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This article is an attempt to show that political parties in Cameroon have a lot of work to do in order to revamp their profile. This work should be rigorously and efficiently done in terms of accountability, leadership, field activities, training/education, democratic practices, social issues, infrastructure, fundraising activities, party cohesion and unity, the evaluation of results and activities, the situation of vulnerable groups as well as pre-electoral /electoral/ post-electoral activities. Furthermore, substantial work should also be done in order to come up with a legal instrument which grants the head of the opposition a well-defined status. In order to improve the situation of Cameroon’s political parties as concerns the twelve points mentioned above, and as regards other issues, the following should be taken very seriously: The need for political parties to always resort to experts in political issues whenever the need to do so arises; The need for opposition parties to always unite their forces whenever the need arises; The need for the ruling party and opposition parties to always concert so as to resolve their common problems; The need to drastically reduce the number of political parties in Cameroon; The need to seriously rationalize political party activities so as to combat popular, true and negative perceptions about political parties; The need for all electoral stakeholders to offer fair electoral chances of success to all political parties by taking claims on electoral irregularities very seriously and by endeavouring to overcome them; The need for political parties to work with successful foreign political parties and learn from their experience; Etc.

On the 5th of May and the 20th of June 2017, the NRDI GeoEcoMar received the visit of students of two elementary schools from Constanţa (“Ciprian Porumbescu” and “Mihail Koiciu”), which dedicated a day of “The school differently” week to awareness-raising and educational activities on marine protected areas. “The school differently” is part of a program developed within the Romanian Program of Education, in 2011. Under the supervision of biologists from NRDI GeoEcoMar, in collaboration with the PhD students from Belgium involved in the PRIDE project, a series of interactive and proactive activities were accomplished, aiming at foster a sense of community and environmental responsibility to the young generation. In total, 30 students of 5th grade, with ages between 11 and 12 years were involved. The children from “Ciprian Porumbescu” School learned how to identify species belonging to the Ponto-Caspian relicts, recognize and understand the negative impact of the invasive species on the Black Sea biodiversity. The children from Mihail Koiciu School, who visited the R/V Mare Nigrum (in custody of the NRDI GeoEcoMar) guided by the ship’s commander and biologists from GeoEcoMar, explored the complicated but interesting domain of marine science, helped by explanations and demonstrations on research work in biology and geochemistry. The feedback received from the children, assessed by help of questionnaires specially conceived for the targeted category of age and activities carried out, is presented in the paper. Judging after children’s reactions and responses to questionnaires, it makes sense to affirm that the activities achieved their scope and these methods of education and awareness are positively perceived by the children from elementary schools., {"references":["Borbe L., Borş O.M., Chendea C., Kovacs M. (2016). Şcoala altfel, ghid de implementare. Ministerul Educaţiei Naţionale şi Cercetării Ştiinţifice, 64 p.","Cigliano, J. A., Meyer, R., Heidi, Ballard, L., Freitag, A., Phillipse, T., B., Wasserf, A. (2015). Making marine and coastal citizen science matter. Ocean & Coastal Management, 115, 77-87 https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman","Hartley, B., L., Thompson, R., C., Pahl, S. (2015). Marine litter education boosts children's understanding and self-reported actions. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 90 (1-2), 209-217","Kudryavtsev, A., Stedman, R.C., Krasny, M.E. (2012). Sense of Place in Environmental Education. Environmental Education Research, 18 (2), 229-250","Otto, S., Pensini, P. (2017). Nature-based environmental education of children: Environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature, together, are related to ecological behaviour. Global Environmental Change, 47, 88-94","Pitoska, E., Lazarides, T. (2013). Environmental Education Centers and Local Communities: A Case Study. 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment (HAICTA 2013). Procedia Technology, 8, 215-221","Santos C., R., Grili, N., M., Ghilardi-Lopez N., P., Turra, A. (2017). A collaborative work process for the development of coastal environmental education activities in a public school in São Sebastião (São Paulo State, Brazil). Ocean & Coastal Management.","Zorrilla-Pujana, J., Rossi, S. (2014). Integrating environmental education in marine protected areas management in Colombia. Ocean & Coastal Management, 93, 67 -75","Zorrilla-Pujana, J., Rossi, S. (2016). Environmental education indicators system for protected areas management. Ecological Indicators, 67, 146–155","Wells, N., W., Lekies, K., S. (2006). Nature and the life course: pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments, 16 (1), 1–24.","GESAMP (2001). A sea of troubles. IMO/FAO/UNESCO-IOC/WMO/IAEA/ UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection, 70, 35 p.","NMRDI Grigore Antipa (2016). Report, Archive of National Environmental Protection Agency Constanţa. www.anpm.ro/web/epa-Constanţa/annualreports1/asset_publisher/zx0kZaWCbn-WT/content/report-the-state-of-the-environment","Methodology for organizing the National Program \"The scool differently\". Annex to O.M.E.N.C.Ş. nr. 5034/29.08.2016, 1-8","UNESCO (2015). Rethinking Education. Towards a global common good? http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002325/232555e. pdf","http://litoral.marenostrum.ro","www.oceanic.ro","www.pontocaspian.eu","www.pride.com"]}