Policies and Practices: Public Awareness

Showing, teaching, making aware

When farmers are shown new techniques and methods they are often willing to change the way in which they use and dispose of fertilisers. By teaching careful, effective conservation and propagation programmes we take great strides towards the preservation of the world's forests. Progress can be made only once the public is aware of the problems and the reasoning behind environmental decisions.

Many WWF initiatives are practical demonstrations of what can be done. They encourage people to adopt working methods that bring great environmental benefits, such as avoiding erosion, siltation, and pollution. WWF has also helped set up management authorities that deal with important social matters such as schooling, health care, and transport – all issues of particular concern in remote areas.

Public awareness plays an enormous part in freshwater conservation. The more we know about a subject, the better we understand it and the more familiar we become with the issues and arguments. In freshwater regions themselves, public awareness leads to people influencing decisions on how their own local areas are managed. In tourist areas, for example, or where licensed hunting is allowed, rewards can be substantial - even more so when they are ploughed back into community projects.

Conserving the Ganges River Dolphin and improving livelihoods

Poorest community leaps ahead with help of conservation awareness programme

Farida Village in Uttar Pradesh, India, was identified as the most disadvantaged of a number of communities along a stretch of the Ganges River which forms a significant habitat for the rare, endangered freshwater Ganges River Dolphin. The dolphin has been a species of special concern to WWF since 1997, and Farida village was chosen for a pilot dolphin conservation initiative in 2001. Follow-up studies in 2005 quantified changes in wellbeing among villagers that were linked to the dolphin conservation programme.

Initiatives and Results
Education and awareness campaigns were established which were designed to improve the conservation status of the river dolphins, improve the livelihoods of the community of Farida, and influence government policies on conservation.

In 2005, after 5 years of the project,  the size of landholdings increased marginally and the number of landless people declined from 24 to 18%. There was a large increase in the number of livestock owned by each household, and in other household assets, particularly in television sets and scooters. Less water was being sourced directly from the river and there was a clear shift from chemical to organic fertilisers and pesticides.

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