Project "Gaia"
Gamini National College Bentota, Sri Lanka
A large percentage of mangrove populations in Sri Lanka have been subjected to depletion and deforestation as a result of anthropogenic activities as well as natural disasters. They have been threatened by natural disasters while functioning as a buffer and protecting the coast.
SLTC Research University, Tourism undergraduates will go to the Bentota lake side and plant mangroves as part of their green investment project. They will learn different ways in which mangroves are used for livelihood like for cooking and shrimp farming and how we can invest in innovation of such methods at larger scale for tourism and apply this when educating students at Gamini Vidyala Mawatha, Bentota.
The students wishes to host a debate at Gamini National College, inviting Elakaka Maha Vidyalaya, as part of their awareness campaign in order to motivate young students to apply sustainability practices in their daily lives and in their future careers, potentially as bureaucrats.
Furthermore, as part of the awareness campaign they wishes to promote mangrove farming of fish and shrimp. It is already popular amongst farmers and mangrove wood can be used for cooking and grilling. Ultimate objective of the project is to raise awareness of the importance of mangroves as it is at threat of extinction nowadays.
Relatedness to the WTD theme
The investment here is the awareness amongst farmers and other stakeholders about the opportunities they have producing and selling mangroves (People). To comprehend this, the project selected 2 schools nearby where a session on the sustainability will be conducted addressing the WTD theme and the students get to do a debate on sustainability and the importance of mangroves and tourism. The aim of this project is to educate the students and raise awareness to protect mangroves and most importantly to educate how their families can be benefited vice versa as most of these kids coming from the families earning from mangrove related livelihoods.
Then the SLTC undergraduates will involve in planting 200 mangrove plants with the help of the villagers (planet) in an identified suitable area.
Finally, we will look to inspire the young generation to profit from mangroves and take part in tourism activities to promote green investments. (students for example who are amongst the mangrove communities) and support them and then market this to the rural communities and hope to bring about entrepreneurial interests and support them with the help of organizations (prosperity).
Website
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