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Handout # 1

Case Study

Your Name: ______

SCENARIO:

Scientists working at the Missouri Botanical Gardens (MBG) and the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) both in St. Louis, Missouri, have discovered a drug that has the potential to cure cancer. The drug has two secret ingredients. One of the ingredients comes from plant that is only found in a small forest near Machu Picchu. The other ingredient can only be synthesized from a chemical obtained from the tusks of a species of elephants that live only in the Maasai Mara region in the Rift Valley.

The Machu Picchu forest is controlled by the chief of the Quechua, an indigenous group of people who live in this area for centuries.

The chief of the Maasai, an indigenous group of people who live in the Rift Valley, controls the Maasai Mara land where the elephants are found.

The Scientist at MBG and UMSL want the United Nations Organization (UN) to declare the Massai Mara and the Machu Picchu forest to be world heritage sites so that the animal and plant resources from these areas could be used for the benefit of all mankind.

However there is a small problem. A group of international crooks (bad guys) have found out about tghe drug and the sources of its secret raw materials. They have hatched a plan to go and acquire the forest at Machu Picchu and the land of the Maasai Mara. This will enable them to control the lands where the raw materials for the new medicine would come from. They will therefore be able to get all the profits when they sell the raw materials to manufacturers. The bad guys have already set out on their evil mission and are on their way to cheat the chiefs.

Your group has been hired by the FBI and International Police (INTERPOLE) to do research and provide information that will enable the FBI to send agents to track down and arrest the crooks. The information will also enable the United Nations vote to declare the two places as world heritage sites. The FBI agents and pilots will be interested the following information:

·  Locations of the areas involved.

·  Physical features of the area including Landforms, rivers, lakes etc.

·  Any other information you think is necessary

Use the data gathering sheets to guide you to find and organize information.