Public Outreach
As part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness on climate change, WWF has staged a number of public outreach events, ranging from school visits (in Cook Islands and Fiji), community presentations, to public events.
School Visits
Part of reaching the public about dangerous climate change involves education. Therefore, each year our regional programme goes to various schools in the community. Young Climate Witnesses, from the Cook Islands, have recorded their impressions of how their lives may be affected by climate change, through their art. These pictures were designed by young Cook Islanders, as part of an island wide awareness campaign, in Rarotonga, coordinated by WWF Cook Islands Country Programme.
Students from Naikeleyaga Primary, Udu Primary and Kabara Primary schools become 'Climate Witness's' in the own right, expressing through their art work their perceptions of how their own lives will be impacted by climate change.
Isabella Rosi, class six, is aware that her daily sustenance comes from the ocean and food gardens. But she is also aware that it may not last forever. It's not only a matter of food security, but as Isabella illustrates, this whole global climate problem is causing insecurity as a person living on a portion of Kabara, literally a stones throw away from the ocean. Through her drawing Isabella describes on the one hand "… fish to eat in the sea and the beautiful coral that make the homes for the fish and protects the coastline, with a lot of space for us on the coast to live and play." On the other “the sea has covered a lot of our land area and we get waves destroying our homes, the corals have died and we now feel unsafe on our land."
Want to hear it in their own words? Watch our video segment of each drawing with the children talking about their posters.
WWF uses these postcards made from the students posters for many events, including our Kyoto Protocol events, where postcards have been sent to John Howard and George Bush by pacific island students and community members urging them to ratify the Protocol.
Kyoto Protocol Events
With the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, each year WWF has held events in support of this day. In 2005, WWF, with Greenpeace and World Council of Churches in the Pacific, set up a stall to paint T-Shirt and sing postcards. In 2006, WWF was in Tuvalu, where a 1st Birthday celebration was held. The Tuvaluan Prime Minister cut the cake, while students painted t-shirts and signed postcards. WWF followed up this event with a "Postcard Drop" to the US Embassy and Australia High Commission in Suva.
Read more on the Kyoto day activities:
- Fiji's environmentalists hail Kyoto coming into force
- Postcard from Kyoto
- Postcard from Tuvalu
- Happy 1st Birthday Kyoto!
Joint Efforts with Partners
Joint activities between WWF, World Council of Churches in the Pacific, Pacific Concerns Resource Centre and Greenpeace have also furthered public outreach on climate change awareness. Posters were published to coincide with the Day AFter Tomorrow film event, plus lunch time talks to church people.
» Download the article Climate Change Film Festival
