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28 Panel 1through websites, the radio, television, and socialmedia by disseminating information related toenvironmental issues according to Kawatei Masahiroof CEPA Japan and Mizuno Masahiro of Green TVJapan. Prof. Satoshi Kobayashi of the Kushiro PublicUniversity stated that CEPA is quite popular in Japan.Many organizations have printed more or less the samematerials on the subject matter and provided facilities.Their people try to reach local groups includingchildren, and have many successful stories to share.Environmental Education through Hands-OnActivitiesIn Japan, many NGOs play a major role inenvironmental education (e.g., the Wild Bird Societyof Japan, the Rice Paddies Network Japan, the NatureConservation Society of Japan (NACSJ), the WetlandForum, the Osaka Nanko Bird Sanctuary, theYutsuhigata Nature Observation Reserve, and theCrane Park Izumi, among others). They haveproduced several educational materials such asmanuals, poster, teacher’s guides, and CDs. There aremany volunteers devoted to bird conservation, amongthem elderly people who care about nature and have allthe time to help out. Money is not a problem for themeither. In return, they derive benefits to their health.For example, NACSJ has provided EnvironmentalEducation Training to Nature ConservationEducators since 1978 on local nature watching.Working together, local governments, citizens groups,corporations, and schools have conducted almost 450training courses in 30 years. Over 25,000 people havetrained so far according to Noriko Kaihatsu, SecretaryGeneral of NACSJ.Hiroko Okamoto, Chief of the Education Division,WBSJ, stated that the most important thing was toencourage people to appreciate nature and consider itas their own, and then take action, spread the word ormessage to some other people, to do volunteer work. Inline with this she created a program called “GreenHoliday”, allowing people to get involved in WBSJ’swork and the activities of WBSJ rangers (e.g., habitatconservation, work for Japanese cranes and Blakiston’sfish owl ). “This is a new style of volunteer program, Iwant to spread it throughout Japan,” said HirokoOkamoto. WBSJ plays a major role in EnvironmentalEducation in Japan and established the UtonaiSanctuary Nature Center as the first sanctuarymanaged by an NGO. WBSJ now manages 11sanctuaries.In the case of the Yutsuhigata Nature ObservationReserve located outside Tokyo City, lots of volunteershave joined events and nature rehabilitation activitiesas guides. The center provides EnvironmentalEducation focused on the importance of nature andwildlife to the public. Besides, the center has beenworking with other organizations and groups for theconservation of tidal flats and the preservation ofshorebirds. An international exchange project formigrating shorebirds and nature has been launchedthrough networks. In the past, residents utilized thearea for aquaculture (e.g., a nori farm) and saltmanufacturing. But these development projects facedpressure from the local residents who campaigned toprotect the area. In 1993, Yutsu Higata was designatedas a National Wildlife Protection Area, and wasdesignated as a Ramsar site in 1996. In addition, YutsuHigata joined the East Asian-Australiasian Shore BirdReserve Network in the 6 th Conference in Brisbane,according to Tatsuya Shibahana, a Chief Ranger.In Malaysia, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) hasbeen working on environmental education for almost16 years through the “co-curriculum system” called theNational School Nature Club (Kelab Pencinta Alamor KPA). KPA was set up in 1991 in 12 schools aroundKlang Valley. With the support of the Ministry ofEducation and a small grant from a private company,MNS embarked on recruiting schools to be part of theMNS umbrella. Today, after 20 years of KPA, there are430 schools that have joined the project. KPA provideshands-on activities through six zone camps (in thenorth, south, east, central, Sabah and Sarawak); araptor watch camp; an International Bird Race (forteachers and children who come every two years); awater conservation project in schools selected from thezone. A small grant is available for the project. Thereare 6 to 10 participants in the project, but only one isselected winner. The camps dwell on watermonitoring, forest ecology, waste auditing, insectstudy, and caving among others. In addition, KPAprovides education materials (e.g., Buku Pan duanKPA, KPA Guidebook for teachers to set up a NatureClub) and organizes a teacher’s meeting every year.The Ministry of Education provides support in kind,while the private sector sponsors the various activities.Apart from this, MNS has developed nature centers toprovide hands-on activities for children, such as theFRIM-MNS-SHELL Nature Center, the SepangNature Interpretation Center and Batu Cave.Information on the camps was shared by I.S.Shanmugaraj, Head of the Environmental EducationDivision.The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows