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!
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.
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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.
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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!!”
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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.
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