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I'm a lion conservationist.
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Sounds cool, doesn't it?
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Some people may have no idea what that means.
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But I'm sure you've all heard about Cecil the lion.
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[Cecil the Lion (2002-2015)]
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(Lion roaring)
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He roars no more.
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On the second of July, 2015,
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his life was cut short when he was killed by a trophy hunter.
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They say that you can become attached to the animals you study.
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That was the case for me with Cecil the lion,
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having known him and studied him for three years
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in Hwange National Park.
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I was heartbroken at his death.
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But the good thing to come out of this tragedy
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is the attention that the story brought
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towards the plight of threatened wild animals.
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After Cecil's death,
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I began to ask myself these questions:
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What if the community that lived next to Cecil the lion
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was involved in protecting him?
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What if I had met Cecil when I was 10 years old, instead of 29?
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Could I or my classmates have changed his fate?
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Many people are working to stop lions from disappearing,
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but very few of these people are native to these countries
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or from the communities most affected.
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But the communities that live with the lions
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are the ones best positioned to help lions the most.
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Local people should be at the forefront
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of the solutions to the challenges facing their wildlife.
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Sometimes, change can only come
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when the people most affected and impacted take charge.
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Local communities play an important role
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in fighting poaching and illegal wildlife trade,
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which are major threats affecting lions and other wildlife.
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Being a black African woman in the sciences,
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the people I meet are always curious to know
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if I've always wanted to be a conservationist,
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because they don't meet a lot of conservationists
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who look like me.
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When I was growing up,
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I didn't even know that wildlife conservation was a career.
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The first time I saw a wild animal in my home country
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was when I was 25 years old,
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even though lions and African wild dogs
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lived just a few miles away from my home.
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This is quite common in Zimbabwe,
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as many people are not exposed to wildlife,
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even though it's part of our heritage.
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When I was growing up,
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I didn't even know that lions lived in my backyard.
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When I stepped into Savé Valley Conservancy
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on a cold winter morning 10 years ago
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to study African wild dogs for my master's research project,
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I was mesmerized by the beauty and the tranquility that surrounded me.
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I felt like I had found my passion and my purpose in life.
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I made a commitment that day
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that I was going to dedicate my life to protecting animals.
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I think of my childhood school days in Zimbabwe
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and the other kids I was in school with.
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Perhaps if we had a chance to interact with wildlife,
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more of my classmates would be working alongside me now.
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Unless the local communities want to protect and coexist with wildlife,
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all conservation efforts might be in vain.
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These are the communities that live with the wild animals
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in the same ecosystem
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and bear the cost of doing so.
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If they don't have a direct connection
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or benefit from the animals,
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they have no reason to want to protect them.
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And if local communities don't protect their wildlife,
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no amount of outside intervention will work.
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So what needs to be done?
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Conservationists must prioritize environmental education
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and help expand the community's skills to conserve their wildlife.
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Schoolchildren and communities must be taken to national parks,
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so they get a chance to connect with the wildlife.
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At every effort and every level,
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conservation must include the economies of the people
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who share the land with the wild animals.
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It is also critical that local conservationists
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be part of every conservation effort,
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if we are to build trust and really embed conservation into communities.
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As local conservationists, we face many hurdles,
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from outright discrimination to barriers because of cultural norms.
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But I will not give up my efforts
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to bring indigenous communities to this fight
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for the survival of our planet.
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I'm asking you to come and stand together with me.
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We must actively dismantle the hurdles we have created,
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which are leaving indigenous populations out of conservation efforts.
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I've dedicated my life to protecting lions.
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And I know my neighbor would, too,
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if only they knew the animals that lived next door to them.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)