The project to create Marine Education Areas (MEAs) is a response to the challenge of degrading the marine environment by raising awareness among young people in schools. The network of AMEs helps to make them aware of and responsible for their local environment, so that they can better commit to defending it.

The project financed by the European BEST 2.0 program aimed to extend the AME network of Marquesan origin to French Polynesia.

The activities planned in the project coincided with this desire to create AMEs, such as carrying out an initial ecological survey, giving talks in classrooms, supplying teaching materials and communicating about the actions carried out.

The project involved pupils from 5 schools in French Polynesia in the management of an AME. They were thus involved in actions linked to the study of the marine environment.

The pupils’ skills were developed through a variety of educational, scientific and management activities.

In 2011, ZSL teamed up with luxury department store Selfridges and created Project Ocean as a way to make a positive difference by changing consumer buying habits and engaging people in the plight of our oceans. The campaign communicates ocean protection in a constructive, compelling way. As part of Project Ocean, we created the Marine Reserves Coalition (MRC), bringing together leading conservation organisations to e.g.support establishment of new MPAs.

Santa Cruz is a coastal community with about 26 thousands inhabitants with a strong past history of sea turtle slaughter and consumption as well as marine degradation. This solution addresses raising awareness and effectively engaging the community in endangered species protection and marine conservation.

As part of Wilderness Safaris, ‘Children in the Wilderness’ is an environmental and life skills educational programme for children, focusing on the next generation of decision-makers:inspiring them to care for their natural heritage and to become custodians of these areas in the future. CITW operates Eco-Clubs in communities living in and around protected areas, as well as annual camps, Eco-Mentor training, and scholarship programmes.

Education is a long-term priority for the conservation of chimpanzees and other wildlife. In 2007, the MPI conservation group, and the WCF, created Club P.A.N for schools in West Africa. The project’s aim is to discourage children living near wild chimpanzee habitats from consuming bush-meat and to enable them to be pro-active in biodiversity conservation. Club P.A.N. is active in schools around the Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire and schools in Guinea from around the newly approved Moyen-Bafing National Park.

A re-enactment of a wilderness walk that invented the art of ‘bushwalking’ in Australia and involved the local community in several side events. The event assisted teams of young adventurers to rediscover the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney and the need for its on-going conservation effort, even though the area is now a national park inscribed on the World Heritage list of properties.

SGNP is amongst the most visited protected wilderness areas in the world (1.2 mio. entry tickets being sold on a yearly average). In spite of this, public awareness about SGNP has been very low. I have teamed up with the management of SGNP on a wide spectrum project to reach out to many people and get them involved in the park. We initiated an education and awareness campaign with website, print media etc., for the public (through overnight camps, guided walks etc.) and decision makers.

This Environmental Education Program for a MPA was developed in south Brazil in a participatory way with federal and local governments, NGO´s and other civil society organizations. The MPA is the Marine Biological Reserve of Arvoredo (REBIO Arvoredo) with an area of 17,800 hectars, with an extremely rich and relevant biodiversity. The lack of participation of society in the creation process has generated strong opposition to the PA.

The Prophecy is an innovative example from Senegal on how art can be in the service of ecology. Inspired by the art photographer Fabrice Monteiro and the Senegalese stylist Doulsy, Ecofund, in collaboration with University of Dakar Professor Adams Tidjani (VIE), produces a series of surrealist photographs detailing the most representative sites of Senegal’s environmental destruction, such as the protected Iles de la Madeleine, accompanied by a scientific caption.

Bioblitz was a citizen science project entailing an intensive biological survey to record as many living species as possible within a designated area over a specific period of time. The project aimed to attract people’s interest in nature and nature conservation issues on the one hand and to reveal the species diversity of the area to be protected on the other. During the activity, which took place on the Middle East Technical University (METU) campus, nature lovers took photos of plants, birds and butterfly species and shared these observations via iNaturalist, a global citizen science application. Experts supported the identification of species.

In recent years, monarch butterfly populations have plummeted at an alarming rate. Less than one percent of the western monarch population remains, while the eastern population has fallen by as much as ninety percent. This decline threatens to deprive future generations of the wonder and beauty of the monarch, including its fascinating metamorphosis and 3,000 mile migration to Mexico.

The National Wildlife Federation developed the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge program and oversees its implementation in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation (Canada) and Profauna AC (Mexico) in an effort to combat the species’ declining population. Through this program, mayors and other local and tribal government chief executives take action by signing a pledge to create habitat for the monarch butterfly and pollinators and educate residents about how they can make a difference at home and in their community.