Environmental Education and Community Development in and Around Bossou

Researchers at Bossou and Nimba have undertaken several initiatives promoting chimpanzee conservation and environmental education. The local community education sessions have involved video screenings and the distribution of pamphlets, badges, and T-shirts, as well as informal discussions tackling issues such as human–chimpanzee resource competition. In July 2003, we conducted three campaigns across nine local villages. A questionnaire was used during the first and the third campaign sessions, aimed at evaluating the local peoples’ understanding of national and traditional laws (e.g., hunting laws and bushfire regulation), as well as about how best to react when confronted with a chimpanzee on a path or in a field. Since 2003, environmental education has become an integral aspect of the secondary school curriculum in Guinea. To contribute to this program, a bilingual book was produced for distribution in schools locally and nationally. This book provides children with a fictional but factual story about a young female chimpanzee. It touches on aspects of chimpanzee behavior, and addresses threats to fauna and flora in the region and the close interconnection between humans and nature. Our school outreach program has also involved classroom interventions and material aid, as well as the construction or maintenance of school buildings in several villages in and around Bossou. In addition, to sensitize the villagers to the threats of disease transmission, we have helped villagers construct latrines in the schools and in some districts of the village.