Wildlife Coffee -Conservation Awarness Projects

Conservation Awareness: New Guinea Tropical Biology and Biodiversity Digest

This newsletter began in 1995 and 2 issues per year have been compiled and distributed since that time. The mailing list now exceeds 800 individuals and organizations. The newsletter highlights research and conservation efforts on the island of New Guinea and fosters communication and collaborative efforts among people working in the region. WCS subsidizes the expense of the newsletter, edits it and distributes it. We are hoping to make the newsletter part of a newly forming New Guinea Biological Society that will formally bring together biologists and conservationists into a single collaborative organization.

To download copies of these newsletters, please go to :
http://wcs.org/sw-around_the_globe/Asia/175994/176061

Conservation Awareness: WCS - Research and Conservation Foundation of PNG ('RCF') Conservation and Education Program

This program got off the ground in 1998 when Tom Naimen of the WCS International Education program held the first workshops in Lae, in collaboration with RCF, the Rainforest Habitat and UniTech, to train PNG teachers in the use of WCS-developed materials (Habitat Ecology Learning Program - HELP, and Pablo Python Looks at Animals - Pablo) to be used in primary and secondary classrooms to raise awareness about environmental issues and to teach biological concepts.

In 1999 the MacArthur Foundation granted funds to RCF to hold more of these workshops and to create a library, called the Conservation Education Resource Centre, in Goroka, where materials would be available for teachers and school children. Since then, RCF has successfully staged annual teacher training workshops in four provinces, annually taught courses for trainee teachers at two tertiary institutions (University of Goroka and Balob College), successfully set up Conservation Education Resource Centres in three provinces, and produced three different newsletters on a quarterly basis for various target groups.

The AusAID Incentive Fund has generously funded this program for the past 3 years and has built an educational complex to house it in Goroka. Teachers can instill an appreciation for the importance of protecting our natural biodiversity in children from an early age. Children are our future resource owners, and they also have a tremendous influence on their parents. By giving teachers knowledge and materials to pass on to their students, we have an exponential effect with our program.

The program has trained more than 750 teachers who are now teaching in schools nationwide, not just in the provinces where we hold workshops. Through these teachers an estimated 30,000 children/students have been impacted either directly or indirectly.

To find out more about the Research and Conservation Foundation of PNG, our sister local NGO, please go to: www.rcf.org.pg

Wildlife Conservation Society's PNG Program
P.O. Box 277, Goroka EHP
Papua New Guinea
dwright@wcs.org