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River
Care Project
Live
& Learn Environmental Education
is a non-government, non-profit organization, which aims to promote
greater understanding of environmental and human sustainability
through education and communication. It has offices in Australia,
Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. More information
is available on their website.
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Monitoring
river water quality, Fiji (Photo credit Live and Learn) |
River Care,
one of Live and Learn's activities, aims to strengthen the capacity
of educators and teachers to facilitate learning processes which
empower young people to identify, investigate and take action
to protect rivers and waterways. River
Care published resources include fact sheets, posters and
lesson plans. The River Care Project has been successful in Fiji,
where it is active with 16-18 year olds in 80 Fijian schools,
and is being expanded to the Solomon Islands. The project involves
a research and monitoring component, which is then used to mobilise
community action. For example, students at the All Saints Secondary
School at Labasa found that after 12 weeks of sampling and investigations,
the Qawa River was highly contaminated. This was due to discharges
from the sugar mill and the power station, and that furthermore
almost every individual living near the river had contributed
to its contamination. The students had conveyed their findings
to the officials at the sugar mill and to local authorities and
they had made a presentation during one of the Small Islands Voice
Community Outreach 'Open Days'
organised by the University of the South Pacific.
The River
Care project in Fiji works closely with the Curriculum Development
Unit of the Ministry of Education. There is a River Care newsletter
- 'Ripples'.
Following
a Sandwatch
training workshop in Fiji in December 2005, Live and Learn
has received funding from Vodaphone to expand their River Care
project over a three-year period (2006-2008) and to start Sandwatch
activities with several coastal groups - schools and communities
- in Fiji.
Both initiatives,
River Care and Sandwatch, have similarities in that they use environmental
monitoring as an entry point to focus on community and social
issues.
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