Local conservation efforts could benefit from student involvement

Mangroves are vulnerable to climate change impacts and face degradation from human activities such as agriculture, aquaculture, and pollution. It is essential to conserve mangroves and mitigate the impacts to them because they provide an array of ecosystem services. For example, mangroves can provide provisioning services (water and food provisioning), regulating services (erosion prevention, climate regulation), supporting services (life cycle maintenance and biodiversity maintenance), and cultural services (education, aesthetics, and heritage), all of which support the environment and local communities. In the second-largest mangrove system globally, the Setiu Wetland in Malaysia, coastal mangroves are critical to the vitality of the local economy. Local communities should be involved in the Setiu Wetland's conservation through partnerships and stewardship, particularly students. Educational programs at local schools can influence the future of mangroves by increasing students' knowledge and awareness of and participation in mangrove conservation. The researchers in this study implemented a conservation education program for students around the Setiu Wetland to test whether the program increased the students' knowledge and awareness of mangrove ecosystem services and whether results differed based on gender.

The researchers studied 74 upper secondary school students in SMK Saujana, Setiu in Malaysia. Most of the students (60.8%) were female. The study took place over the course of three conservation education sessions during July and August 2019 and included a pre-and post-workshop questionnaire. The first session was the pre-workshop test, in which students took a questionnaire to test their knowledge on the four categories of mangrove ecosystem services (regulating, provisioning, supporting, and cultural). One month later, the educational session occurred, in which students were divided into four learning groups. The researchers spoke to each of the student groups about wetlands and mangrove ecosystem services, providing background on the benefits and functions of mangroves, threats to mangroves, mangrove protection strategies, and conservation programs. The researchers also implemented hands-on games and activities for the students. The post-workshop questionnaire was administered directly after the educational session and included similar questions to the pre-test to compare the students' results. The third and final session was centered on introducing students to local nonprofits that replant mangroves in the Setiu Wetland. The pre-and post-workshop questionnaires were scored and analyzed to test the impact of the educational session and whether gender played a role in the outcomes.

The results from the pre-and post-workshop questionnaires showed there was no significant difference in knowledge and awareness of mangrove conservation in either male or female students, and the educational workshop did not impact the students' scores regardless of gender. Regarding the four elements of mangrove ecosystem services, there was a significant increase of knowledge score on regulating, provisioning, and supporting services. There was no significant change in score for cultural services for all students. For instance, the students demonstrated positive knowledge and awareness responses in the post-workshop questionnaire about mangroves preventing saltwater intrusion (regulating), mangrove output materials like wood (provisioning), and secondary mangrove ecosystems services like nutrient cycling and soil formation (supporting). However, the students did not demonstrate an increased understanding of mangroves' cultural services, such as aesthetics. The emotional value associated with cultural services is hard to measure and may have been more difficult for students to understand. Overall, the researchers concluded the educational workshop did not reveal differences in knowledge of mangrove conservation based on gender. In addition, though the students displayed some increased knowledge on mangrove ecosystems services, the students already had foundational knowledge about mangroves in general because of their previous experience and exposure to the Setiu Wetland.

There were limitations to this study, and the results are not generalizable widely. The surveys used were not shared and it is unclear how exactly knowledge and awareness was measured. It was also unclear the purpose of the third session. The researchers selected students in their final year of one secondary school in Malaysia, and those students were local to the Setiu Wetland. Therefore, the students had already formed specific experiences and attitudes toward the mangroves, which may have influenced the study results. Finally, the Setiu Wetland is unique, and its circumstances cannot be exactly replicated around the world.

The researchers recommended conservation programs and projects in schools should be expanded to include the wider community to encourage student participation in protecting vulnerable environments.