Children and Biodiversity.

by Grassland and Pasture Crops Group
Crop and Grassland Service (AGPC)
Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP)
FAO
Rome, 2003
http://www.fao.org/wfd/children_2004_en.asp#child1
and also in FAO Grassland Web site
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/pasture/spectopics/illustbook.htm

More than 40 percent of the earth’s surface is used for agriculture. This places a large responsibility on farmers and their families to protect the precious resources on which they depend. Since one of the best ways to learn good agricultural practices is in the classroom itself, FAO has prepared a series of booklets and teacher’s guides on Agriculture Practices, Biodiversity and Environmental Education. Each book covered a particular agro-ecological zone.
The purpose of the booklets is to explain the links between the environment and the agro-pastoral practices used by farming families and communities. The booklets will teach them how nature works, what their local natural resources are and how these resources can be used in a sustainable manner. In this way, the booklets will encourage young people to appreciate their environment and become responsible for it by protecting and improving the productivity of their land and sharing what they learn within their communities.
The booklets are in a “comic book” format to make learning and teaching easier and more attractive. Each chapter includes a series of exercises and activities designed to stimulate the students’ imaginations and to record their own experiences and what they have learned from the chapter. The booklets are produced in international languages (Arabic, French, English) and contain illustrations of local landscapes, animals and vegetation. Local teachers and sociologists helped to provide appropriate descriptions of people’s physical features, dress, housing and social behaviour.
From the webpage is it also possible to visit some links that provide a selection of other educational websites aimed at raising the awareness of children and youth on issues related to biodiversity and agriculture.

Related links

Selected links of other educational websites aimed at raising the awareness of children and youth on issues related to biodiversity and agriculture.
http://www.fao.org/wfd/children_2004_en.asp#child6

The “Savannah Lifestyles” was used in the context of the curriculum/syllabus for Standard 6 and 7 in Kenyan Primary Schools: Science

Grassland Web site for other publications and training materials of the AGPC Service, Grassland and Pasture Crops Group
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/pasture/pasture.htm
http://www.fao.org/ag/grassland.htm

Contact: Batello Caterina, Grassland and Pasture Crops Group
Crop and Grassland Service (AGPC)
Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP)
FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla 00100
Rome, Italy Caterina.batello@fao.org

The The Earthbird Series.

by Jared C. Crawford, Louise E. Buck
Rome, October 1992-1993
Pages 20 each one

The Earthbird Series provides colourful cartoon magazines that raise awareness among young people of the importance of forests, threats to forests and sustainable resource management. The magazines explore such issues as forest products, food security, nutrition and community-based natural resource management. The cartoon magazines are designed for use in schools and include teacher's notes that provide activities to reinforce the messages of the magazines, and to help teachers lead their students in exploring the issues raised in the magazines

Contact: VanLierop Pieter
Forestry Policy and Institutions Branch (FONP)
Forestry Policy and Planning Division (FON)
FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla 00100
Rome, Italy
VanLierop@fao.org

Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger

by Nutrition Programmes Service (ESNP)
Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) FAO
and FMFH partnership
Rome, 2002, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Swahili
http://www.feedingminds.org/

This is a global educational initiative for children to introduce them to the issues of hunger, malnutrition, and food security. Intended for use by teachers, it is designed to enable and encourage children and youth to become actively involved in helping to create a world free from hunger and malnutrition.
Three easy to use teaching modules have been developed for each of three levels of education - primary, intermediate and secondary - all of which cover, in varying degrees of complexity, the topics of what are hunger and malnutrition, who are the hungry, why are people hungry and malnourished and what can we do to help end hunger.
The materials have been designed as a starting point for teachers around the world to introduce these topics to their students. Teachers can adapt and refine the materials to meet local needs and conditions. In addition, a key component of the initiative is information sharing among teachers and students in such a way as to create an interactive forum for exchanging ideas and experiences around the world. The materials and the interactive, on-line framework encourage teachers to contribute additional lessons and activities leading toward creating a world free from hunger.

Related links

Food and nutrition website
http://www.fao.org/es/esn/index_en.stm
Links about nutrition and education
http://www.feedingminds.org/info/info_links.htm

Related articles

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture NO 33
by Jane Sherman consultant at
Nutrition Programmes Service (ESNP)
Food and Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) FAO
Rome, 2003
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/006/j0243m/j0243m00.htm

Contact: Valeria Menza
Nutrition Programmes Service (ESNP)
Food and Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla 00100
Rome, Italy
valeria.menza@fao.org

Water is ......

by Water Resources, Development and Management Service (AGLW)
Land and Water Development Division (AGL)
FAO
Rome, 2002
http://www.fao.org/wfd/wfd2002/cartoons/Water_cartoons.htm

These web-based cartoons are a tool which target children of primary education. By using original illustrations and short texts they relate the existence of water and the ruling of such natural element on people’s alimentation.
The cartoons explain how much water need to be saved, protected and managed. They also emphasize the importance of water on food security.

Contact: Giovanni Muñoz
Water Resources, Development and Management Service (AGLW)
Land and Water Development Division (AGL)
FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla 00100
Rome, Italy
Giovanni.Munoz@fao.org