Environmental Education Initiatives

Getting future citizens involved with the conservation of the Atlantic Rainforest

Environmental education is a quickly developing, major priority project at Iracambi. For the past two years our coordinator has been working with several talented volunteers to create a curriculum that meets the needs of the surrounding communities which introduces people of all ages to the wonders of the Atlantic Rainforest.

Over 2000 students have visited the Research Center and have explored our nature trail, as well as our medicinal plants trail. During their time at Iracambi they have investigated neotropical life firsthand through specially developed lesson plans involving readings, drawings, videos, plays, interactive games, and song.

Our teachers have also spread the word about our environmental education programs through our weekly radio broadcast: Voices from the Atlantic Rainforest, which reaches an audience of several thousand. They also regularly make visits to community schools, churches, and businesses.

Objectives

The purpose of the environmental education program, simply, is to get local children thinking about and involved with the conservation of the Atlantic Rainforest. Through firsthand experiences and personal interactions, students get to see, often for the first time, how much value and life the forest holds. Although the children have grown up around the rainforest, the local schools do not have any tradition of environmental education programs.

Through our program, students get to learn more about the forest that surrounds them and can become personally responsible for its conservation. Through our program of donating native forest seedlings (and monitoring their growth) the children begin to understand the value of caring for their forests.

Activities

Program this year:

• Fortnightly visits from the Graminha and Buracada schools i's Centro de Pesquisa, to work on their current 'soil' curriculum. Topics during visits included soil composition, erosion, flooding and forest conservation.
• Expanded scope to include 5 separate communities (Belizário, Graminha, São Sebastião, Rosário da Limeira, and Muriaé.
• Participants: Escola Municipal Francisco Borges da Silva - São Sebastião; Escola Municipal Maria Auxiliadora Benini Bonato - Rosário da Limeira; Escola de Graminha; EScola de Buracada; Escola Sâo Pedro, Escola Agrícola de Belizário; Grupo Escoteiro PIO XII - Muriaé .
• We have a Kids Section to teach children all about the Atlantic Rainforest, its importance and what Iracambi is doing to try and protect it. To visit this section, please click here. We also have a cool story book about Iracambi:click here to download it (it's a .pdf file).

Want to help? Click here for our Forest Futures Program