|Date||2 Feb 2010|
Networking, formation of village mangrove councils, eco-clubs in schools, capacity building, skill development, and coordination mechanisms are major components of this project. The project will involve a broadly based and aggressive community awareness campaign and awareness about the need to protect the mangroves. The efforts will focus on practical avenues of information dissemination such as posters, leaflets and other resource materials. The education program will be developed that will be packaged, and made available for use in local schools and communities within critical habitat and project areas. Moreover, the project will involve school children to introduce them to the mangroves through both theoretical and field-based activities and stimulate their interest in long-term mangrove conservation. Students and teachers can play a key role in helping mangrove resources recover.
The school outreach program is designed to help teachers and students (and through them, their families) not only learn about mangrove eco-system, but to inspire involvement in conservation efforts. The project will restore mangroves in degraded areas and facilitate the Eco clubs and Village Mangrove Councils for mangrove nursery raising and plantation. The projects will also develop of an alternative livelihood plan for mangrove dependant communities. Since most of the activities and planned strategies are community led, communities will play a significant role in this process by providing timely inputs, contribution in kind, involvement in monitoring and assessment and implementation.
Community led plantation and protection of mangroves will ensure their ownership and sustain their association as mangroves are protective barriers against storms. The integrated development of these local communities will thus make a substantial and long lasting contribution to mangrove conservation efforts.
The project will empower the local stakeholders to sustainably manage mangrove resources. The outreach and education will contribute to the pool of knowledge on better management of the environmental thereby enhancing the sustainability of the ecosystem.
For further information contact: