Children getting 'Check, Clean, Dry' didymo message
The time-proven formula of using the agile minds of children to communicate with the widest possible audience – the general public – is being harnessed by the didymo response team.
Children tend to be more environmentally aware than many adults, and Biosecurity New Zealand (BNZ) has commissioned educational resource specialist Starters and Strategies to create some material that builds on this awareness.
Starters and Strategies creates learning tools for teachers’ use, producing a magazine containing resources which are sent free to 33,000 primary and intermediate teachers, and to secondary teachers of years 9 and 10. The lesson material is also published on the company’s website, which receives up to 12,000 hits a day.
BNZ worked successfully with Starters and Strategies during the painted apple moth eradication, receiving hundreds of requests for material relating to the programme.
The didymo resource will focus on the Check, Clean, Dry message and promote a better understanding of why we need to treat all waterways with more respect. It will also show the damage that aquatic pests can have on our environment.
BNZ is confident that these strategies will help move the public from passive awareness of didymo, to making active behavioural changes to help protect our rivers.
The Cook Strait ferries are also being targeted in the drive to increase children’s awareness of didymo, with a colouring competition being organised in conjunction with Bluebridge Ferry Company.
Page last updated: 30 April 2008