We have reached yet another milestone in our Little Green Guards^® program. Since 2016, Mr. Bishwanath Rijal (Nepal Country Coordinator) and his team of educators have taught customized wildlife lessons that emphasize diversity and biological balance to more than 73,000 children across Nepal.

Comprehensively addressing balance in nature as a subject requires interweaving the ecological roles of individual species, even unpopular ones. In the greater Kathmandu area, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is one such species. Although an important seed disperser, this monkey is a known carrier of zoonotic pathogens and often considered a pest. Going beyond a traditional pedagogical approach, we challenged the students in our program to investigate wildlife species, and then produce creative learning materials that could be utilized by their peers. The students, working in teams, keenly contributed their work to the Green Guard, a nature conservation magazine we produced for the students in our education program. This write-to-learn methodology and shared experience has proved to be highly motivating and effective for them.

To evaluate the impact of our program, we conducted a scientifically-based survey of students at schools that had participated (CEP group), and for comparison, students at schools that had not (non-CEP group). Students in the CEP group had far greater knowledge about and positive attitude toward native wildlife, including rhesus macaques, than the non-CEP group. More importantly, students in the CEP group had greater understanding of the role individual species play in a balanced ecosystem, how their own behavior can negatively impact that balance, and how they could actively participate in conservation efforts. Overall, the evaluation revealed how a dedicated conservation education program can significantly change peoples’ attitude toward protecting nature. The results, including examples of the students’ contributions to the Green Guard, were published in a recent issue of Folia Primatologica, a scientific journal dedicated to disseminating knowledge about primates.