The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Convention’s CEPA Programme

Wetlands International produces wetland education kits

The new Thai wetland education kit

A wetland education kit produced by Wetlands International for the Tasek Bera Ramsar site (highlighted here) has become a model for similar projects in Thailand and Cambodia.

 In keeping with this original kit, the two new kits are each focused on a particular wetland and are aimed specifically at schoolchildren living in the vicinity of the wetland. What could be better to teach children about the value of wetlands than providing materials that are directly relevant to their own environment?

Each kit provides schools with a teacher's guide, a series of classroom modules for children, a video CD, an audio cassette and a board game. The Thai kit also comes with two posters that cover Thai fish species and the biodiversity of the wetland.

The Cambodian wetland education kit uses site-specific material from Prek Toal, one of the core areas of Tonle Sap Lake, part of which is a Ramsar site. The kit, developed in close consultation with local officials from the Department of Primary Schools of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the Department of Environmental Education of the Ministry of Environment, and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, has been distributed to selected local schools, environment centres, NGOs and government agencies responsible for conducting environmental education. Funding for the kit was provided by the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. (For further information contact Mr. Mam Kosa, e-mail: wetlands@bigpond.com.kh)

The Thai Wetland education kit's site-specific material came from Thale Noi, Thailand's first Ramsar site, and was prepared in close collaboration with a local school. In producing the kit, Wetland International worked in consultation with the Office of the National Primary Education Commission of the Ministry of Education; the Office of Environmental Policy and Planning of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment; the Royal Forest Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives; the Wetlands Research Centre of Prince of Songkla University and Thale Noi Conservation Club.

The Kit was officially launched at Thale Noi by the first Secretary of the British Embassy in Bangkok, Mr Tom Carter on 28 June 2002. Since then it has been used to teach school children around Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area, Patthalung province, southern Thailand. (For further information contact Mr. Asae Sayaka, Wetlands International Thailand office, e-mail: sasae@ratree.psu.ac.th)

[Ed: My thanks to Mr Asae Sayaka for the information on the education kits and for providing the Bureau with a copy of the Thai kit]

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For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 27 October 2002, Sandra Hails, Ramsar.