Abstract

The ‘United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020’ started this year.  Partnerships between universities and schools will be an important strategy for engaging in the ‘Decade on Biodiversity’.  In this report, we describe a partnership between a university and 5 schools for the purposes of environmental education as part of communication, education, and public awareness of biodiversity.  In 2010, with the support of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kinki University Fukuoka Campus coordinated with 5 high schools in Fukuoka prefecture, namely, Kaisei high school, Kurate high school, Hakuryo high school, Tagawa high school, and Tokaidai Daigo high school, to run a project called the Science Partnership Project (SPP).  We took high school students to Hakata bay in Fukuoka prefecture to teach them about sustainable use of marine resources.  We also ran experiments on how to efficiently use Ulva, an alga that has overgrown and results in green tide around the world.  Then, students prepared reports on the computer in order to spread the knowledge they acquired.  In order to make students aware of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the booklet of the secretariat of the CBD (SCBD) was used as an introductory textbook for the project.  With the help of undergraduate students from Kinki University, a high school student, a high school teacher, a non-governmental organisation, an ex-elementary school principal, and the SCBD, this textbook was translated from English into Japanese.  To improve public awareness and engage in discussions with various people, high school students who participated in the SPP program presented their findings at the 10th conference of the party of the convention on biological diversity interactive fair for biodiversity.

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