IZE AFRICA REPORT
2014 – 2015
PAAZA
The African Zoo and Aquarium Association (PAAZA) became a member of the IZE. As many facilities in Africa are very small, with limited education capacity this will facilitate improved communication between smaller facilities and the IZE. The IZE is featured on the PAAZA Website and feedback on the IZE Conference in Hong Kong was presented at the annual PAAZA conference. A presentation on the IZE was done at the Animal Keepers Symposium in Durban in August. A decision has been made to combine Keepers and Educators into one group for future symposia.
Zoo and Aquarium Visitor Research in Africa
Over the past few years visitor research in African zoos and aquaria has slowly been initiated. Studies have been undertaken in uShaka Sea World and the National Zoological Gardens. These studies are providing valuable information on visitors in Africa, information which will help us to design more effective exhibits. It is hoped that more facilities will start to evaluate their work, and attempt to better understand their visitors, with support from PAAZA.
Penguin Promises Campaign
The Penguin Promises campaign was initiated by SAAMBR and has now spread to many facilities in Africa, through PAAZA and Animal Keepers Association. The campaign encourages visitors to ‘Make a promise to a Penguin’ – their promise being a commitment to a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Over 10 000 visitors have made a promise and evaluation of the campaign has been encouraging. The annual Penguin Waddle raises awareness of the campaign and this year ten facilities participated in the 128km walk along the Southern Cape Coast.
Biodiversity is Us
A number of African facilities participated in this WAZA initiative. These included the Johannesburg Zoo, uShaka Sea World and the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre.
Umgeni River Bird Park
2015 has been a year of change for our education department and a year of planning for the future. One of the biggest changes has been the official inclusion of our Show department into the education department. This has brought about stronger cohesion in the educational message delivered at the park and also expanded the number of staff available for education programmes. With this change has come a large increase in the number of guided tours being conducted, a larger range of educational material being produced, and a renewed education plan for the next five years. Our education manager has been asked to give help and advice to the KwaZulu Natal Museums’ Ornithology department and will be working with them over the next few months with their education plans for the exhibits and collection. This is in addition to an expanded social media presence and the final touches being put to our website to give a larger focus to education and information sharing.
uShaka Sea World Education Department (South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR))
The uShaka Sea World Education team had a busy year and over 130 000 learners and over 10 000 teachers visited the complex. In addition to this almost 6 000 children had an opportunity to see live fish through our sponsored programme. The Outreach Programme, which does lessons in rural, disadvantage schools, did presentations for almost 7 000 learners. This programme, which has been sponsored by SAAMBR for the last few years, received a much needed boost with funding from the National Lottery. This will enable expansion of this valuable programme.
Courses for KZN small scale fishery committee members and monitors
Along the African coast are many thousands of small scale fishers. These people rely on marine resources for their livelihoods. In the late 1990s SAAMBR (uShaka Sea World) initiated capacity building workshops for these fishers, as well as for the managers of the resources. The courses have been developed to assist community harvesters and managers to understand the basics of fisheries management, allowing participation in co-management committees and increasing voluntary compliance with regulations. Each year fish identification courses (including the rationale for bag and size limit and closed season regulations for individual species) and basic fisheries management course are run. In 2015 additional “Train the Trainer” courses capacitated resource harvest committee members to run small basic fisheries management presentations for harvesters and school children in their communities.
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre
The UWEC Education and Information Department had a busy and productive year. In addition to normal activities a number of Environmental Days were celebrated. These included World Wetlands Day, during which UWEC exhibited in the Lutembe Bay wetland system. It was a colourful event attended by the Secretary General of Wetland International and the Ugandan Minister of Water and Environment. UWEC hosted the World Wildlife Day celebrations, organized for the first time in Uganda. The theme was Wildlife Crime is Serious, Let’s Get Serious about Wildlife Crime. The event was characterized by entertainment from school children and was attended by more than 300 people. It was officiated by His Worship, the Mayor of Entebbe Municipality. UWEC joined the rest of the world to celebrate the Earth Day at Bigodi Secondary school in Bigodi, Kamwenge District. Over 10 schools from Kamwenge District took part in this year’s celebrations and several organisations exhibited their products. Uganda Wildlife Education Center participated in the community Conservation Education awareness program in Fort Portal, Mbarara, Jinja, Hoima and Kisoro, where over 15,000 people were reached directly and over 1,000,000(million) people indirectly at each event. These events are entertaining, but they have a serious message and provide UWEC with the opportunity to educate children, as well as reach influential members of the community. As such they are invaluable for conservation education.
Support secondary school curriculum implementation in Uganda
The Education and Information Department has embarked on developing programs and materials for Conservation Education to support the secondary school curriculum. This is in line with the new curriculum for secondary schools that integrates most of the environmental, wildlife and conservation issues into the curriculum. A teachers’ workshop was successfully organized and various topics were heighted by the selected team. The material development process is ongoing and we are soliciting for funds to have a grand stake holder’s workshop to review the materials developed by the end of October.
Establishment of the satellite centers in Uganda
In a bold move UWEC has embarked on an inventory to establish satellite centers in the country. This will broaden the reach of UWEC, and provide other regions with valuable conservation support. The initiative started with a visit to Western Uganda. In February, 2015, UWEC officials and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA) officials, on the invitation of Toro Kingdom, met the Prime Minister and inspected the land where the satellite centre may be established. The team also visited Amabere Kanyanamwiru cultural centre in Fort Portal and the proposed Emburara Wildlife Sanctuary in Mbarara district. A report has been produced and an evaluation will be done by UWEC management and MTWA officials to determine the best site. Additional areas will also be evaluated. This initiative has tremendous potential for Conservation Education in Uganda and will clearly illustrate the catalytic effect of one facility. One facility can have a far greater reach, through the establishment of satellite centres.