17th February
by Dr Ariadna Apruzzese Rubio
It has certainly been a stimulating day. In the first part of the morning, we began to understand the importance of properly communicating the scientific aspects of our work in biodiversity conservation to all segments of society to make a real difference. Without the collaboration of all stakeholders, from policymakers to the general public, we will not be able to adequately conserve biodiversity on our planet. We did some very interesting exercises on the communication of messages between students, realising how when the information is not accurate and adapted to the target audience, it can be distorted or lost.
We then had the opportunity to visit a village within the Sariska Tiger Reserve to talk to and get the perspective of the locals, who kindly welcomed us and introduced us to their customs. Despite their humble life, they shared some food and drinks and we were able to try on their saris and enjoy some dance lessons. This visit helped us to gain a new perspective on conservation, but also to learn how to approach local communities when conducting surveys or other types of reviews in our work.
After lunch, we spent an enjoyable afternoon learning different ways of doing science communication by playing different games, which definitely brought us much closer together as a group.