The enforcement of the solutions identified for each park through the initiative ParksWatch requires the involvement of different sectors of the society, so the notion of responsibility towards protected areas among citizens needs to be developed.

BioParques promotes the creation of a non-governmental Network of Allies in order to encourage people involvement in the protection of our National Parks as tools for biodiversity conservation. The members of this network become active elements in the conservation of valuable resources for life.

The National Park Allies Network (PAN) is a long term project that will allow to strengthen the relationships between protected areas and their users.

In the year 2003 the first PAN started in Yacambú and Terepaima National Parks (Lara State) thanks to the support of the Netherlands Committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Children as environmental communicators: Friends of Venezuela´s Protected Areas

To raise awareness about the value that natural resources have in our daily life is a way to gain allies for parks and also to strengthen the relationship with the existing ones. The main objective of this project is to train children from the surrounding communities to parks in the design of strategies to communicate the value of natural resources. With this project Bioparques wants to motivate the involvement of children in nature conservation and at the same time to promote social inclusion and the strenghtening of environmental democracy.

So far, two radio series containing eight microprograms have been produced:

"Yacambú y Sanare: Paraísos de Lara" (2003) Together with Asociación Civil Soy Niño. Sponsored by the Netherlands Embassy.

"Pico Codazzi: Maravilla Natural en la Colonia Tovar" (2004) Sponsored by the German Embassy.

The scripts of these programs were developed by children and teachers that live close to Yacambú National Park (Lara State) and Pico Codazzi Natural Monument (Aragua State).

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of any of these radio series (in spanish) please write to bioparques@bioparques.org

 

RIF J-30883470-0