By Nidthaya Vongsit

Ban Nongping: From January 6 to 7 the outreach unit of Hin Nam No National Protected Area disseminated information about biodiversity conservation in Ban Nongping, located at Boualapha district/ Khammouane province.

As a joint effort of the department of Information, Culture and Tourism, the office of Promotion and the department of Natural Resources and Environment, a team of 7 people (1 female) visited Nongping village in order to conduct a series of awareness raising activities. The programme was split up into two parts: One evening session on the first day and one session during the morning of the second day. A total of 98 villagers, amongst 42 women, attended the evening session. The villagers were presented a slight show and a video about biodiversity. In order to enhance understanding the main points of the visual inputs were explained and repeated by interactive question-answer games.

The second part of the visit to the village was especially dedicated to children. The aim was to make the youngsters understand what biodiversity is, why we need it, how our life depends on it and why it makes sense to conserve it. As interesting presentations, games and songs were included, the kids not only could learn new things about their environment but also spent a very joyful couple of hours.

As our future lies in the hands of this generation, hopefully much more of such activities will follow in all villages surrounding Hin Nam No NPA. This event was possible thanks to the kind support of GIZ Hin Nam No project.