Teachers Retain Knowledge Long-Term from Training on Lemur Conservation in Madagascar

Madagascar is home to a number of unique species, many of which are endangered due to habitat loss. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and many people do not have the resources to attend school. Traditional slash-and-burn agriculture is resulting in significant environmental degradation and tree loss. Lemurs, which are already an endangered species, are negatively impacted by unsustainable forestry practices because they rely on trees for shelter. Malagasy teachers do not receive much training about the importance of lemurs, and increasing knowledge about the environment may help conserve lemur habitat. More information is needed to better understand the long-term impacts of EE programs, particularly among teachers, who may continue to share knowledge with their students for many years after undergoing training. Additionally, long-term impacts of environmental education programs can lead participants to make pro-environmental behavior changes. This study assessed the long-term effects of an education program on lemur conservation for teachers in rural Madagascar.

This study evaluated an environmental education program implemented in the Anosy region of Madagascar. The Anosy region, which is on the southeast coast of Madagascar, is home to several endemic lemur species and is a priority lemur conservation area. In 2015, a local nonprofit initiated an educational training program on lemurs and lemur conservation for primary school teachers in an Anosy municipality called Iaboakoho; the authors did not note how many teachers participated in this training. Over the course of four days, teachers in Iaboakoho received lessons on topics such as lemur habitat, local plant biodiversity, and predator-prey relationships.

One year after the training, the researchers visited the Anosy region to assess teachers' knowledge retention. The researchers measured knowledge using a multiple-choice test distributed to 43 different primary school teachers from four municipalities in Anosy region. Ten teachers were part of the training program in Iaboakoho, and 33 teachers were from three different neighboring municipalities that did not receive any training on lemurs. Answers were marked simply as wrong or right and scores were collected from all 43 teachers among the four municipalities. The researchers used statistical models to test the differences between the scores of teachers in the different municipalities.

Results indicated that teachers in Iaboakoho who participated in the training had significantly higher test scores and more knowledge than the teachers in the other three municipalities. This shows that the recipients of the environmental education training retained relevant information over a long period of time. However, overall results showed that in general, teachers in the Anosy region have a limited knowledge about lemurs and lemur diversity. This lack of lemur knowledge is confirmed by a number of former studies in this region as well as records showing particularly low education rates in the Anosy region.

This study is limited by a small sample size of 43 teachers, only 10 of which were part of the training program. Additionally, there was no post-training assessment on the effectiveness of the training. The authors did not state whether the teachers taught their students the information they learned during the training. If the teachers did not go on to teach the information from the training, the value of the knowledge assessment in this study may be limited.

The authors noted that training teachers is only the first step in raising awareness about lemur conservation. While knowledge is an important factor for creating behavioral change to improve lemur conservation, there are other necessary components. To achieve conservation results, environmental educators must also remove barriers and change attitudes.

The authors suggested that future lemur conservation efforts in rural Madagascar involve additional interventions such as social marketing campaigns. In addition, successes in conservation can be achieved through non-formal education. For example, at the same time that this study was conducted, a local research station was constructed that provided jobs related to forest conservation. The authors noticed an increase in the number of lemur sightings towards the end of the study, and hypothesized that the jobs at the research station may have contributed to more sustainable management of the local forest.