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Promoting Crane Conservation through Education and Community Participation

The International Crane Foundation (ICF), in partnership with Chinese educators and conservation authorities, is undertaking a three-year project funded by the Luce Foundation to develop environmental education programming for six nature reserves in China and Russia. Key to the project is community involvement in the development of the programs, with the goal of involving local populations in the protection and management of wetland resources within the reserves.

The five Chinese sites are all national level nature reserves of critical importance to cranes and other migratory waterbirds, and three sites are listed as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. The sites protect breeding and migratory stopover habitat (Zhalong, Naoli, and Xianghai), as well as wintering habitat (Poyang and Cao Hai) for several species of cranes and other waterbirds. The sixth site, Muraviovka Park in Russia, is widely known as that country’s first privately protected reserve since 1917, and has the densest population of nesting Red-crowned and White-naped Cranes, with three other species resting on migration.

The project will include training for reserve staff in participatory methods, involvement of local people in identifying education needs, and collaboration with local teachers in designing activities and materials. Education programs at the Chinese sites will include summer/winter camps for children from villages surrounding the protected wetlands, school curricula for use by teachers in local schools, and strategies for student and adult conservation action. These programs will be closely integrated with management, research, and community development activities at the reserves.

This project dovetails with a six-year project undertaken by ICF and China’s State Forestry Administration with support from GEF, the Global Environment Facility, to develop management plans and sustainable development activities at the Zhalong, Xianghai, and Poyang reserves, which form part of the flyway between Russia and China for the endangered Siberian Crane. Through these and similar projects throughout the world, ICF and their partners hope to increase local awareness and capacity to address the challenges of nature conservation and human development needs.

For more information:

Sara Moore

International Crane Foundation