Education and Outreach

Public Awareness and Education TIDE staff combines hands on activities with environmental education. By increasing awareness of local ecosystem functions and importance, residents have developed a sense of ownership and pride in their protected areas and have begun to respect the accompanying regulations. These education programs have decreased illegal fishing in the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, allowing it to actually produce more commercial species in season resulting in more catch, and more income, for fishermen using sustainable means. In 2004, TIDE developed interactive curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary school levels to educate local youths about local marine ecosystems and the importance of their conservation; this program is being implemented in coastal schools in the Toledo District and includes an educational field component. In November, 2005 TIDE will hire a full-time Outreach and Education Coordinator to expand our community outreach and conservation education efforts throughout the Toledo District.

TIDE has recently undertaken a socio economic study of the communities buffering the protected areas we manage. The study included questions regarding perceptions of TIDE’s management activities and residents’ level of education regarding conservation issues. In the past this has been measured indirectly through conversations with community members and community leaders. Preliminary results do show awareness has increased since the program began in 1997, but there is still much more work to be done.

Weekly Radio Show: The objective of TIDE’s weekly radio show is to educate the public about the role of TIDE, to provide general information about TIDE’s programs and their respective staff members, to familiarize the community with local and national conservation issues and to provide a forum for local community members to express their views on conservation and the role of TIDE. The radio show has done wonders to promote conservation and educate local residents about their resources. As a result community members have a heightened awareness of activities that TIDE is conducting, fishermen are more aware of the regulations in PHMR and due to shows on fire management, inland residents are more aware of the ways to reduce wildfires in the dry season. In 2003 TIDE conducted a survey to assess the success of its radio show. TIDE found that the average age of listeners is 20, ½ of people from Punta Gorda and surrounding villages have heard of the show, 70% of those who have heard of the show have listened on a basis ranging from occasionally to weekly, and 2/5 of all people in Punta Gorda listen to the show. “The Rising TIDE” is now in its seventh season and is the longest running show on local radio.

Summer Camp: TIDE’s summer camp provides local youth with an educational way to spend their summer and an opportunity to visit other areas of the district, of which they are unfamiliar. TIDE’s 2003 summer camp taught 100 students how to swim while also providing them with thorough knowledge of the marine environment. Several youths from the coastal communities had their first opportunity to visit the inland villages and ruins of Toledo and to interact with the communities there. In 2004, TIDE’s summer camp helped show local youth how and why protected areas are managed by taking participants to each protected area for an overnight visit. 2005’s camp help make the crucial connection between inland communities and coastal communities. The children learned about how their actions at home affect the lives of their neighbors. It was the first time many of the youngsters had visited each other’s villages. The results of the summer camp year after year shows that exposure to these areas encourages support of conservation activities in young people, which results in a new generation of more sustainable adults.

Scholarship Program: The Maya Mountain Marine Corridor Scholarship Program encourages fishers to give up their destructive gill-nets in order to have their child’s school expenses paid for by TIDE. While TIDE is removing an income generating activity, it is providing their children with options for the future. The program addresses the economic hardships of giving up unsustainable fishing methods by providing another way for parents to finance their children’s education. Through education, more than 25 children of fishermen have access to more opportunities in activities not reliant on the destruction of resources. In this way the program also helps conserve biodiversity. As a result of targeting the worse offenders, TIDE has noticed an increase in lobster, conch and finfish, some of the most important commercial species of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. In June of 2005, seven students graduated from the program, representing a new generation of conservation leaders in Toledo.

Environmental Resource Center: the newest addition to our program

Continuing our watershed strategy for environmental education is imperative to the the successful management of the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor (MMMC), which includes the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, Payne’s Creek National Park, and private lands managed by TIDE for the people of Belize. TIDE has been managing these lands for quite some time; however we believe that without more environmental education of local community members, the protection of these areas will become more difficult in the face of potential unsustainable development. In addition we are aware that our protected areas cannot thrive and the biodiversity of our region will not be sustained without the continued success of other protected areas in the region.

TIDE’s recently constructed Environmental Resource Center on its private lands builds on the educational programming offered by the organization. The center is located close enough to town that it will serve as a field trip destination for surrounding village schools and as natural history museum where residents can view displays on local plants and their uses and local wildlife, where students can use the interpretive trails for lessons on biology and wildlife and conduct research using TIDE’s binoculars and reference books. The center provides students with a great access point to their natural environment; here students can study the Rio Grande River, mangrove and lowland broadleaf forest as well as an abundance of endangered species, including the jaguar. The Center will also serve to educate residents and school children about the importance of protecting their resources and the actions they can take as citizens to improve their environment.

The Center was developed to include professionally designed educational displays, interpretive maps and interactive educational games that highlight the different ecosystems of Toledo. TIDE will also construct composting toilets for the use of the visitors to the Center and will upgrade the interpretive trail where students can learn about conservation and natural resources in the wild. The results of this project will be an increase in awareness of not only the importance of protecting local resources, but the project will also promote ownership of these resources through field visits.