Students Attend Zimbabwe Wetlands Summit
For two Stetson Law students, attending the Ramsar Convention’s 15th Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP15) in summer of 2025 was more than an immersive learning experience; it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Representing the next generation of environmental leaders, Blair Carlyle and Erika Leeper, who are now 3Ls, traveled to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe with support from the Dick and Joan Jacobs’ Environmental Law Externship Fund to serve as Stetson Law’s delegation to COP15. The conference brought them face-to-face with environmental and political leaders from around the globe, including the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Witnessing the extraordinary work being done around the globe to protect and restore wetlands was both inspiring and motivating as I continue to pursue a career in environmental law,” Leeper said.
Stetson’s global leadership
Stetson Law is an observer to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international agreement on wetlands protection. Every three years, representatives from member nations meet to discuss the budget and develop priorities for the coming three years.
The COP15 agenda included review of an assessment on the environmental impacts of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and a proposal to delist Ramsar Sites (Wetlands of International Importance) in disputed territories.
“Events like COP15 provide our students a unique opportunity to take part in substantive discussions on emerging challenges for wetlands stewardship on every continent,” said Professor Royal Gardner, director of Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy and former Chair of Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel. “We are thrilled that we can offer experiences to the next generation of environmental lawyers.”
For Carlyle, the presence of nearly hundreds of representatives made the conference feel like a microcosm of the world. “The conference itself was such an experience: 172 countries, all represented by delegates who were passionate and excited, not only about wetlands and conservation, but about the sharing of culture and the breaking down of barriers,” he said.
Surreal side trips
Within 15 minutes of arriving in Victoria Falls, Carlyle said he and his traveling companions were “awestruck” at the sight of baboons casually strolling by the hotel pool and a family of warthogs grazing in a patch of grass next to the road. A few nights later, he said, they walked out of a restaurant to see an enormous hippo sauntering down the sidewalk as people cautiously passed by it.
“Victoria Falls is one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever been,” Carlyle said. “Dusty dirt roads that stretch for miles interconnect the towns that dotted the landscape. No fences, nothing to keep the lions out of town, but the people have learned to live side by side with the wildlife.”
While the conference presented unique opportunities for global networking and learning, camping in Chobe National Park in Botswana proved to be the highlight of the trip. On safari, they encountered four of Africa’s “Big Five” (leopard, lions, elephants, and buffalo), as well as many other species. To the students, the surreal scenery was straight out of National Geographic.
“When I first saw a family of elephants heading to a watering hole, baby elephants leading the way, I sobbed,” Leeper said. “The safari experience was one that connected me so deeply with the environment, with gratitude and appreciation for the remarkable animals in Africa.”
Other highlights: cruising on a river around Chobe’s Sedudu Island as crocodiles sunbathed on the dusty riverbanks, seeing giraffes towering against the African sky, and hearing the sounds of elephants and lions in the night.
“There were no fences, nothing between us and the animals, and each time I bolted awake in the night, I felt a connection to the previous generations of humans who had learned to live with being prey,” Carlyle said.
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Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
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