Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune In: What’s happening with lions?

25 minutes

Find Out: Communities and lion conservation

25 minutes

Take Action: Educating for local wildlife conservation

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand how humans have altered African biomes for food production
explore how local communities are working to create sustainable futures.

Success criteria

Students can:

explain the impacts of food production on the environments of Africa
apply their knowledge and understanding of African conservation efforts to their local environment.

Tune In: What’s happening with lions?

Step 1

Begin by explaining that Disney is releasing a new Lion King movie called “Mufasa: The Lion King”. Share the following synopsis:

“Mufasa: The Lion King” enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala. The story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka - the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny, and their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.

Focus student attention on the final 5 words of this synopsis; “a threatening and deadly foe”. Explain to students that lions are an apex predator. Ask students, ‘What do you think would be deadly or threatening to a lion?’ Student answers might include

another lion
accidental injury
human-induced impacts.

Although lions are apex predators at the top of the food chain, their population has halved in the last 25 years, and there are now around 200,000 remaining in the wild. So what is happening?

Find Out: Human alteration of biomes for food production

Step 1

Share the “How has human alteration of biomes impacted lions?” visual explainer with students. This presentation covers

the rapid change to African biomes due to increased population
the key methods of food-producing
the flow on impacts of these alterations to lions.

Step 2

Students will now explore some case studies about different communities and how they are working to create sustainable co-existence with lions. Create groups with 3-4 students in each group and assign them one of the case studies below:

Project Name	Information
The Lion Guardians	lionguardians.org/CNN Heroes: Lion Guardians
Chilli Bombs with Conservation South Luangwa	Chilli bombs: the answer to human-elephant conflict?
Warrior Watch	These Warriors Once Hunted Lions—Now They Protect Them \| National Geographic
Reformed(learning extension option)	This film has depictions of hunting, shows firearms and tells the story of the accidental death of Kapanda’s younger brother. We advise you to watch the clip first and decide if it is appropriate to share with your class. Reformed - Samson Moyo (NEW Pitch Film) - 2022 (youtube.com/watch?v=oZ2Uz2k99Aw)
Chilli Fences (learning support option)	Chilly as a Wise Spice..

Have the students watch the video, and then answer the questions on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2

Split the students into groups, with one student from each case study in that group. Have the students share their case study and compare methods for mitigating human-wildlife conflict

Take Action: Educating for conservation

Step 1

Explain to your students that today we have explored case studies of communities working to co-exist with wildlife because it is a part of their daily lives. However, as we saw in the presentation, more cities like Chipata in Zambia are growing. In Eastern Africa, where these case studies take place, the population is shifting. In 1960, just 7.8% of people lived in urban environments. However, in 2024 that number has leapt to 31.5%. (source: worldometers.info/world-population/eastern-africa-population/). These people still source their food from rural environments, but now there is a distance between them and how their food is produced and what is happening in the environment.

Share the following video with students:

How community-led conservation can save wildlife | Moreangels Mbizah (youtube.com/watch?v=pR83Woy0zDs)

Ask your students the following questions:

"Many people are working to stop lions from disappearing, but very few of these people are native to these countries or from the communities most affected." Why do you think this is?
"Sometimes, change can only come when the people most affected and impacted take charge." What do you think about this statement?

Read the following extract (also available on the Student Worksheet):

I think of my childhood school days in Zimbabwe and the other kids I was in school with. Perhaps if we had a chance to interact with wildlife, more of my classmates would be working alongside me now. Unless the local communities want to protect and coexist with wildlife, all conservation efforts might be in vain. These are the communities that live with the wild animals in the same ecosystem and bear the cost of doing so. If they don't have a direct connection or benefit from the animals, they have no reason to want to protect them. And if local communities don't protect their wildlife, no amount of outside intervention will work. So what needs to be done? Conservationists must prioritise environmental education and help expand the community's skills to conserve their wildlife.

Step 2

Explain to your students, that as the population of African people living in urban environments increases, so too is the distance between people and wildlife, and education will be needed to bridge that gap. The same thing is happening in Australia. In 2024, 86.3% of our population lives in urban environments. (source: worldometers.info/world-population/australia-population/)

There are many different ways we can educate communities. This can include print media, workshops, social media, and pop culture. For example, Disney leverages its movies about lions to promote and support the work of the Lion Recovery Fund through the ‘Protect the Pride’ conservation campaign. Ask your students if they can think of other ways they have encountered campaigns like this.

Step 3

We’re going to investigate some education programs in Australia that focus on the impact food production is having on our environment and then create an educational piece of media to share with our community. In their groups, have students choose one of the projects listed below.

Farmwall	farmwall.com/pages/about-us-1
Second Bite	secondbite.org/
Reground	reground.com.au/
OzHarvest	ozharvest.org/
Act for Bees and other pollinators	actforbees.org/
Eat the Invaders (learning extension - information across diverse sources and can be considered a controversial opinion).	eattheinvaders.org/ (USA) closerproductions.com.au/episodic/eat-the-invaders (Australia) phillipislandlandcare.org.au/bunny-boiler-dinner (Australian case study)

Students will answer these questions on the Student Worksheet:

Describe the project.
How does this project change our environmental impacts from food production?
What is the key takeaway message of this project?
What is one action people can take to contribute to the issue the project is addressing? Use the Act Framework to help inspire your ideas.

Step 4

Students will create a ‘call to action’ social media post using the template on the student worksheet. The post will include key information about the organisation, the issue they are addressing, and a call to action for the viewer. Students can share their social media posts with the class and create a plan to share their posts with the community. This could be via a bulletin board, the school newsletter, or the school’s social media channels.

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on the following:

What did you learn today about food production in Africa that was surprising?
What did you learn today about food production in Australia that was surprising?
What is one question that you still have after today?

Pressure On Pride Lands

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

Pressure On Pride Lands

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables