Coexistence Coalition

By supporting communities toward coexistence, the Cincinnati Zoo is facilitating a brighter future for wildlife and people.

The Zoo seeks to positively impact wildlife and resource conservation by helping communities locally and in targeted global sites embrace coexistence.

The coalition works to achieve the Cincinnati Zoo’s Positive Impact Model across multiple areas of focus, including:

• Community engagement
• Wildlife coexistence, reduced conflict, and species recovery
• Habitat restoration and diversification
• Sustainable regenerative practices

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s Positive Impact Model:

Coexistence Coalition in Practice:

The Cincinnati Zoo’s Coexistence Coalition takes an integrated approach to conservation, combining both ecological and human dimensions essential for coexistence impact.  We empower communities to embrace coexistence initiatives. We aim to increase our impact for wildlife, mobilize the Zoo’s communities to increase involvement and resources, elevate our partnerships as proactive collaborators, and embrace environmental justice in all that we do. We are strengthening partnerships and mobilizing our diverse staff and audiences to build connections to our mission.

Central to our program is the development of enduring partnerships with established organizations grounded in the communities living with the wildlife we seek to conserve. We provide resources, training and support to empower these organizations and enable them to pioneer novel approaches that could unlock increased positive impact for both wildlife and the communities who coexist with them. We seek to complement existing conservation efforts and are committed to advancing education, capacity-building, and research. We contribute to our partners’ international storytelling efforts, inject additional funding and/or resources for increased capacity, and provide in-kind support.

Our overarching objective is to safeguard the persistence of wildlife populations while upholding socially and ethically acceptable methods that resonate with and empower local communities. Our goals for the Coexistence Coalition are 1) to help wildlife populations be healthy and viable, 2) to enhance people’s tolerance and acceptance of wildlife in their communities and landscapes, and 3) to reduce risks from wildlife to manageable levels.

We are working toward these goals by exploring innovative ideas that integrate biology, sociology, politics, and culture, ultimately elevating contemporary conservation practices. We seek to balance perceived risks and unique local contexts encompassing values, worldviews, religious beliefs, cultural practices, and more. While we acknowledge the potential for negative incidents for both humans and wildlife, coexistence prioritizes benefits to outweigh and minimize these possible costs.  We seek to design interventions to enhance coexistence that are ecologically suitable, economically viable, and socially acceptable.

Through our active partnerships, we aspire to:

• reinforce positive perceptions of wildlife within local communities, transforming them from perceived nuisances into valuable assets;
• augment and innovate efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflicts while ensuring community needs and sustainable livelihoods; and
• promote landscape connectivity in vulnerable regions and monitor wildlife occurrence in and movements through complex, human-dominated landscapes.

The Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) is a one-of-a-kind, online master’s degree program from Miami University (Oxford, OH) and Project Dragonfly, in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Created for working professionals, the AIP immerses students in collaborative inquiry and action as they champion change for the environment and their local community. With professional and academic mentoring and self-designed Master Plans, students adapt their degree path to fit their interests in fields such as community-engaged conservation, inquiry-driven education, environmental justice, learning across K-12 and informal settings, animal care and welfare, green business innovation, climate change, urban ecology, human-nature relationships, environmental restoration, and public engagement in science.

AIP students join a network of local and national leaders, working together to improve their professions, institutions, neighborhoods, and environments.  Students can enroll in either a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in the biological sciences or a Master of Arts (M.A.) in biology. Through web-based coursework from Miami and face-to-face experiential learning and field study at the Zoo, you will connect with classmates, Miami University faculty, Zoo experts, and community leaders locally, nationally, and globally.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Intern Program provides participants with early career experience in a specific department. Interns gain valuable skills through hands-on training with staff, attending lectures and continuing education courses presented by staff from various departments, and networking opportunities to develop professional contacts throughout the Zoo community.

We are committed to creating more equitable workforce strategies and expanding access to early career experiences in the zoo field. We recognize that there is a lack of diversity in our workforce, due in part to less accessible career pathways, and have worked to increase interest and opportunity for all. We offer a stipend to help offset expenses while interns participate in our program, expanding the opportunity to work in this unique, fun, and rewarding field.

The ZooTeen program is perfect for teenagers who are passionate about nature, animals and conservation! Our ZooTeen program is committed to whole-person youth development. Whether collecting data on pollinators, providing interpretive messaging at different Zoo habitats, supporting our education programs, or getting involved in the Greater Cincinnati community, ZooTeens make an enormous impact on staff and visitors alike. ZooTeens are able to build knowledge, gain leadership experience, and develop professional skills as they learn more about Cincinnati Zoo’s conservation efforts and share those stories with a wider audience.