Attracting Public towards Conservation by Expeditions
This was really Pushing Boundaries beyond my capability by 1100 km bike riding in 2002 and 600km sea kayaking in 2007. The purpose is to create mass awareness on marine conservation among public through TV, newspaper media towards the value of our local coastal ecosystems. In 2007 I paddled sea kayak along the coast for about ~20km everyday and reach a nearby village. I stayed on the beach and conducted marine conservation education classes on the shorelines, beaches, community halls, houses and schools. After spending time with those villagers, and registering some volunteers for our organization, I again paddled along the coast to next village. I did the same awareness by my 1100km bike expedition along the coast of my state Tamil Nadu in 2002.
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Scale of implementation
Enabling factors
This one man awareness needed personal training and commitment especially for sea kayaking. A complete set of marine awareness materials, good knowledge on local coastal area and traditional knowledge of fishers was essential for both expeditions. Thousands of childrens, villagers and students were reached during those two expeditions A wide coverage of media was achieved through the expedition, which highlighted the conservation message of this expedition to common people.
Lessons learned
Mass public attention and media can be turned towards local marine conservation issues by organizing such expeditions. The expedition should be well planned and the person has to be easily approachable to public throughout. Large number of conservation booklets and materials has to be issued to public and media along the conservation expeditions. The route of expedition should be close to human inhabitants in order to get the attention of public/media about the purpose and updating the status of the expedition. 1200 km bike expedition for marine conservation awareness 2002 600km seakayak expedition for marine conservation awareness in 2007
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