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CONSERVATION EDUCATION: TURNING CONFLICT INTO COLLABORATION

Despite the widely recognized importance of education to conservation goals, it is often relegated to footnotes in project work plans. However, education that incorporates diverse strategies and activities can be integral to the success of conservation efforts. In 1998, the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) initiated Proyecto de Conservación de la Biodiversidad para un Manejo Integrado (COBIMI) in Bolivia with the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Colección Boliviana de Fauna, and Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado. COBIMI's research has focused on describing the rich diversity of ecosystems in three protected areas in the Bolivian Andes where growing human populations depend on the areas' resources for their survival. In addition to mapping biodiversity distributions, COBIMI is developing outreach programs to encourage broad participation in conservation.

Education' in this project has been a learning process from initiating dialogue among groups with conflicting interests, to building communication skills, to supporting conservation-related projects in communities. In 1999 and 2000, over 100 local residents, protected area personnel, educators, and scientists participated in COBIMI workshops concerning outreach and scientific investigation in protected areas. Workshop participants shared information about local ecosystems and ongoing research programs, and engaged in sometimes heated debate over resource use. They practiced techniques to build environmental awareness in nearby communities through demonstrations, role plays, puppet shows, radio interviews, brochures, and interpretive trails and exhibits.

Building on the dialogue initiated in these workshops, COBIMI has offered training for park guards, community leaders, and extension agents in identifying local concerns such as pollution, erosion, crop damage by wildlife, and uncontrolled tourism, and in developing messages and methods for communicating about these problems. To put the participants' ideas into practice, COBIMI established a small grants program. Local residents and protected area staff have applied for funds; although most of them did not have prior experience writing proposals, with specific guidelines and extensive on-site discussion with COBIMI representatives to clarify project components and how they would be carried out, the results have been remarkable. These groups have rallied community support and together they have built or rehabilitated existing structures to house community museums or cultural centers, developed informational materials about the protected areas, and enhanced tourist options with guided tours and lodging. This tangible success has inspired other communities to propose projects in the second round of the grants program.

The COBIMI project has catalyzed communication among various groups in Bolivia who are now working together to build participation in biodiversity conservation. The educational process involved has increased support for conservation and, in turn, enabled participants to apply what they have learned to raise the awareness of others.

The CBC's outreach and education activities in Bolivia have been generously supported by the Weeden Foundation, The Starr Foundation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the American Embassy in La Paz.

Meg Domroese

Manager, Outreach Program

Center for Biodiversity and Conservation

American Museum of Natural History

Central Park West at 79th Street

New York, NY 10024 USA

domroese@amnh.org

Back to PASSING THE ”TAXI TEST” WITH FOUNDATIONS OF SUCCESS

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Ahead to 2005 SCB MEETING: CALL FOR PROPOSALS