The Cheetah Conservation Fund's Education Manager, Shannon Kandjai, has called on Namibians and visitors alike to educate themselves on conserving cheetahs ahead of the international conference, which will cover the most up-to-date advances in conservation genetics.

The Cheetah Conservation Fund is involved in research and education on cheetahs and their ecosystems and works with all stakeholders to achieve best practices in the conservation and management of the world's cheetahs.

Cheetahs are apex predators, which means they help keep prey populations in check, supporting local ecosystems; without them, herbivore numbers would rise and more vegetation would be eaten, resulting in greater soil erosion and less drinking water.

"Namibia is known as the cheetah capital of the world, so the aim of International Cheetah Day is just to raise awareness to invite the Namibians and everybody to just come to the education centre to visit our research and education centre and to just learn about what we do and how they can get involved in conserving the cheetah."

The cheetah population is, however, declining due to human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, and illegal trading of the big cat.

For the most up-to-date advances in conservation genetics, the Cheetah Conservation Fund is hosting an international science conference this month dedicated to the application of genomic technologies for the conservation of biodiversity.