Our team is brimming with a variety of skills and experience, and CCB’s Wildlife Biologist Jane Horgan is no exception. Coming to Ecosure’s team with 13 years of field experience with research and conservation projects in Australia and southern Africa, Jane continues to work with Cheetah Conservation Botswana in a part time capacity alongside her role in Ecosure’s wildlife team.

Jane recently represented Cheetah Conservation Botswana at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco where she joined conservation practitioners from around the world to discuss advancements in community-based conservation, scientific research and human wildlife conflict alleviation.

The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) was established in 2003 to support community-based conservation organisations through networking with relevant stakeholders in the field, networking with donors and building capacity within the organisations. Since the WCN’s inception, they have taken onboard 22 partner organisations that they directly support, and who are invited each year to attend their Expo events to present on the latest news from their projects. Since 2003, WCN has been able to raise $141 million for wildlife conservation around the world and their work has helped catalyse tangible and effective change in wildlife conservation.

Each year in April and October, WCN hosts conservation Expos where the WCN partner organisations present their latest findings and advancements in the field. The Expo day is a great way for members of the public to hear about recent community-based conservation work and to learn about effective ways to manage conservation challenges in the field. The WCN Fall Expo this last October was the first time the organisation has hosted a completely in-person expo since 2019 and Jane reported that it was wonderful to be reunited with her conservation colleagues and the team from WCN again. Prior to the Expo day, WCN hosted a special event to celebrate the organisation’s 20^th anniversary – which was attended by WCN patron Jane Goodall. Ecosure’s Jane Horgan was invited with the other conservationists to go on stage to share in the celebrations and she said that her time sharing the stage with Jane Goodall was one of the highlights of her trip. Following the Expo events, the conservationists joined forces in three days of capacity-building workshops that tackled various topics from innovative cloud-based data collection technologies, to mentorship and training opportunities for staff. This holistic look at conservation strategy and planning helps build WCN partner organisations into the world conservation leaders that they are today.

After a fortnight of networking with some of the world’s most inspiring wildlife conservationists, like Jane Goodall and Ian Douglas-Hamilton, Jane returned home to Ecosure inspired and reinvigorated. She looks forward to bringing the lessons learned back to her role with Ecosure and helping to grow Ecosure’s work with community-led environmental stewardship and human wildlife conflict alleviation.