Long-Term Conservation Through Education
Since October 2019, Project Ala has been lucky enough to work with young people from the local community to help change attitudes towards conservations and sustainability. By engaging youth about the forest threats and lemur conservation taking place on their doorstep, SEED Madagascar can help create the stewards of the forest who will preserve this unique habitat for future generations.
Project Ala has been working with Club Atsatsaky (or Club Gecko) an afterschool club run by SEED Madagascar, which reaches over 100 local youth every week. These sessions are delivered by Malagasy education specialists and are a favourite for the youth of Sainte Luce. The young people receive presentations, containing exciting audio-video material and always end in educational games. These interactive games have helped teach things such as tree anatomy, habitat connectivity, plant lifecycles, and different conservation strategies, which they would not usually get the opportunity to learn about. The young people have also been on forest adventures with our local guides to see the trees and animals that they have been learning about
During World Lemur Day 2019, the young people of Sainte Luce participated in quizzes to test their knowledge on lemurs. The day proved very popular, especially as there were prizes of notepads, crayons, and educational books for answering questions currently on lemurs and their habitats. Plans are already being made for World Lemur Day 2020 to make it an even bigger success!
The task of changing attitudes towards conservation and sustainability in Sainte Luce is a difficult one, but by engaging the youth of the community we can make a long-term positive impact on the future guardians of this unique forest.