Since 2011, TORS has been offering a dynamic environmental education program in local elementary schools to build awareness of conservation issues. This program has contributed to both the general education (e.g., reading and writing) of the local children, as well as their knowledge about and appreciation for the forests surrounding their communities. We have implemented a 12-module curriculum that employs hands-on experimental learning. We teach lessons focused on climate change, peatland ecology and function, the water cycle, waste disposal, deforestation, plant biology, reforestation, and biodiversity conservation. The program leaders and teachers continuously update and develop new materials and lesson plans. In addition to the permanent teaching staff, researchers from TORS regularly engage in education program activities at the research station and in schools.
In addition to classroom instruction in three schools, we run a number of hands-on activities in the communities and forest. In 2013, researchers and local assistants from TORS created a humorous and educational short film demonstrating the proper disposal of various kinds of trash. Our program included a brief lecture and short games and activities for the children, followed by a community cleanup in the village. We continue to develop additional activities and educational materials about the importance of good waste management. Children also participate in reforestation around the villages, with efforts focused on those species that are most commonly used by the orangutans at TORS, as well as species that provide food for the local community. By engaging local communities via education, we aim to increase awareness of the threats to orangutans and other biodiversity in the Mawas Reserve peatlands and support for their conservation. In 2014, we developed a “forest school” for which we invite small groups of students and teachers to TORS for first-hand experience in forest ecology and orangutan behavior. For most, this is the first time they have experienced the forest in this way, and for nearly all, the first time they have encountered and observed wild orangutans.
CORE BORNEO 