Adaptation to Climate Change through the Promotion of Biodiversity
Mobilising the interested public - Learning about climate and environmental change PAPER no 5 I. The challenge: Coastal environmental protection – the understanding and appreciation by the general public The Mekong Delta is threatened by water in many ways e.g. rising sea levels, Mekong river flooding, deteriorating water quality or by intensive human use in fisheries, forestry, agriculture, tourism and settlement. The Mekong Area is the home of more than 17 million people and the basis for the national rice production, shrimp farming and logistic hub. The Province of Bac Lieu faces an environmental challenge.
Civil society plays a pivotal role in the adaption to climate change. In many ways civil society is the course of a deteriorating environment. Overuse of natural resources is only one dimension. At the same time conserving the environment or rebuilding it is not only the responsibility of the Government and governmental programs. Yes, governmental programs are building dykes, weirs and water
canals. But when it comes to the micro use- and there are 17 million micro users in the Mekong delta - the efforts on the ground count. The motto and perspectives are the sustainable use of natural resources or in other words the permit to use the natural resources but allow and support the recovering of the resource. Here individual efforts count, sometimes a behavioral change is required. Who is the best in promoting the behavioral change? The general public’s perception of the coastline can be condensed to either a common good for food collection or a place for recreation. Only few interested day visitors to the coast are aware of the shrinking mangrove stocks and the impact of the changing climate on their environment. The degradation of natural assets and an overload of the environment`s carrying capacity is visible for the trained “eye”, but not easily detected by the general public. Even though the coastline is the basic prerequisite of most of the income activities for the poorest, the connection between pollution and overuse on one side and shrinking aquatic resources to live from on the other is not understood yet. The coast is frequently visited by young and old for recreation purposes. The cool breeze is appreciated and fresh seafood part of the day-to-day lifestyle. The loss of coastline through erosion is therefore a critical development that starts to affect food security and also tourism investments in the area. Not to mention the tremendous decrease of habitats for local and migratory bird species.
The Government of Vietnam including the provincial administration (e.g. Bac Lieu) have started coastal protection measures. Experts are certain that more adaptation measures are required to react on the impacts of climate change and rising sea water levels. In order to generate a transformation that strives for mitigation of environmental degradation as well, an understanding and responsible behavior of the general public needs to be mobilised. Civil society needs to support public measures and in addition can play an active part in protecting and maintaining the coastline and their natural assets. The support of the broad public is required. Selected individual experts or public administration need to cooperate and exchange ideas, concepts and knowledge with the general public. II. The idea of addressing school kids and entering the curricula Scientific research shows that environmental friendly behavior in adults is closely related to positive experiences in childhood and sound knowledge about environmental systems. Targeting the young generation and building their knowledge and awareness is the key to the environment challenge and the prevention of environmental overuse. The possibility to experience nature in school excursions or family trips in combination with sound education are accordingly preconditions for the support of the environmental measures in rehabilitating and maintaining coastal ecosystems. The integration of Environmental Education in school curricula is on the global agenda since the early 1970th. The latest efforts to foster the topic ended in November 2014 with the closing of the UN-Decade “Education for Sustainable Development”, which covered content related to ecology, economy and social justice. The Vietnamese Government joined this global initiative.
III. The idea of addressing the general public But it is not only a matter of addressing young students in observing and maintaining the environment. Present rural households located in sensitive ecological areas and increasingly being threatened by rising water levels, need to be active partners in rebuilding and maintaining the eco-systems. Coastal visitors can contribute to the efforts as well. Therefore public strategies in rehabilitating and maintain ecosystems need to incorporate the direct and indirect active participation of the population. But the big question is about “how” and “whom”. In paper 2 rural households in the protected area are addressed in managing and maintaining the forest and water resource. In paper 3 rural agricultural households are briefed in climate smart rice production and in paper 4 the role of women in the threatened area of the coastal belt has been presented. All of these groups are more or less directly active in supporting the climate adaptation. More needs to be done in reaching the “silent” majority of visitors. By addressing the general public through environmental and climate change education, an overall understanding of the situation can be generated and initiate a self-concept based motivation in the long run. The process of implementing a new concept will first of all sensitize a group of early adopters. Reaching and motivating a critical mass of followers as next step will be the main challenge in a change process. The Government of Vietnam has to find ways to reach that critical mass and support the needed changes in order to ensure a sustainable system for human and nature in future. Especially in Vietnam there is a high potential of success by using existing structures in form of mass organisations like the Youth Unions, Green Clubs, the Woman Unions and many more.
The Ministry for Education and Training implemented a nationwide guideline about the Integration of Environmental Education in the school curricula in 2008. The political will and a framework for entering the curricula is in place. But implementation is still the big challenge. Teachers need to be briefed, school curricula developed, teaching facilities like school gardens facilitated.
IV. This is what the project initiated Environmental education and awareness raising was one component of the Project Adaptation to Climate Change through the Promotion of Biodiversity. Within three years, a holistic approach of integrating environmental and Climate Change education was developed and implemented.
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Starting at school levels, efforts span from secondary and high schools over to pre-service teacher training and the supporting teaching tools (e.g. school gardens). The decision was made to integrate environmental education in already existing subjects e.g. geography, biology and civic education. A set of material was elaborated by the teachers of the Province and integrated in all 90 Secondary and High schools in Bac Lieu Province with the support of 42 facilitators. The involved key personnel had been selected by the Provincial Department of Education and Training and the District Divisions of Education. Now there is an active teacher’s network addressing environmental issues in school education.
V. Environmental education – where do we stand today The Ministry of Education and Training, the Departments in the Provinces and the project in Bac Lieu set up a best practice pilot of integrating environmental education in secondary and high schools in the south of Vietnam. The trained teachers are willing to support the process further. The pre-service teacher training institutes are highly interested in integrating Education for Sustainable Development. It is now time to keep on supporting the process and foster the implementation of existing binding governmental regulations. The Ministry and the Departments have to make use of the positive development and take the next step. The situation is comparable with the recently ending UNdecade “Education for Sustainable Development” that also produces a number of outstanding lighthouse activities. Now the need for binding regulations and governmental guidelines are necessary to follow up and achieve the overall objective of scaling large on a global scale. Vietnam is already one step further by having existing regulations to support the schools in integrating the new topic. VI. Learning experiences
A number of schools operate their own school-garden demonstrating the basics of biology and food production. First teaching material is readily available. Based on the activities in the Province of Bac Lieu, the reference material has been further adjusted to be used in other Mekong Delta Provinces. As part of the scaling-up efforts in the Mekong River Delta, trained teachers were sent to neighboring provinces in order to support their integration efforts and ensure a sound transfer of material and lessons learnt. In Ca Mau Province, south of Bac Lieu, for example, 65 schools were supported and received the developed, adjusted material.
Furthermore efforts of communication and education continue outside school. The last remaining bird sanctuary is a starting point for non-formal education of the general public. Forest guards are trained to transfer environmental knowledge to school classes and visitors alike.
Changing curricula is not an easy and fast exercise. The topic of environmental education was easily linked to the subjects of geography and biology. But integration of new content into the subjects created a lot of insecurity. For those teachers that were not familiar with the green content it was even harder to follow. The trained facilitators were supposed to transfer the new content and the integration approach within teacher working groups to other teachers of their subject. It turned out to be a hard challenge for teacher and the administration. So far environmental education is still an isolated exercise within the school compound. Ideally the school education could be closer linked to the ongoing provincial activities in rehabilitating and maintaining the ecology and implementing strategies in mitigating climate change. The rehabilitation sites of coastal forests, the recovery of the biodiversity or the thematic of soil salinization would be very practical entry points for raising the interest of students and the general public. The overall project set-up in Bac Lieu, created a link between institutes in charge of natural resource management and education by adding the extra component “Environmental Education and Awareness Raising”. But merging green school education with a technical project (coastal protection, biodiversity etc.) is a rare example within the world of global technical assistance. Different partners, different approaches and qualifications of implementation staff are required. The school of thinking between partners is different. Professional foresters or fish farming specialist might not find it easy and acceptable in breaking down their proficiency into primary school understanding. But the magnitude of the problem in the Delta requires a broad
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support and a joint effort by public administration and civil society. The school approach appears to be one promising and sustainable option in reaching the general public. VII. Conclusions and Links The Bac Lieu project has started introducing the topics of environment, biodiversity and climate change into the schools and into the general publics awareness. But this can only be the beginning. More concepts, approaches and technical solutions are required in incorporating civil society (e.g. students, business, rural households) playing a more active and responsible role in the implementation of public projects, maintaining and preserving the coastal environment and consequent sustainable use. The need for more joint activities might intensify in future, since the pressure on land use and the environmental threat are still on the rise. The presentation of results in November 2014 stands in the context of the scheduled termination of support by the Federal Ministry of Environment, Germany (BUMB). But cooperation work between the Government of Germany and the Government of Vietnam in the field of adaptation to climate change is going to continue. For example the “Integrated Coastal Management Programme” (ICMP) jointly supported by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia will continue working closely with the civil society directly and indirectly interacting with the civil society directly and indirectly involved in the utilisation of the endangered and sensitive coastal zones. http://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/18623.html http://foss.vn/
Published by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Registered offices Bonn and Eschborn, Germany Adaptation to Climate Change through the Promotion of Biodiversity 215, 23/8 Street, Ward 8 Bac Lieu City Bac Lieu Province, Viet Nam As at November 2014 Photo credits © GIZ Text Wilhelm Elfring, Stefanie Gendera, Lisa Steurer Design Stefanie Gendera GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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