According to Tublai Ililau, the project’s coordinator, the campaign aims to promote the protection and conservation of giant marine clams and other marine clam species.
“We hope to make people aware of the plight of marine clams,” she said. “Over-harvesting of clams have greatly affected the population of clams worldwide; and in some areas, clams have literally become extinct.”Ililau said that the campaign is targeting students. She said they have developed outreach activities and visited all the elementary schools in Palau.“Children need to be aware of the activities that are factors in the decline of population of giant clams in Palau,” she said. “We hope to instill in our students the idea that if we do not start to protect the clams, they will cease to exist in our waters.”At the school sites, students get the opportunity to learn about the different species of clams in Palau. In addition, the students, through power point presentations and video, get to see the clams, learn of their life spans, and the factors that contribute to their demise.Ililau further added, “we want the students to be conscious of the human activities in Palau that affects the giant clams.”The campaign, since its implementation in January, has visited schools as far north as Kayangel State and has visited all of the Babeldaob and Koror State schools.The campaign went to visit the southern schools – Peleliu and Angaur – last week.Ililau said that due to remoteness of the states of Tobi and Sonsorol and limited amount of funding, she and other Kim er Belau advocates would not be able to physically visit the schools there.“Even though we can’t present in the states of Southwest Islands,” she said, “ we have sent posters, brochures, and other campaign materials similar to those we have distributed at the schools we have visited; and we do communicate with the schools via radio communications and through other agencies.The Kim er Belau Campaign is an affiliate of the Palau Conservation Society (PCS).
