Mombasa,
17 June 2007: An unprecedented event involving
a large audience with children as the main actors and
audience took place on the Kenyan coast 16 – 17
June. The Year of the Dolphin campaign in Kenya is focusing
on children to convey the need of conservation measures
for dolphins and their habitats.
UNEP/CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth
and Dr. Michael Iwand, Executive Director representing
the YoD founding partner TUI, attended the event and stressed
the importance of active involvement of young generations
to ensure a safe future for dolphins.
Tour operator Pollman's, TUI’s
partner in Kenya, has organized this major event in Mombasa
in cooperation with CMS and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)
to raise awareness on dolphins. An essential contribution
to responsible ecotourism was the release of new guidelines
for whale watching, which have been produced as a direct
result of the Kenyan YoD campaign. They were formally
passed on to the KWS Marine Park Chief Wardens for implementation
along the Kenyan coast.
The success of the campaign in Kenya
tells a story of strong personal commitment – especially
from the Managing Director of Pollman's, Khalid Shapi
and his colleagues Abdulaziz Abdulrahmin and TUI representative
in Kenya, Armagan Günaydin. They drove the campaign
forward, securing first class co-operation between a variety
of corporate partners, tour operators, hotels and KWS.
TUI and Pollman's, the construction company Bamburi that
runs Haller Park, a major nature reserve in Mombasa, Whitesands
and other hotels and smaller ecotourism bodies such as
Dolphin Dhow and Charlie Claws, all joined forces to promote
the Year of the Dolphin in Kenya.
Kenyan
artist Joe Ngari designed a comic on whale watching for
distribution in Kenya inviting children to become actively
involved in dolphin protection. Education was the main
objective of the campaign organizers on site. Children
from several local schools had taken part in a series
of competitions featuring art, logos, songs, drama, poems,
paintings, acrobatics, rap - all on dolphin-related themes.
Performances were given both in Haller Park and again
at Shimoni.
Mr.
Hepworth addressed all the performers at Haller Park and
gave prizes to many of the children. Rashid Hemed from
Wasini Primary School, the winner of the YoD logo drawing
competition organized in May, gave a personal gift of
a driftwood model dhow, a typical Kenyan boat,
to the CMS Executive Secretary. It will have a prominent
place in his office. Mr Hepworth added “I would
like to take this opportunity to thank all participants
in the campaign for their overwhelming commitment. The
Year of the Dolphin has developed its own dynamics in
Kenya and sets an example of the impact of civil society
on issues of common concern: the conservation of dolphins
and their habitats across the world.”
The Executive Secretary, who first became
involved with coastal conservation in Kenya through the
ICRAN project, also visited one the local schools involved
in Year of the Dolphin and a women's co-operative mangrove
boardwalk on the island of Wasini. He had earlier given
a talk on YoD at the Whitesands Hotel to an invited audience:
“Kenya, the home of UNEP, is once again illustrating
its formidable and principled commitment to conservation.
It is an example to us all that so many different individuals
have come together on the Coast to add value through practical
activities to protect Kenya's natural heritage. This is
a model for the Year of the Dolphin worldwide”,
he concluded.
Conservation in education cannot
begin soon enough
Kenyan boys with
CMS
childrens' booklet "All About Dolphins"
