Planning education to care for the earth - IUCN Knowledge Network

Environmental education in a Brazilian natural areaby demands that the Black Lion Tamarin project be continued. Letters weresent to the park administration in Sao Paulo asking that a resident director beappointed. When this happened, the new director was asked to maintain theeducation programme.ConclusionThe Black Lion Tamarin Programme shows that education forconservation can be effective in increasing knowledge and inchanging the attitudes and behaviour of people towards the naturalenvironment. Institutional support was nevertheless difficult to obtainand the continuity of the programme was for a time threatened. Publicinvolvement mattered not only as a contribution to the protection ofthe area, but also as a mandate for the programme’s continuity.The programme is one of many in Brazil which began by targetingstudents and then reached out to entire communities. Suchprogrammes achieve a wider impact with the involvement ofadditional educators and university students. Workshops, meetingsand publications are useful as a means of exchanging strategies anddisseminating results.Regional conservation initiatives are strengthened by the support ofdecision-makers. Educators should therefore concentrate on involvingthe higher leadership: directors of institutions and companies,landowners, entrepreneurs, and politicians. Conversely, manyprogrammes which have demanded an excessive personal contributionfrom isolated educators have been threatened with termination by alack of administrative support. The problem in finding support oftenstems from the divergent interests of decision-makers andconservationists in approaching a specific issue. The biggest challengefor educators may thus be to develop strategies which enhance theawareness of decision-makers of their importance as potentialconservationists. There is a need to conduct research on the role ofdecision-makers in conservation, and to share the results amongeducators.Acknowledgements : The success of the Black Lion Tamarin environmentaleducation programme would not have been possible without the support ofthe local communities, the enthusiasm of the education group, the help of thepark’s staff, and support from: the Forestry Institute of Sao Paulo - SMA,Apenheul - Holland, Canadian Embassy in Brazil, Fanwood Foundation, theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Whitley Animal Protection Trust, theWildlife Preservation Trust International, the World Wildlife Fund. I amgrateful to Robert Redick, Jim Ellis and Susan Jacobson for reviewing thismanuscript.55