Ecuador project 518-0079 · 1992–1993 · natural resources and biodiversity · Tropical Research and Development, Inc.

PACR on a grant (4/88-4-93) to Fundacion Natura (FN), an Ecuadorean PVO, to expand environmental education and awareness in Ecuador. This was the third consecutive such grant to FN, and focused on increasing public awareness of the deterioration of the natural resource base. The project was successful in all its targeted areas, with the greatest success in the area of formal environmental education, which was institutionalized in Ecuador's school system in 6/89. FN organized ecological clubs for high school students; distributed a total of more than 300,000 copies of instructional materials and teachers' manuals for the preschool, primary, and secondary school levels; and trained more than 40,000 teachers in delivering environmental education. The financial contribution by the Ministries of Health, Social Welfare, and Education toward this component was three times that of the grant. Under the environmental awareness component, an environmental knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey was completed; 780 press releases were distributed to major national newspapers; 60 radio spots were broadcast on 120 radio stations; and several books and pamphlets were published. Five hundred

Source: DEC abstract, PD-ABH-424 (1993). The source's own text.