CONSERVATION BIOLOGY PROGRAMMES

[Guest guest]

Local education key to successful conservation biology efforts

Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology

July 23, 2005

 

Earlier this week nearly 2,000 of the world's leading environmental scientists

of various disciplines met in Brasilia to present papers at the 19th Annual

Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology. The conference featured more

than 750 oral presentations and 965 scientific abstracts.

 

Below is a sampling of some of the education-related papers submitted for the

conference. All descriptions are excepts from the official " Book of Abstracts "

from the meeting. Further lists abstracts will be posted shortly.

 

INTEGRATED TRAINING IN CONSERVATION: FROM THE UNIVERSITY TO APPLIED MANAGEMENT

AND RESEARCH IN LAO PDR AND MYANMAR.

 

RAO, MADHU; Johnson, Arlyne. Wildlife Conservation Society- International

Programs, 185th Street and Southern Blvd., Bronx, New York, NY 10460, U.S.A.

 

High levels of biodiversity have earned recognition for the region covered by

Laos and Myanmar as a conservation hotspot. However, underlying critical threats

to the persistence of biodiversity is the lack of capacity to implement

conservation. Specifically, lack of access to educational and training resources

is a significant obstacle to building capacity for biodiversity conservation.

The Wildlife Conservation Society in partnership with the Center for

Biodiversity Conservation, American Museum of Natural HistoryABSTRACTS

Universidade de Brasília, Brazil, July 2005 is implementing an initiative known

as the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). NCEP is an

international initiative to design, create, and foster the implementation of a

comprehensive set of teaching and learning materials in support of biodiversity

conservation. The primary goals of the program are to enhance the ability of

university faculty to train students in the principles and methods of

biodiversity conservation. In addition, working directly with students, faculty

and conservation professionals on research projects at key WCS sites, the

program aims to raise capacity in applied conservation research and management.

Project implementation has highlighted issues of scope and scale that are

critical for greater effectiveness of training activities and the concomitant

need for greater investment of financial and technical resources

 

A SCHOOL IN A LIBRARY: MANAGING COMPLEXITY AND VALUING SCIENCES IN STRENGTHENING

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN GUNUNG HALIMUN NATIONAL PARK.

 

PUSPITASARI, SHINTA. Peka Indonesia Foundation. Jl. Kecipir I Blok A No. 33,

Perumahan IPB Alam Sinarsari, Cibeureum-Darmaga, BOGOR-West Java, Indonesia,

shinta((AT))peka-indonesia.org.

 

The greatest challenge in environmental education (EE) in protected areas in

Indonesia is how to express complex environmental issues in an accessible way,

while still demonstrating the importance of science in explaining, evaluating

and, above all, solving those issues. All is not well at Gunung Halimun - one of

Indonesia’s most fragile National Parks. Illegal logging is jeopardising both

the wildlife and local population. The most critical thing for us was to educate

the next generation about the importance of conservation. However, managing the

gap of what the young see and what they understand about environmental problems

is vital. Science can fill this gap. The idea for a learning library came after

extensive discussions with the local community: here science could be used to

teach the children about their environment. The library is not just about books:

it provides the focal point for our many approaches to environmental education,

such as storytelling, nature observation, and slide shows. We also produce

children’s books and modules, based on the results of our long-term,

biodiversity research in Halimun. Programs have been evaluated through

monitoring and questionnaires. The children benefit greatly: they read

enthusiastically, and their eagerness to protect the natural world is

overwhelming