Environmental
 

'WISE' Wildlife Safe Marine Ecotourism

I am involved in the training and accreditation of commercial boat operators in the North of Ireland who run wildlife watching tours within the WISE scheme www.wisescheme.org The Scheme also provides boat owners with advice on the best ways to minimise disturbance to marine life through careful and considerate boat handling.

 

‘Getting to know our home.'


In 1999 I was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship to visit Patagonia in Argentina to study a project called ‘Getting to Know Our Home / Fundacion Conociendo Nuestra Casa'. This involves young people from the local kayak club teaching environmental and social education in the schools as well as supporting scientific research programmes in their region. The motto of the project is ‘Respect and Love / Respeto y Carino' which applies equally to the environment as well as to the participants. The project covers history, including aboriginal peoples, explorers and settlers, geography, ecology and adventure.
 

"In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will only understand what we are taught"

 

Baba Dioum. A poet from Senegal .