Convenors: Jamie Copsey, Richard Jakob-Hoff and Fabiana Lopes Rocha
Aim:
To build on work to date by incorporating participants’ experiences of wildlife-associated disease and best practice teaching and learning approaches to the development of a new Online Training Course in Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis (DRA).
Background:
The global disappearance of amphibians due to chytrid fungus, the death of entire North American bat colonies infected with white nose syndrome, the mass die-offs of saiga antelope and the near extinction of several species of Asian vulture due to diclofenac poisoning are just some example of disease impacts on wildlife. Yet the threat of disease is generally given little attention until an outbreak occurs and poorly informed response – often involving mass slaughter of wildlife - can make matters worse as infected animals escape and spread disease further. Disease is a manifestation of something wrong in the system which is why an understanding of the system is needed to predict what might happen and select the preventative actions with the highest chance of success. This is the role of the DRA planning tool.
Disease Risk Analysis is a systematic, evidence-based process that has been well tested but has yet to be widely adopted on a global scale. Through a partnership between the IUCN-Species Survival Commission and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) the process was published in 2014 as the multi-authored Manual of Procedures for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis and its companion Guidelines document.
These are now widely cited, and workshops based on them have revealed that additional training in the DRA process markedly improves their use. But face-to-face training is expensive and limited to small numbers of people. If we are to achieve the SSC’s aim of significantly increasing global conservation planning capacity, an online course is needed to make this training accessible globally.
A workshop in August 2019 considered the content for the course and developed a draft curriculum a link to which is provided below.
This Working Group will draw on the personal knowledge and experiences of participant to consider potential audiences, DRA applications and case studies and effective distance learning tools and techniques for course delivery.
Process:
This Working Group welcomes everyone with an interest wildlife disease and/or experience in distance education. Following a brief outline of the course aims and content, we will divide into small topic-focused groups to address specific questions around audience, applications/case studies and course delivery.
This will be an opportunity to contribute your experience and areas of expertise to help make this a globally relevant and outstanding learning experience that will equip trainees with knowledge and skills that increase their effectiveness in wildlife conservation.
Richard Jakob-Hoff (CPSG Australasia Co-Convenor), Fabiana Lopes Rocha (CPSG Brasil) and Jamie Copsey (CPSG Director of Training) will co-facilitate the session and representatives of each work stream will meet on Sunday morning to finalize the Working Group report and presentation for the plenary session.
Outcomes:
1. Broader appreciation of the audiences for this course.
2. Insights into current wildlife-associated disease threats in participant’s range countries/DRA case studies
3. Recommendations on e-learning tools and functionality to deliver an outstanding learning experience
4. Identification of additional collaborators and next steps to course completion.
Materials: