Conservation Education ~ Retreat At Kotagiri

At the recently organized Retreat of the Conservation Education Network I agreed to be a part of the team that would draft the report along with Sarah and Sunita. This post shares that report. 

Conservation Education Network

Third Annual Retreat

October 20, 21, 22 - 2010

Keystone Foundation Campus

Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu

Conservationeducation@googlegroups.com

DAY 1

Ø  Orientation to the retreat

Ø  Introduction to Keystone Foundation, overview of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and Nilgiri Natural History Society

Ø  Tour of Keystone Foundation campus

Ø  Introduction to bees and beekeeping

DAY 2

Ø  Longwood Shola

Ø  Interactions with village elders on their practice of sharing knowledge with children

Ø  Communications with different segments of society

Ø  Visit to Bee Museum - Green Shop

DAY 3

Ø  Sullivan’s cottage

Ø  Talk on Elements towards Ecologies of Knowledge - A macro perspective of education in context of changes taking place in the society.

Ø  Feedback, way-ahead and wrap-

Ø  Painting and Dancing

The stage was set with orientation to the retreat after which Pratim gave a succinct introduction to Keystone Foundation, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the Nilgiri Natural History Society. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve at the current juncture is bereft of a legal status and is managed by multiple agencies. However with the Western Ghats Expert Panel currently in place it stands a good chance of gaining legal status. Keystone Foundation’s programs include capacity-building, documentation, action-research, advocacy and networking. Their projects in and around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve include Shola restoration, honey collection – marketing and environment education. Discussion that followed began with the state of education in different schools functioning in the landscape and moved on to ‘greening’ of education. Questions raised and debated included: Should local issues be incorporated in a curriculum? How can conservation education be ‘that something’ which creates an ethic in students as opposed to just being another boring school subject? Which approach works better in conservation education; integration with existing subjects or adding it on as a separate subject itself?

Robert shared his experiences with bees and this session was very well-received by participants. In India, bees are cultivated for honey and pollination services are secondary, although beekeepers can also make money from this. Of the bees found in India Apis cerana, the Asian Honeybee, is considered more suitable for cultivation for several reasons. Some of them being; it is a native species and as a corollary can adapt to the vegetation in the landscape, it is a generalist feeder which does not require investment in specialized tools and equipment like other species and it is also less aggressive. Robert shared of his learning having emerged primarily from his experiences with local people he worked with. During the interactions in the latter half of his session participants posed questions on questions ranging from design of bee-hives to the affects of pesticides, genetically modified crops, and cell phone radiation on bees.

Participants went for an enthusing walk to Longwood Shola; a Reserve Forest in Kotagiri. This patch of 100 – 150 acres is located within tea-estates, plantations and villages and besides other species was also visited by the gaur. Besides the entrance gate is a large board which enlists species one may encounter in course of the walk. Sumin shared that while most Sholas now  do not boast of trees as tall as those that occur here the small forest gives an idea of what the Nilgiris once were.  He added that organizations in Kotagiri put in time and effort to maintain this forest that also acted as a prime and perennial water source for 15 villages downstream. Walks like these do provide impetus to the rest of the day.

Interactions with village elders, associated with Keystone Foundation and working in different parts of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve then took place. Saneesh has been instrumental in planning and implementing this session. They talked of different activities they undertook and also shared of select experiences they had had in the process while Saneesh complimented the talk with pictures of the very actions. Some of their invigorating experiences are

Ø  Sharing knowledge concerning plants with children; a part of the latter’s heritage

Ø  Teaching children about medicinal qualities of various plants

Ø  Telling children of the legends and myths of the landscape

Ø  Publishing a village newspaper that also talks of plants that are flowering and birds that are laying eggs

As they listened open-eyed participants were invited for visits to these places to know more of these actions.

Visit to Bee Museum - Green Shop at Ooty was then organized. Participants initially saw a film by Keystone Foundation on the practice of honey bee collection in the landscape and its being a part of the local culture.  Pushpinder then explained the different aspects of the practice of honey collection in the landscape. The museum also hosts an impressive display of posters and interactive material on wildlife in the landscape. Participants then moved on to make purchases from the Green Shop. 

An interactive session on Communication Strategies for different audiences and situation then took place at the Bee Museum itself. This was moderated by Nimesh. Participants worked in diverse situations across the country and shared their experiences while co-participants chipped in with questions and comments. These deliberations touched various aspects of conservation education like

Ø  The need to pay more attention to communications

Ø  Role of separate strategy for each section of the audience

Ø  Possibility of apprenticeship or one-on-one mentoring

Ø  Exploring interactions between 2 individuals from distinct backgrounds

Ø  Importance of building relationships and trust

Ø  Role media could play and how one could deal with it

Ø  Need to be based at and get and understanding of the place one is working at

Ø  Selling the concept of conservation education

Participants took a walk to Sullivan’s cottage. Mr. Sullivan was the Ooty collector during the days of British Raj  and the person to suggest tea plantations for the landscape. The cottage has an interesting collection of artifacts depicting the history of Nilgiris and the movement to conserve the landscape.

Dr. Vasavi from National Institute of Advanced Studies gave the  participants an interesting talk on Elements towards Ecologies of Knowledge. Her talk covered issues ranging from education in rural India to challenges faced by youth in rural India. She outlined the three pronged crises we encountered today; ecological, economic and social and also pointed out to the dichotomy between the rush for primary education and disillusion with higher education. The focus of the talk on overlaps and interlinks in conservation, education and rural India was to help participants look at conservation education with a fresh perspective. Questions put across after her talk included seeking her views on how pertinent is scale in interventions concerning conservation in rural India? Within conservation why is conservation education accorded low priority even by those who publicly accept its import? What kinds of networks exist that participants could be a part of?

Session on creating and using a blog. Nimesh moderated a session on creation of a blog. He presented his blog and led the group through the steps of blog-publishing. Select add-ons or products that that a blog could have were also discussed. As a part of the session Rama created a blog for herself. Questions that rose in this session included; Can we have a common blog for the group? Is it possible to upload video clips on the blog? How can the comments on blog be moderated?

Time was the reason discussion could not be initiated on vision statement for the Conservation Education group and participants were of the view that the exercise should not be rushed. It was decided that a Vision statement could be evolved over email exchanges. 

Pushpinder provided paint material along with examples that could be followed by novices. Many participants attempted painting bags including some who put in lot of energies and may have re-discovered their love for art. The Kurumba group that came to the Keystone campus danced and sang around a fire lit on the lawns. The music of small horn-flutes and drums accompanied by their graceful movements had most participants break into a dance. 

Some feedback on 2010 retreat

Ø  Advice on cultivation was a big help

Ø  Found Dr. Vasavi’s talk inspiring and was thankful for opportunity to participate in the retreat.

Ø  Host agency staff gets to interact with Conservation Education network personnel attending the meeting, this is one off-shoot of having meetings at separate locations

Ø  Keystone Foundation’s work and sessions with elders were innovative and well organized

Ø  The retreat inspired and enabled to interact with like-minded people and gain access to resources which otherwise would be difficult

Ø  The retreat was an eye-opener

Some suggestions for 2011 retreat

Ø  Communication strategies – addressing different segments of society

Ø  Ecologies of Knowledge - further deliberations

Ø  Evaluation and Monitoring of conservation education programs

Ø  Field visits to Conservation Education projects in action

Ø  Innovations in Conservation Education

Ø  Action based learning depending on the venue

Ø  Wildlife rescue

Ø  Sharing of actions undertaken by participants

Participants

Ø  Abhilash, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Annie, Kotagiri

Ø  Kuttan, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Lakshmanan, ISHA Home School

Ø  Lourdes, Pitchandikulam Forest Consultants

Ø  Mahadesh, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Nimesh, Samrakshan Trust

Ø  Pushpinder, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Rama, Ankola

Ø  Rasingam, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Sakthivel, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Saneesh, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Sarah, Intern - Vanastree

Ø  Sharmila, Kalpavriksh

Ø  Shivanna, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Skanda, ATREE

Ø  Sudhakar, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Sujatha, Kalpavriksh

Ø  Sumin, Keystone

Ø  Sumithra, Keystone Foundation

Ø  Sunita Rao, Vanastree, ATREE

Ø  Tanuja, Nature Conservation Foundation

Thanks are due to Sunita, Sarah, Saneesh, Keystone Foundation and the entire group at Kotagiri.