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"Working with SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove brings value to all sides of the partnership." |
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Partnership activities: Earlier this year, the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund awarded
Friends of Conservation (FOC) a grant aimed at educating youth in Masai Mara, Kenya about the
incredible biodiversity in their own backyard and the value of wildlife, habitats and environmental
governance. In the greater Mara region, 25 percent of the area is wildlife reserve, while the
remaining 75 percent is unprotected rangeland largely owned and managed by the Maasai community. Much
of the area's wildlife relies on this unprotected land as habitat during annual migrations. Over the
past 20 years, more than half of Kenya's wildlife has been lost due to changing livelihoods - rapid
population growth, large-scale farming and commercial livestock production. Through both formal,
in-school programs and informal "mobile" units, FOC's Youth Education Programme reaches children who
will become the region's future landowners and decision makers, introducing them to alternative and
sustainable agriculture and land use practices that work for both people and wildlife.
Partner perspective: "In greater Mara, only 50 percent of children attend school," said Richard
Hartley, FOC's executive director. "The critical support from the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens
Conservation Fund has allowed us to reach Maasai youth otherwise left behind with the means to
understand sustainable natural resource management. These kids will become decision-makers in the next
decade. Instilling a sense of pride and ownership for their land. |
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