Nine Nature Guides Trained in Carriacou, Grenada Grenadines

 

On October 15, 2020, nine Nature Guides from Carriacou received their certificates after successfully completing the Nature Guide Training course, organized and run by KIDO Foundation, with the support of the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) and Caribbean Aqua Terrestrial Solutions (CATS).

 

The 23 classroom sessions at KIDO Eco-station and nature field trips included topics such as general awareness of small tropical island Climate Change challenges, Carriacou’s marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, flora and fauna identification in nature hotspots, basic biodiversity networks, conservation practices and, last but not least, Tour Guiding techniques in the framework of Ecotourism.

 

The related field-study trips were carried out hiking along the trails in High North National Park, which includes the most bio-diverse nature hot-spots in the Grenadines: the deciduous forest of High North hill (956 ft high) and the coastal mangrove ecosystem of adjacent Petit Carenage.

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14 Teachers and Educators trained in Bird Conservation in Carriacou, Grenada Grenadines

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The training was held in collaboration with Grenada Fund for Conservation and Education Conservation Outreach. The 14 local teachers and educators were trained to teach their students how to study, appreciate and conserve the endemic and migratory birds of the Caribbean. The training was based on the BirdSleuth Caribbean manual, ‘Connecting Kids Through Birds’ (part of a larger BirdSleuth program developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

Informative PowerPoint presentations, interactive games and bird watch field trips to Petit Carenage Bird Sanctuary and Big Pond offered the participants challenging discussion material. At the end of the workshop, the teachers proposed follow-up activities to engage the students in bird conservation:

• For endemic bird conservation - build and place birdhouses in the schools of Carriacou and to plant trees in schoolyards to create shade and to attract more birds;

• For migratory and endemic birds - protect their feeding and sheltering habitat by restoring the damaged red mangroves ecosystem in Petit Carenage.

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All above activities were carried out by Kido Foundation