People flock to the Year of the Dolphin celebrations on Kenya's coast
Mombasa, 17 June 2007: An unprecedented event involving a large audience with children as the main actors and audience took place on the Kenyan coast 16-17 June. The Year of the Dolphin campaign in Kenia is focusing on children to convey the need of conservation measures for dolphins and their habitats.
UNEP/CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth and Dr. Michael Iwand, Executive Director representing the YoD founding partner TUI, attended the event and stressed the importance of active involvement of young generations to ensure a safe future for dolphins.
Tour operator Pollmans, TUI’s partner in Kenya, has organized this major event in Mombasa in cooper
ation with CMS and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to raise awareness on dolphins. An essential contribution to responsible ecotourism was the release of new guidelines for whale watching, which have been produced as a direct result of the Kenyan YoD campaign. They were formally passed on to the KWS Marine Park Chief Wardens for implementation along the Kenyan coast.
The success of the campaign in Kenya tells a story of strong personal commitment – especially from the Managing Director of Pollmans, Khalid Shapi and his colleagues Abdulaziz Abdulrahmin and TUI representative in Kenya, Armagan Günaydin. They drove the campaign forward, securing first class co-operation between a variety of corporate partners, tour operators, hotels and KWS. TUI and Pollmans, the construction company Bamburi that runs Haller Park, a major nature reserve in Mombasa, Whitesands and other hotels and smaller ecotourism bodies such as Dolphin Dhow and Charlie Claws , all joined forces to promote the Year of the Dolphin in Kenya.
Kenyan artist Joe Ngari designed a comic on whale watching for distribution in Kenya inviting children to become actively involved in dolphin protection. Education was the main objective of the campaign organizers on site. Children from several local schools had taken part in a series of competitions featuring art, logos, songs, drama, poems, paintings, acrobatics, rap - all on dolphin-related themes. Performances were given both in Haller Park and again at Shimoni.
Mr. Hepworth addressed all the performers at Haller Park and gave prizes to many of the children. Rashid Hemed from Wasini Primary School, the winner of the YoD logo drawing competition organized in May, gave a personal gift of a driftwood model dhow, a typical Kenyan boat, to the CMS Executive Secretary. It will have a prominent place in his office. Mr Hepworth added “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants in the campaign for their overwhelming commitment. The Year of the Dolphin has developed its own dynamics in Kenya and sets an example of the impact of civil society on issues of common concern: the conservation of dolphins and their habitats across the world”.
The Executive Secretary, who first became involved with coastal conservation in Kenya through the ICRAN project, also visited one the local schools involved in Year of the Dolphin and a women's co-operative mangrove boardwalk on the island of Wasini. He had earlier given a talk on YoD at the Whitesands Hotel to an invited audience: “Kenya, the home of UNEP, is once again illustrating its formidable and principled commitment to conservation. It is an example to us all that so many different individuals have come together on the Coast to add value through practical activities to protect Kenya's natural heritage. This is a model for the Year of the Dolphin worldwide”, he concluded.
Tour operator Pollmans, TUI’s partner in Kenya, has organized this major event in Mombasa in cooper
ation with CMS and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to raise awareness on dolphins. An essential contribution to responsible ecotourism was the release of new guidelines for whale watching, which have been produced as a direct result of the Kenyan YoD campaign. They were formally passed on to the KWS Marine Park Chief Wardens for implementation along the Kenyan coast.The success of the campaign in Kenya tells a story of strong personal commitment – especially from the Managing Director of Pollmans, Khalid Shapi and his colleagues Abdulaziz Abdulrahmin and TUI representative in Kenya, Armagan Günaydin. They drove the campaign forward, securing first class co-operation between a variety of corporate partners, tour operators, hotels and KWS. TUI and Pollmans, the construction company Bamburi that runs Haller Park, a major nature reserve in Mombasa, Whitesands and other hotels and smaller ecotourism bodies such as Dolphin Dhow and Charlie Claws , all joined forces to promote the Year of the Dolphin in Kenya.
Kenyan artist Joe Ngari designed a comic on whale watching for distribution in Kenya inviting children to become actively involved in dolphin protection. Education was the main objective of the campaign organizers on site. Children from several local schools had taken part in a series of competitions featuring art, logos, songs, drama, poems, paintings, acrobatics, rap - all on dolphin-related themes. Performances were given both in Haller Park and again at Shimoni.
Mr. Hepworth addressed all the performers at Haller Park and gave prizes to many of the children. Rashid Hemed from Wasini Primary School, the winner of the YoD logo drawing competition organized in May, gave a personal gift of a driftwood model dhow, a typical Kenyan boat, to the CMS Executive Secretary. It will have a prominent place in his office. Mr Hepworth added “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants in the campaign for their overwhelming commitment. The Year of the Dolphin has developed its own dynamics in Kenya and sets an example of the impact of civil society on issues of common concern: the conservation of dolphins and their habitats across the world”.The Executive Secretary, who first became involved with coastal conservation in Kenya through the ICRAN project, also visited one the local schools involved in Year of the Dolphin and a women's co-operative mangrove boardwalk on the island of Wasini. He had earlier given a talk on YoD at the Whitesands Hotel to an invited audience: “Kenya, the home of UNEP, is once again illustrating its formidable and principled commitment to conservation. It is an example to us all that so many different individuals have come together on the Coast to add value through practical activities to protect Kenya's natural heritage. This is a model for the Year of the Dolphin worldwide”, he concluded.
