Training: Case studies

EJF have been providing Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) staff with video training since 2003 including providing staff with a ten day intensive media and video training course. This training has provided ENV with targeted knowledge about the importance and role of media and how to prepare an effective media campaign including writing press releases, developing and broadcasting films and conducting interviews.

EJF and ENV undertook joint investigations into bear farms around Hanoi. Together we were able to gather filmed evidence of the appalling conditions that bears are kept in, and the painful process of extracting the bear bile, which is used for medicinal purposes in much of Asia. Bear farming presents a significant conservation problem as poachers sell wild bears to stock and replenish bear farms.

ENV's conservation and education programme aims to raise public awareness of these pressing issues and reduce consumer demand for bear bile, which is causing this unsustainable trade.

EJF's training in 2003 culminated in the production of a thirty-second television Public Service Announcement (PSA) targeting bear bile consumers. The PSA featured nationally renowned pop star, My Linh, who encourages audiences to avoid the use of bear bile and other bear products and help ensure that bears remain "in the wild where they belong". The PSA film has been aired on more than 40 provincial TV channels throughout the country.

Watch the My Linh PSA

Also see: ENV and EJF - working together

EJF has been providing training to our Indonesian partner NGO JALA – the Advocacy Network for North Sumatra Fisherfolk. This group is working and campaigning with local artisanal fisherfolk to end the devastating impacts that illegal trawl fishing is having on their communities and local marine biodiversity.

With EJF’s support JALA is promoting peaceful solutions to a conflict between local fishermen and the illegal trawlers that has claimed over 200 lives. Field investigation, film and editing training from EJF have contributed to the production of JALA’s first documentary "Stop Trawling", highlighting both the environmental and social impacts of illegal trawlers. EJF has also been working with JALA to further develop the NGO’s research and campaign expertise, including the production of a report on illegal trawling in Sumatra.

Most recently a combined EJF and JALA team travelled to lobby the Indonesian Government and International Community to do more to combat illegal fishing in the country. Significantly, JALA were invited to take part in a meeting hosted by Dr. Suseno – Director of Fisheries Resource Management for the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The door has now been opened for a similar meeting to take place in Sumatra. For the first time, EJF and JALA have an opportunity to bring together all the stakeholders in the illegal fishing trade, including representatives from local, regional and national government, the UN, the NGO community and the businesses involved in illegal fishing activities.

Most importantly the traditional fishing communities being hit the hardest by dwindling fish stocks will be given the platform to describe the awful consequences illegal fishing is having on their lives, and the opportunity to increase their role in the sustainable management of local marine resources – perhaps finally leading to an end to the violence once and for all.

REPORT:
Read Tthe JALA and EJF report on illegal trawling in North Sumatra

FILM: Watch Stop Trawling film below:

The Forum for the Defense of the Ceará Coast requested EJF's help in developing new skills in video production that would enable them to produce a documentary film for use in political and public advocacy against unsustainable and inequitable shrimp farming in Brazil.

Over a three-week period, EJF provided an introduction to the technical skills required to operate a video camera; together with practical experience in planning, filming and editing the finished film, together with guidance on distribution and broadcast. An introduction to the technical aspects of video was followed by a joint field investigation to remote coastal areas, where the team gathered the visual images and interviews needed.

Although the Forum clearly had an insight into the environmental and social issues prior to the field work, the process of formally researching, interviewing and filming proved a valuable exercise in learning how to gather and assemble valuable information for public release. It also enabled the participants to strategize and prioritize the issues as part of their wider advocacy.

The outcome of the training was a 15-minute film, "Mangroves and shrimp farming in Brazil - a violation of the green". The film has received wide coverage across the region and has been broadcast on Brazilian television, at no cost to either the Forum or EJF.