 Programme Journals Project Calendar | Education and Awareness: Developing the Desire and Ability to Protect
Nature
Why is Education and Awareness Important?
As people’s lives become increasingly separated from the
natural world, they become more unaware of the animals, plants and natural
landscapes around us. They are unaware of the beauty and complexity of nature,
of how it enables us to survive comfortably and how it can be affected by our
choices and actions. Environmental awareness programmes make us more conscious
of what is in the natural world around us and that our lives can affect it. Environmental
education increases
people’s knowledge about nature and how we affect it, giving people the
information they need to make decisions that will help protect our natural environment, including ourselves. The more people learn about plants, animals and the world around us, the more they will want to
know and the more important it will be to them to become involved in environmental
conservation. Special training can also be given to people who are willing to be
involved in conservation activities thus improving the country’s ability to
deal with conservation issues as they arise.
Why Focus on Nature Conservation Before Cetacean Conservation?
As people’s lives become increasingly separated from nature, it has become increasingly important for them to be reminded of our dependence on the natural environment; that their lives affect nature and that nature is full of beauty, wonder and enjoyment. At CCARO, we realize that there are intricate connections in nature and to protect cetaceans, we need to care for nature as a whole. Through public education and awareness programmes, improving access to information, developing effective educational materials and offering training and involvement in our conservation work we aim to develop in people a sense of wonder and a desire to protect the environment. |
Public education can take place through displays, lectures, talks or
workshops with interested groups (including schools, church groups, community
groups...) as well as through newspaper articles and radio or television
programmes. We aim to do at least one public awareness activity per month and
hope to do more as our manpower and funding increase. At the moment we intend
to focus on why conservation is important and introducing cetaceans and CCARO
to the public.
| Want to be involved? To see a schedule of events, click here To volunteer for a public education event click here. To request an event at your school or group click
here. To suggest areas that you think may benefit from such
an event or events you think may help deliver our messages please contact us. |
Apart from actively going out to educate people, we are also providing access to information which people can utilize when it interests them. At present this is being done through
our CCARO website which provides easy access to information on whales and
dolphins, how people’s actions can affect these animals and how they can get
involved in cetacean conservation. It will also keep interested members of the
public up dated on CCARO’s projects and how they can volunteer.
| Want to be involved? See our Wish list |
We are in the process of designing several education packages
(in preschool, primary school, secondary school and adult versions) which can be made
available to schools and groups interested in doing cetacean or general
conservation education. It will be possible for these to be downloaded from our
website library or distributed as electronic copies for the educators to print or use
as needed. We aim to complete
two packages (Why is Conservation Important and Introduction
to Cetaceans) in all 4 versions and have them available for use by October 2009. The packages may contain: Teacher notes and activity guidelines A Power point presentation / material for presentation without computer Brochures/ Information handouts Stickers/ Bookmarks Teaching aids |
Want to be involved? To see project schedule, click here To help create
material, please contact us to discuss how you can help. To help assess
material, please contact us to have material sent to you for comment. To offer free or reduced printing services to make copies of educational material available for educators who cannot afford printing costs, please contact us. |
Team members and volunteers will be trained in relevant areas and
will be exposed to basic information on cetacean biology, ecology, threats to
the animals, what individuals can do to help, as well as relevant training in
the following areas: collecting local knowledge (interview and communication skills), | Want to be involved? To see the training schedule, click here Are you interested in being trained? Contact us. Are you interested in helping to train? Contact us. |
