By John Lukas | President, White Oak Conservation Center, Inc.
In the past few months the Okapi Conservation Project educators were, once again, busy around the Reserve. Thirty-five secondary and high schools held conservation sessions involving nearly 5,000 students. These were organized in an open forum consisting of interactive questions. During the sessions, students and educators discussed their knowledge of forests, and various threats to the native landscape including mining, slash and burn agriculture, poaching and bushmeat trade.
The role communities can play in mitigating forest loss was vigorously discussed and debated by students and community leaders. OCP educators outlined specific forest protection measures such as sustainable agriculture and tree planting in which the students can participate with their parents. The students were eager to resume sessions again, as there was so much to discuss. OCP educators will be travelling with more frequency in the coming months as security in the Reserve continues to improve.
Building an awareness of these important issues will help protect the wildlife in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which has one of the largest concentrations of biodiversity in the world. We are grateful to the many people around the world that support these efforts and we invite you to share this link with friends, family, and associates on social media.
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