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Educational resource on migratory species (03/01/08)

Good morning everyone:

A Happy New Year to all of you!

Here's my first message of the year about an excellent CEPA resource.

Lolo’s Flying Journey, a game for 6-12 year olds, has been produced by WWF Hong Kong. Thanks to the sponsorship by the Quality Education Fund, the game pack has been freely distributed to all primary schools in Hong Kong.

Through the game, students take the part of Lolo, a Black-faced Spoonbill, and take part in a migration journey through several countries in east Asia meeting many real-life challenges on the way. What happens to Lolo when traditional paddy farmers lose their jobs, and the many crucial paddy-field food sources for spoonbills disappear? What happens when the weather is good or bad? How do environmental policies affect Lolo’s chances of survival? How do unsustainable fishing practices along the migration route affect Lolo’s food supply? How do Ramsar Sites help Lolo? All these issues and many more that are dealt with during the game help children understand the economic, social and environmental issues that determine Lolo’s safe migration and also bring a broad understanding of the need for countries to work cooperatively to secure habitats for migratory species.

The education pack also includes a number of follow-up, hands-on activities that extend the knowledge and understanding of students, looking at lifestyles and the contribution every family can make to a more sustainable world as well as the range of environmental problems facing Hong Kong – air and water pollution, over-harvesting of fish, land reclamation etc. Activities are available for both in-class and outdoors and there are plenty of web links for teachers and students to access further information.

It was my pleasure to write the Preface for this game pack. The game is available for download from WWF Hong Kong’s web site here http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/education/edu_resources/lolofj.php or write to ihcsc@wwf.org.hk.

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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