Abstract

Education and outreach activities can promote environmental stewardship and help build awareness and understand-ing of marine protected areas (MPAs). Education is an essential component of building compliance and enhancing MPA enforcement, but marine reserves often lack the necessary staff, time, experience and funding. Recent experience in Belize shows volunteer educators can be a useful resource for building MPA education and outreach efforts. In CaM-PAM?s Caribbean MPA Management Capacity Assessment, Belize Fisheries Department staff managing South Water Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR) identified outreach and education as the priority area for capacity building and assis-tance. Given implementation funding for activities with schools via a GCFI-NOAA Cooperative Agreement, the MPA manager called for an expert volunteer to first help design a new outreach and education plan for SWCMR. Once in the field, the volunteer conducted a needs assessment with local schools. A Reef Keeper Workbook and a presentation about SWCMR were created. These were piloted in the classroom, guest lectures were given by MPA staff and outdoor environmental activities were held for school students. An informal learning assessment was made indicating student knowledge and understanding about MPAs improved. The project was completed with mini-mal use of MPA staff time and resources, yet it resulted in increased visibility for the reserve, meaningful contact with local schools, and materials and activities that can be built upon in future. Lessons learned about the steps in working with education volunteers can help enhance the success of other such MPA education programs in the Caribbean.

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