

The project aims to develop a governance system through workshops with local government stakeholders and training materials for integrated livestock, wildlife, and rangeland management.

CCF aims to reduce wildlife trafficking while promoting rural livelihoods and conservation in Somaliland through three outcomes.

Establishing a Wildlife Crime Task Force and sending a wildlife crime investigator to mentor and open communication lines between government agencies and law enforcement.

Wildlife Observers will be set up and FFA training conducted in communities along the Somaliland-Ethiopia border to promote sustainable agricultural practices and prevent human-wildlife conflict and to integrate wildlife conservation activities with other development measures .

• CCF is working in the demand countries to raise awareness and work with the governments to strengthen their laws.

There is a project to transfer a number of cheetahs to India – is such a procedure correct and environmentally acceptable?

Yes, The cheetahs, once a vital part of India’s ecosystem, faced a tragic decline, with the last recorded sighting in the 1950s, marking their local extinction.

However, the vision of reintroducing these charismatic animals emerged, driven by a collective determination to restore ecological balance and preserve India’s biodiversity.

Does biodiversity become a victim of global economic conditions, especially in poor and developing countries?

Yes, there are direct and indirect benefits to biodiversity – the loss of biodiversity not only threatens economics but also the future of life on earth.

What are the risks of governments and the world not paying attention to restoring wild nature?

the loss of biodiversity not only threatens economics but also the future of life on earth.

We are at a tipping point in terms of safeguarding nature.

Biodiversity is like keeping money in the bank – we can’t keep withdrawing it and expect it to survive! As we diminish the stock, we undermine the entire global systems.

Over 50% of the world’s GDP is dependent on ecosystem services.

How can we protect wildlife and what is its significance?

To protect – we need good laws and policies – locally and internationally – community education and awareness. Development of conservancies.

Businesses take a leading role – certifications programs for good ecosystem stewardship – supported by consumers.

How climate change affects biodiversity?

Biodiversity regulates all the planets biological processes and enables organisms to adapt to their environments. The affects of climate change are detrimental to life on earth.

2% increase in temperature will affect biodiversity. We have still a lot to learn about the delicate balance of the ecosystems and their greater interactions with the wider environment and the weather.

In areas where the cheetah lives, these are some of the hottest places on earth.

As the earth gets hotter the will affect the water, the grasslands, and all the species within the systems and the rising temperatures can force animals to move outside of their usual patterns in search of food and livable conditions This then pushes wildlife into other areas and others may die off.

Climate change is the main driver of biodiversity loss. The destruction of ecosystems undermines the environments ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and increases extreme weather.

It’s a vicious cycle which greater impacts biodiversity.

Do Climate Conferences affect wildlife protection?

Climate Change conferences typically have not discussed wildlife protection – biodiversity is touched on, but is not highlighted as it should. Over 50% of the world’s GDP is dependent on ecosystem services.

How dangerous is the expansion of the Red List of endangered species.

We are in the 6th Global extinction. By 2050 we will have lost over 40% of the worlds terrestrial wildlife

• Global diversity loss (IUCN Red List ‘Critically Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’) 25 % of mammals 14 % of birds and 41 % amphibians

• Extensive large carnivore decline and shrinking ranges

• What are the environmental and social benefits of protecting ecosystems

Biodiversity regulates all the planets biological processes and enables organisms to adapt to their environments.

Over 50% of the world’s GDP is dependent on ecosystem services.

the loss of biodiversity not only threatens economics but also the future of life on earth.

Survival for humans and the species we share the earth with.

• Is the UN – sponsored 30*30 initiative sufficient to protect animals, land and oceans?

Probably not – but it is a start! We need to really get going on taking initiatives – and growing them – for our own survival.

• Can Cop28 solve one aspect of the global biodiversity loss crisis.

No but talk is good! Action is better – let us hope some action really comes out of the Cop28.

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