The surprising results of a national survey conducted by a local ecological group was the impetus behind an electronic media campaign recently launched in Paraguay. The poll, done by the Moises Bertoni Foundation for the Conservation of Nature, measured how much Paraguayans knew about their country's environmental problems.
"We learned that people could identify at most two environmental problems," reports Edith Asibey, director of the foundation's environmental education program. "And though a majority acknowledged that deforestation exists, they didn't feel it was a problem that affected them."
With funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the foundation produced educational messages for radio and television. "More than 80 percent of the homes in Paraguay have a radio, and more than 60 percent have a television," says Asibey. Paraguay's ministry of education helped produce the one-minute spots, and the leading media outlets agreed to donate air time. The spots, whose theme is, "It all depends on us," are in Spanish and Guarani, the country's two official languages.
One spot features a conversation between a river and a rock. After a coughing fit, the river complains that he is so full of garbage and pollutants that "people can no longer swim in my waters and if they drink me, they become ill or worse."
Asibey hopes the media campaign will encourage people to get involved. "In Paraguay we are in the process of a democratic transition. After 35 years of military dictatorship, the people were absolutely unprepared to participate in government," she says. "It is very important that we now stimulate citizen participation."
Contact: Edith Asibey, Av. Rodriguez de Francia, #770, Asuncion, Paraguay; Phone: 595/21-440-238; Fax: 21-440-239; Email: edith@fmb.py