XXI Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation and VI International Conference of Partners in Flight, San José, Costa Rica,
October 30- November 3.
Workshop: Supporting conservation implementation: Integrating single species and ecosystem conservation initiatives
Date: Tuesday, October 31 2017
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, San José, Costa Rica
Facilitator: Isadora Angarita
Note-taker: Ruth Bennett
Break-out activity:Define a key strategy for increasing public awareness of threats to habitat and biodiversity and conducting outreach and education about the value of resident and migratory birds
Synopsis: In this workshop, we defined a two-part strategy to guide education and outreach activities geared towards empowering people to conserve primary and secondary evergreen broadleaf forest of high value to declining migratory and resident Neotropical birds within Central and northern South America. The defined strategy centers around 1) building a desire and reason to conserve habitat through a targeted message that resonates in the local context and 2) equipping the audience with the tools and resources needed to transform the desire to conserve into conservation action. Our conversation centered around the power of education to build conservation capacity, provide training in marketable skills, and empower people to take action for conservation. We also discussed how to maximize the impact of education, and decided that education must promote a conservation message that speaks to people’s personal experiences and values. Because experience and value will vary widely across the target region, it will be important to carefully define target audiences and spend time learning about what may motivate people to take action within that local context.
Participants:
-IsadoraAngarita: Bird Life International. Based in Quito, Ecuador
-Ruth Bennett: Cornell University. Studies the ecology and conservation of neotropical migrants
-DianaEusse: Calidris in Colombia. GIS and shorebird specialist
-Caz Taylor: Professor at Tulane University. Interested in the dissemination of research for both education and conservation in Central America
-Steve Dryden: Director of Rock Creek National Park, Washington DC. Looking to invest in environmental education projects in Central America with communities or NGOs
-Chris Fisher: Representative from Partner’s in International Bird Conservation. GWWA is flagship species. Interested in supporting community based conservation and education initiatives in Central America. Conservation Chair for NE PA Audubon.
-Bianca Bosarreyes: Biologist/ornithologist from Guatemala. Currently leading an education and outreach project for Resplendent Quetzal conservation.
Introduction:
- Seven participants in a roundtable to discuss the education strategies that can effectively promote habitat conservation for declining migratory species and associated resident species within evergreen broadleaf forest in Central and northern South America. The participants represent the countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala,and the United States.
- Facilitator describes the goals of the discussion and begins with the following questions: How do we define education? Can we define it as capacity building or aligning and motivating people to take action?
Major discussion topics:
What is education?
- Education is not just dissemination
- Education cannot stop with getting people to “know things.” Education must promote behavioral change and provide the opportunities, tools, and resources for people to take action.
- Education has the power to buildlocal conservation capacity.
- Education can build both individual and institutional capacity to use scientific information to conserve birds.
What conservation goals can be addressed through education?
- Promote the value of critical habitat and encourage it’s protection and/or restoration
- Provide lawmakers and politicians with scientific, data-driven support for their decisions
- Empower local people to use and manage their habitat in a way that is beneficial both to them and to birds
- Empower people to define and access the tools they need to conserve the habitats around them.
- Promote and train people in the concepts of ecosystem services and one health
- Education can be used to explicitly define the link between local habitats, local health of people, livestock health, and the local economy.
- Provide trainings that build an economic incentive to maintain habitat on the landscape such as guide training andavitourism/ecotourism training
- Financial incentives depend on the local context.
- Economic argument is double edged sword: what happens when economic incentives to retain habitat change?
Some examples of successful education projects
- Example from Surinam: local residents were trained to fly tourist around in planes and also conduct areal surveysof shorebirds. Residents then educate tourists about the shorebirds and have an economic incentive to protect those birds
- Example from Catacamas, Honduras: International NGO and local university supported a migratory bird fair where 250 kids were taught about migration and birds by university students, who also learned about migratory birds in order to teach that information. Goal was instilling kids with pride that their landscapes because they support so many migratory birds.
- Example from Guatemala: Local communities in the Peten got so excited about birds after targeted bird educational programs that they started a bird kite festival, incorporating bird shapes and colors into the traditional art of kite building.
How can education have a more lasting impact?
- By tapping into people’s personal experiences
- By providing a motivating message
- By creating inspiration, appreciation, and awe of birds.
- Migration of birds is a powerful story that can link people, families, needs, and experiences across landscapes
- Bird migration can link the experience of families and friends migrating to the United States and Canada.
- Education that taps into personal experiences should have more of a lasting impact. Personal experiences include cultural values, human migration, health, finances, pride in your landscape, pride in your country
Having a reason to conserve is a prerequisite for conservation.
Education Strategy
1)Identify the audience and develop a message that will resonate with that audience given the local context. Message should seek to build a reason and a desire to conserve habitat.
- Examples: the link between watershed conservation and human and livestock health, opportunity to participate in ecotourism, linking a sense of national pride with pride in bird community, etc.
2)Education projects must then equip the target audience with tools and support to move from desire to conserve to conservation action.