Darwin Coral Reef Education Project

Caribbean coral reefs are under threat and there are currently few educational materials developed in the region which enable teachers and NGOs to work on a sound scientific basis which encourages both thinking and action from Primary School children. Coral reefs are biologically rich in their diversity and are an important natural resource for the region, with economic value to both the fishing and the tourism industries.

In June 1998 the CCA began a 2 year 9 month project with the Field Studies Council (FSC) in U.K. The funds have come from the U.K.'s Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions's Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species. The Project Officer at the CCA is Laura Picard. Her counterpart at the FSC is Steve Tilling in the Publications division of that organisation.

The aims of the project are to:

• provide resources to help communities understand the threats and opportunities to them from the biodiversity of coral reefs
• develop two active learning resource packs on Caribbean coral reefs
• increase school teacher's capacity to introduce active learning and first hand investigation into the school curriculum
• enable schools to have a beneficial effect on their local environment through small scale conservation projects
• bring knowledge and understanding from Caribbean countries into the UK school environment

In the Caribbean the target is primary school children whereas in the UK the clients are secondary school ecology & geography students.

This CCA project is funded by the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species.