Reading Text - Week6

John Kasaona grew up in Namibia learning survival skills from his father, like how to scare off a cheetah or appear big to a lion. This prepared him for a career in wildlife conservation. In the 1970s and 80s, Namibia faced problems like war, poverty, and drought that led to poaching and endangered species. An organization called IRDNC hired local poachers, including Kasaona's father, to help protect wildlife using their knowledge of the animals. This approach was successful - the Kunene region now has over 130 lions compared to just 20 in 1995, and black rhinos have been brought back from near extinction. Protected land also generates tourism income for Namibia.

Uploaded by

MIra

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

100% found this document useful (1 vote)

769 views

Reading Text - Week6

Uploaded by

MIra

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 1

Reading text: Meeting 6

English for Architecture

John Kasaona
Community Based Conservationist
How Poachers Became Caretakers
When John Kasaona was a boy growing up in Namibia, his father took him into the
bush to teach him how to take care of the family’s livestock. His father said, “If you see a
cheetah eating our goat, walk up to it and smack it on the backside.” A cheetah is a very nervous
animal. If a person confronts it, it will probably run away. John also learned how to deal with
a lion by standing very still and making himself look very big. These were useful lessons for a
boy who became a wildlife conservationist. As Kasaona says, “it is very important if you are
in the field to know what to confront and what to run from.”

Kasaona was born in 1971. At that time, Namibia had many problems. The country was
at war from 1966 to 1990. Because of the fighting, many people had rifles. This caused a
secondary problem—poaching. For example, poachers killed many black rhinos for their
horns, which were very valuable. To make things even worse, around 1980, a terrible drought
killed people, livestock, and wildlife. By 1995, there were only 20 lions left in the Kunene
region in the northwest of the country, where Kasaona’s family lives. Many other species were
also endangered.

At the same time, positive changes were taking place. A non-governmental

organization, the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) began
working in Namibia to protect wildlife. They met with village leaders to ask who would be
able to work with them. They needed people who knew the bush well, and who understood
how wild animals lived. The answer was surprising: work with local poachers. It seemed crazy,
but it also made sense. After all, if you spend your time hunting for animals, you will know
where they live and how they behave. So IRDNC hired a group of poachers, including
Kasaona’s own father, to help protect wildlife in Namibia.

Since then, the situation has changed dramatically. The Kunene region now has more
than 130 lions. The black rhino, almost extinct in 1982, has come back and there are now many
free-roaming black rhinos in Kunene. Most importantly, more land than ever is under
conservation. That protected land generates money from tourism for Namibia to use in
education, health care, and other important programs for its people. John Kasaona explains,
“We were successful in Namibia because we dreamed of a future that was much more than just
a healthy wildlife.” That success is now a model for other African countries.