A group of biodiversity researchers and conservation practitioners in the Philippines has teamed up with the country’s Department of Education to produce a biodiversity toolkit that will be made available to teachers nationwide. This endeavor is one of the largest efforts to incorporate biodiversity and conservation in Philippine schools. Across its more than 7,600 islands, the biodiversity of the Philippines is both rich and highly threatened, and the country is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot. The general low awareness about this biodiversity, however, compounds the threats to species and ecosystems, resulting in misguided policies and practices for natural resource management. Schools are not well equipped to teach about biodiversity, and teachers, especially non-biology subject teachers, have limited resources for this purpose. To support teachers across the school curriculum, a new resource about the biodiversity of the Philippines was made publicly available in December 2021. Samot-Saring Buhay: A Toolkit on Philippine Biodiversity for Filipino primary and secondary school teachers provides educators with knowledge and resources to incorporate biodiversity into classroom lessons and discussions.
