Kate Mannle, Partnership Associate, recently attended a conference held by the International Marine Conservation Congress. Many of Rare’s upcoming conservation campaigns will aim to protect marine-life, coral reefs, and ocean habitats. Read Kate’s blog about the conference and Rare’s focus on marine conservation.


Rare staffers Kate Mannle, Khanh Nguyen, Sonita Reese, and Brooke Sadowsky at a special symposium on conservation solutions.

Some of the world’s leading experts in marine conservation recently gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Marine Conservation Congress. A number of Rare staff attended the conference, held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va, in preparation for the launch of next year’s Pride campaigns. Two of Rare’s regional field offices will be focusing on threats to marine ecosystems in the Coral Triangle — countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor Leste and in the English speaking regions of the Western Pacific and Philippines. The conference allowed Rare staff to attend talks on the latest research in coral reef ecology, designing marine protected area networks, and solutions to marine conservation threats.

Rare was also invited to present a poster drawing on the results of our partners’ Rare Pride campaigns titled, “Conservation Successes in the Western Pacific,” at a special symposium held at the Natural History Museum. The event theme was, “Beyond the Obituaries: Success Stories in Ocean Conservation at the Natural History Museum” and aimed to bring together innovators in the conservation community that have had real world success in marine conservation.  The symposium was facilitated by renowned marine ecologist and Director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Dr. Jeremy Jackson.

Alistair Harris, Research Director for Blue Ventures, and Sean Southey, VP of Rare’s Pride English Program discuss Blue Venture’s research in Velondriake, Madagascar, a community managed marine protected area network and site of Gildas Andriamalala’s current Rare Pride campaign.

I was also fortunate enough to attend a pre-symposium workshop with Khanh Nguyen, Rare’s Partnership Manager for the Pride  English Program, who designed and presented Rare’s poster. The pre-symposium workshop brought together the symposium presenters to discuss what constitutes conservation success. While there were many different perspectives in the room and some disagreement from this distinguished group on what constitutes conservation success, from changing one person’s attitude to huge social movements to the complete recovery of ecosystems, most agreed that there is a huge need to change people’s behaviors and unsustainable practices. The discussion and the conference highlighted the need for Rare’s Pride campaigns to me even more.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, sums up the seven final campaigns that graduated from Rare’s training center at the University of Kent in England. Paul also introduces us to Tublai Ililau of Palau who focused on the re-seeding various species of Giant Clams.

The seven graduating Pride campaign managers with Paul Butler, on the night of their presentations.

The evening was drawing to a close, the audience at the University of Kent in Canterbury had been enthralled by the stories of our seven campaign managers who had returned to finalize their reports and plot strategies for campaign follow up. The seven ladies came from the islands in the Caribbean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans as well as Belize in Central America. We had heard stories of how they had overcome challenges to reach deep into their communities to change attitudes and practices; and had listened to songs, watched videos and been entertained by Olivia’s Stork Dance and Brooke’s butterfly fish mascot.

While each campaign manager talked passionately about their campaigns, they also spoke with pride about their homes, and as each began their presentations with slogans drawn from their tourism departments, there seemed to be a competition, as to whose was the more beautiful…… “It’s Better in the Bahamas”, “You Better Belize It”,   “Saint Lucia – Simply Beautiful”. One thing was for sure, most in the audience would rather had been in any one of the seven countries that they represented than in England on a cold, wet, dark evening!
 
Last up to talk about her conservation campaign was Tublai Ililau from Palau in the Pacific’s Micronesia. I can say, hand on heart, that after Saint Lucia (my adopted homeland), Palau has to rank as the most beautiful place on Earth – just take a look at the Rock Islands on this site and you’ll see why!

Beautiful Palau.

Rare has worked with Palau and the Palau Conservation Society for more than a decade and has had the pleasure of supporting three campaigns on that island. In fact, Tublai’s immediate supervisor, Yalap, Yalap, is a former campaign manager and his cousin was Noe was one too! So Tublai follows in a long line of local heros. Reflecting the magnificent marine environment of her homeland, Tublai’s campaign focused on promoting coastal conservation and the Giant Clam.

Tublai with her supervisor Yalap Yalap who ran a Pride campaign in 2001. Yalap was a part of the first groups of conservationists to undergo Pride training at Kent. 

Palau is home to seven of the nine species of Giant Clam, which like many marine species around the world have been over-harvested. Much of Tublai’s work focused around Melekeok, one of the nation’s 16 states. 

Tublai explained that in 1994 a Marine Protected Area had been established in that state, but it had little community recognition (few even knew of its existence), and regulations governing its protection were unenforced or unknown. Through Pride, and working with the Vice Speaker of the State Legislature, Tublai built community recognition for the site and support for its rigorous protection.  Due to Tublai’s efforts the tide has changed, and today fishermen vigorously support its existence to the extent that they have begun re-seeding  the area with young Giant Clams. First 700, and just prior to Tublai’s return a further 3,000 are planned to be seeded! The community hopes to establish an underwater trail so that people from all over the world can share in their pride and joy.

Tublai shows off some of her education materials about the various species of Giant Clams in the waters of Palau.

Tublai herself has plans to expand her campaign to other States in Micronesia and to build upon the foundation she has set. She said, “I never thought what we achieved would have been possible! It was great!!”

Students help spread the campaigns slogan of Tublai’s campaign and wear pins of the giant clam to show their support.

“It was great” not only summed up Tublai’s work, but also the work of all seven campaign managers – the final graduating class from Kent. Hard work, dedication and a recipe for success, that’s what it takes; and with the opening words from Cathleen’s introduction, the audience could clearly see that “Global conservation is indeed in local hands,” and very capable ones at that! 

Each of the seven campaign managers live in some of the most important, richest biodiversity sites on Earth — whether it is the marine environments of the Pacific or in the wetlands of Belize and they all are dedicated to protect them!

Cathleen from Mauritius says she’s fed up with people knowing her island only from the saying “as dead as Dodo,” and she plans to do everything in her power to ensure that is the last species to go extinct in her patch of paradise.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, blogs about Cheryl Calaustro who got the word out about her campaign via the media, appearing on a multitude of TV and radio programs. Cheryl lit up the TV screens in her native Guam talking about her Pride campaign and the endemic Guam Rail. Read more about her campaign!

Cheryl with the endemic Guam Rail, the flightless bird that her campaign focused on.

Cheryl Calaustro, from Guam, works with the Guam Department of Agriculture. Her Go Native, Protect Our Island of Guam” campaign focused on the Guam Rail, a flightless bird endemic to Guam. Guam is one of those classic examples of where an invasive species has devastated natural ecosystems and left the forests of the island silent.

Vince Stricherz, birding expert, writes, “Birds typically make up a small part of the life of a forest, but they are important for pollination, spreading seeds around the forest and controlling insects that feed on plants. Guam, an island 30 miles long and five to 15 miles wide about 3,800 miles west of Hawaii, lost most of its native birds after the brown tree snake was introduced by accident from the Admiralty Islands following World War II. The snake has few predators on Guam, so its population density is quite high — estimated at more than 3,000 per square mile — and some individuals there grow to an unusual size of 10 feet long. Before introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam had 12 species of native forest birds. Today 10 of those are extinct on Guam, and the other two species have fewer than 200 individuals. Though Guam has some non-native bird populations, few other birds moved in when native species died out, and none of them live in the forest. That leaves few birds to consume tree seeds and then drop them away from the trees”.

Guam, a small Island with vast forests and grassland.

Much work and considerable emphasis has been placed on the snake, and awareness levels on the island are high. In her pre-project survey, Cheryl found that 54 percent of respondents were aware of the threats posed by the Brown Tree Snake, but only 5 percent were aware that feral cats posed threats too. Cats are especially problematic for the flightless Guam Rail or Koko, which thanks to a successful captive breeding program escaped extinction and is the subject of a re-introduction program.

Koko, Cheryl’s mascot helped her get the word out about the endemic Guam Rail.
Few respondents knew about how they could help or about feline neutering (23 percent). Bringing awareness to this issue was to become the focus of Cheryl’s campaign. In addition to the usual Pride campaign collateral, Cheryl utilized the mass media. Her campaign appeared on 10 TV programs, four radio programs, and in the press frequently.

She spoke to more than 6,500 young people and even developed a Guam Rail facebook page to reach the island’s youth. She spoke excitedly about her program, but also noted that while knowledge and attitudes have indeed changed, the questionnaire survey results were not as high as she had hoped. She wondered if communities were receiving confused messages, as her campaign was running simultaneously with another Pride campaign. Cheryl showed a fabulous video of kids singing a song, that moved those listening to her presentation and concluded with the words that “success comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not always reflected in statistics”. Cheryl remains committed to building upon her work and will “keep on trying”….

Last up was Tublai from Palau – an island archipelago that ranks right up there on my personal list of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, introduces us to Brooke Nevitt — an environmental education and outreach coordinator who led a Pride campaign in the Northern Mariana Islands. Read about how Brooke networked with teachers, government agencies, and nonprofits alike to get coral reef education into school curriculum, and into the minds of students.

Brooke Nevitt brings hands on experience to corel reef education.

Brooke Nevitt from Saipan in the Pacific’s Northern Mariana Islands focused her presentation on the need for partnerships. Her campaign’s focus was on the island’s reef ecosystem and marine protected areas (MPAs). In her pre-project survey 50 percent of respondents did not know that Saipan had an MPA. This is pretty remarkable since this tiny island measures only seven miles by 14 miles actually has a total of three MPAs! She asked the question, “If people are unaware of something, how can they be expected to cherish and protect it?” Brooke needed to get the word out!

Brooke’s ”symbol of Pride” Primo  was embraced by children and adults all over the island.

Over the course of her two-year campaign, she reached out to several target audiences; but she focused her talk on her efforts to engage children, and through them, their parents. But even working with a “captive audience” of young students she faced barriers. How could coral reef education be incorporated into lesson plans when environmental education was not in the curriculum at all? How could she engage kids in conservation when teachers lacked the base knowledge to teach nature or about the marine ecosystem? How does one devise a classroom lesson about coral reefs when their true beauty can only be seen in the water?

Brooke’s answer was to foster partnerships and solicit the help of individuals and groups who could help her. The result was teachers training camps, where lesson plans about coral reef conservation were designed and eventually embedded into the national curriculum.

Children from Brooke’s community with a poster from her conservation campaign.

Through her partners she was able reach out to the community further. The Island’s Department of Environmental Quality and Coastal Management developed materials on reefs and reef ecosystems; MANI, a local NGO, funded teachers camps and student field trips. Teachers now get credits for attending the teachers camps and these credits accrue toward their professional development.

Beautiful CNMI.  Due to Brooke’s campaign, students will learn about the island’s marine ecosystems and the Marine Protected Areas.

Ten schools and 400 children were involved this year in a coral reef education program and this program is scheduled to expand next year. Brooke concluded that with partnerships in place, and enthusiastic support from the schools and Education Department, the scene is set for expansion. She hopes to continue with the campaign and expand it to neighboring Island, Rota, which was a site of an earlier Pride campaign that focused on the importance of Rota’s terrestrial ecosystem.

The symbol of Brooke’s campaign was the endemic Yellow-Crowned Butterfly Fish nick-named Primo. Her mascot visited during the presentation, much to the delight of the university audience.