Invited paper

Building Capacity for Biodiversity Conservation: Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP)

Madhu Rao, Nora Bynum and Eleanor Sterling

In many countries, lack of access to educational and training resources is one of the greatest obstacles to building capacity in biodiversity conservation. To address this issue, the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and its partners have developed the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). NCEP is an international initiative to design, create, and foster the implementation of a comprehensive set of teaching and learning materials in support of biodiversity conservation.

The key goal of NCEP is to improve the practice of biodiversity conservation by improving training in biodiversity conservation. 

NCEP seeks to: 
   • Connect teachers of biodiversity conservation with practitioners of biodiversity conservation; 
   • Create and make widely available a variety of teaching and training resources in biodiversity conservation; and 
   • Develop networks and resource centers to increase mentoring and training opportunities in biodiversity conservation worldwide.

One of the most important tangible products of NCEP is a series of modules designed to serve as resources for teachers and trainers. Each module includes an expert synthesis of a key topic in biodiversity conservation, an easily modified classroom presentation, practical problem-solving exercises for the field and classroom, a teacher’s guide to module use, and a collection of original scientific literature. NCEP and its partners have produced a set of core modules in English, Spanish, French, Lao, and Vietnamese.

Workshops are another important NCEP tool. Since 2001, the CBC and its partners have held more than 15 NCEP workshops in Bolivia, Mexico, Laos, Vietnam, Madagascar and the U.S.A, working with more than 400 faculty members, practitioners and students from 167 institutions. As the NCEP initiative continues to develop, the focus of training events will shift from module development and review, to module usage and content training for an ever-expanding circle of conservation professionals and university faculty members.

The NCEP website: http://ncep.amnh.org

Dr. Madhu Rao is an Associate Conservation Scientist and Technical Advisor, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) program in Myanmar. In her current position, she coordinates the activities of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners in Asia. She has had extensive experience in training and working with national counterparts to design, monitor and adaptively manage field conservation projects in the tropics, in particular in Venezuela, India and Myanmar. Her research interests include conservation planning, wildlife use and protected area effectiveness. She has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level at Duke University, USA and has been a visiting researcher with the Department of Zoology, Cambridge University. 

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