22 May: ASPnet schools get creative on International Biodiversity Day
From exhibitions to research projects, awareness-raising activities and a meeting held in a Biosphere Reserve, UNESCO Associated Schools (ASPnet) are organizing creative activities around 22 May, International Day for Biological Diversity.
To help the schools, the UNESCO Natural Science Sector has a downloadable travelling exhibition and plans to launch a biodiversity learning kit.
The ASPnet flagship Blue Danube River Project is holding part of its next meeting in the Danube Delta, a Biosphere Reserve in Romania (12-16 June 2010) and is preparing a publication on the International Year of Biodiversity.
Prizewinning schools in the Portuguese “Innovation, Creativity and Biodiversity” competition will be rewarded by ASPnet in Portugal at a ceremony on 22 May. Entries from the competition will be exhibited at the International Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology in Faro and Olhao Portugal.
In Costa Rica and Peru, ASPnet students are researching biodiversity by, for example, identifying the fauna and flora surrounding their schools. Their respective findings will be presented to the school community and, in the case of Peru, possibly at the International Fair of Science and Technology (16-20 November 2010, Lima Peru).
To highlight the consequences of the disappearance of species, the Austrian National Commission for UNESCO and the Environmental Federation have sent several information posters on the International Year of Biodiversity to all Austrian ASPnet schools. The Brazilian ASPnet newsletter devoted a special page to biodiversity in is February 2010 issue.
ASPnet schools in the United Kingdom are taking part in a competition to explain the International Year of Biodiversity to their local community through an effective campaign. They are provided with an information pack suggesting how schools can celebrate the International Year. Examples are provided of UNESCO work in protecting biodiversity in the UK, including case studies from UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and natural World Heritage Sites.
The above activities are intended to inspire schools worldwide to find similar ways to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.
Related links:
Biodiversity Resource Materials
The UK Biodiversity information pack,
International Year of Biodiversity travelling exhibition
Resource page of the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD (with logo and flyer of the Intenational Year)
The International Day of Biodiversity and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD)