Conservation Education

20 ways You Can Save Our Wildlife

Several agencies conduct conservation education programmes in Sarawak. The main ones are the Forest Department, the Department of Education, the Ministry of Tourism and Kuching North City Council. Of these, only the Forest Department concentrates specifically on formal environmental education.

In 1987 it established an "Education and Extension Unit" within the National Parks and Wildlife Office. The unit has since been renamed the "Education and Interpretation Unit" or EIU. Until 1992, the Unit was based only in Kuching. In 1992, it expanded to Sibu and Miri, and in 1996, to Bintulu.

Conservation Education Programmes

The aims of the EIU are to use education as a tool:

• to promote conservation of biological diversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels with emphasis on totally protected species and Totally Protected Areas (TPAs);
• to promote individual and collective responsibility for the sustainable use of natural resources.

Ideally, conservation education should be aimed at all sectors of society in Sarawak. So far, the EIU has targeted three main groups:

• those in the formal education system (teachers and pupils);
• rural communities, especially those in and around TPAs where there are conflicts between local people and protection of totally protected animals and/or TPA; and
• special interest groups, e.g., boy scouts, Rakan Muda, MARA Institute of Technology.

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