EVALUATING THE RESULTS OF OUR WORK September 2014 Kassy Holmes, Inspiring Action Through Education Climate Change Coordinator, Rainforest Climate change education supports community Alliance engagement in sustainable forest management Claudia Lebel, NZDZ Project and REDD+ in Madre de Dios, Peru Coordinator, Asociación para la Investigación Key messages y Desarrollo Integral (AIDER) 1. Education is a critical component of community- based climate change and REDD+ initiatives; Mark Moroge, it helps ensure that communities receive the Climate Program knowledge needed to make informed decisions Projects about their natural resources and actively partici- Manager, pate in REDD+ actions. Rainforest Alliance 2. The implementation of climate change and Carolina de la REDD+ education must be adapted to local Rosa, REDD+ contexts—with regionally appropriate data and Advisor, information about deforestation patterns and cli- Rainforest mate change trends—and must take into account Alliance varying literacy levels and learning styles through the inclusion of hands-on activities, graphs, and Maria Ghiso, pictures that frame complex terms in an acces- Education sible way. Program Manager, 3. The Rainforest Alliance and its partner AIDER Rainforest developed a community-based climate change Alliance education curriculum for members of the Ese’eja indigenous community in Madre de Dios. The curriculum focuses on increasing community knowledge of local environmental issues, like deforestation, and ways in which communities can address environmental challenges. 4. This effort has increased environmental aware- ness within the community and led to the implementation of community action projects related to local environmental issues. It has also improved the ability of community members to understand and engage in programs and policies that advance climate change mitigation and for- The Rainforest est conservation objectives. Alliance works Defining education to conserve The need for community-based climate education biodiversity and ensure sustain- With regards to this case study, education is able livelihoods Education and capacity building are key entry considered the deliberate act of providing by transforming points for engaging rural and indigenous commu- instruction and sharing information in order to land-use prac- nity stakeholders in REDD+ (Reducing Emissions raise awareness of a particular topic, enhance tices, business from Deforestation & Forest Degradation, plus a community’s knowledge-base, and provide practices and forest conservation) objectives, as well as other building blocks towards the practical applica- consumer climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. tion of that information. behavior. Training and education on the impacts of deforesta- www.rainforest- alliance.org 1 by planting trees alongside the town’s community Addressing differences in age, literacy and plaza, one of the main venues for meetings, events learning and community gatherings. Approaches to community climate change edu- As part of the USAID-funded, Net Zero Deforestation cation should include a suite of dynamic activi- Zones (NZDZ) Project, the Rainforest Alliance and ties that take into account different age groups, its local partner, Asociación para la Investigación y learning styles, and literacy levels. Examples Desarrollo Integral (AIDER), are working with these include: students and their teachers to help them better understand pressing environmental issues within • Blending visual, hands-on, individualized their community, such as severe seasonal flooding learning, and group activities to address due to climate change, deforestation fueled by papa- differences in learning styles. ya cultivation, and poor logging practices. They are also examining how community-based responses— • Ensuring that materials include images, including reforestation, the establishment of timber maps, and graphs, for those with limited management committees, and strengthened com- literacy skills, as well as clear, non-technical munity governance—can help safeguard Infierno’s language, limited text, and accompanying resources for future generations. background information to help explain scientific processes. The climate change curriculum has the following objectives: • Incorporating activities for younger students, such as analyzing leaf shapes, creating • Explaining complex terms and issues related drawings and paintings of nature, and par- to REDD+ and climate change in order to ticipating in plays about the environment. enhance the capacity of community stakehold- ers to understand the challenges and opportu- nities that REDD+ represents tion, for example, can help communities make more In the Rainforest Alliance climate guide, this is informed decisions about the future of their forest accomplished through hands-on, interactive resources and better engage in discussions about activities that analyze local deforestation data REDD+ actions and policies that may affect them. and trends, and evaluate local climate change impacts. Images and graphs are also used to Despite the benefits of education, however, there remains a lack of tailored tools and approaches for engaging stakeholders in education and capacity Ensuring local relevance building efforts at the community level. The most important task in designing a locally- To address this gap in community-level climate based curriculum is to adapt it to meet the education, the Rainforest Alliance developed a cli- needs of community members. The curriculum mate change education toolkit aimed at i) fostering must resonate with its users and maintain knowledge of basic science and climate change con- relevance to their lives. Examples of important cepts, ii) preparing communities to actively engage questions to consider include: in REDD+ initiatives, and iii) increasing smallholder and community-level knowledge of actions to miti- • How will climate change affect the region, gate and adapt to climate change. In the community and what impacts are community mem- of Infierno, located in the southeastern region of bers already experiencing? Madre de Dios in Peru, this approach is supporting the uptake of sustainable land management and for- • What are the local drivers of deforestation? est conservation strategies, and it is inspiring a com- munity to better understand the impacts of their • What is the community’s resource and land land management decisions. use history? Innovating a climate-community education toolkit • What are common ways of sharing infor- for Madre de Dios mation within the community (e.g. story- telling, radio programming, newspapers, In the Ese’eja community of Infierno, nestled within etc.) and how could these be utilized to the lush Amazonian forests of Peru’s Madre de Dios support education efforts? region, a group of school children from Hermosa Grande—a primary and secondary school—are • What are the literacy rates within the com- organizing a tree-planting campaign. They have munity, and how can non-reading mem- spent weeks learning about the carbon cycle and bers be effectively engaged? the important role of forests in mitigating climate change. They have also learned about sustainable • Does the educational approach account for land-use projects that are being implemented in varying ages and learning styles? the region, and they have decided to do their part 2 explain complex terms and Figure 1 address varying degrees of Depiction of literacy and scientific under- deforestation that standing. has resulted from increased min- • Developing strong relation- ing in the MDD ships with local partners region. and educational institu- Image retrieved from: http:// tions to gain their support visibleearth. and input, and to ensure nasa.gov/view. local relevance of materials php?id=78629 The Rainforest Alliance drew heavily from the expertise of our local partner, AIDER, in order to ensure the local relevance of curriculum materials. As a leading NGO based in Madre de Dios with over 25 years of experience in sustainability and envi- ronmental conservation issues, AIDER brought Reserve, which has an area of more than 270,000 extensive experience and knowledge on how to hectares consisting of old-growth Amazon rain- best meet the educational needs of local com- forests, native bamboo groves, tropical savannas, munities. and more.2 Thousands of plant and animal species, including the endangered giant river otter (Pteronura • Allowing for open discussions and exchanges brasiliensis)3, the red brocket deer (Mazama ameri- on topics of greatest interest to the community cana), the spectacled caiman (Caiman cocrodylus), The workshop setting is considered an open and the threatened South America tapir (Tapirus ter- forum for discussion. Facilitators assist with restris)4 call this place home. leading activities and addressing questions and comments from the group, but the overall The Ese’eja indigenous people live in communities structure and flow of educational workshops is along the Tambopata River, where the Giant River fluid and allows time for discussion on topics Otter swims, and alongside the buffer zones of the like carbon monitoring, changes in land man- Tambopata Reserve. In the town of Infierno, the agement regimes, and payments for ecosystems Ese’eja have lived for generations utilizing nature’s services that are of interest to participants. resources to cultivate agricultural-based livelihoods and, more recently, eco-tourism. In recent years, • Continuously collecting feedback, as well