Promoting environmental actions on behalf of peoples

Fulfilling its Mission to promote love for Mother Earth and the preservation of its biodiversity, URACCAN promotes, through its Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainable Development (IREMADES), a campaign of awareness and environmental education in the territory of Awaltara Luhpia Nani Tasbaya, on the South Caribbean Coast. For this reason, a team of members of IREMADES, the Institute of Intercultural Communication (ICI) and The Tapir Nicaragua Project, traveled to the communities of Karawala and Sandy Bay Sirpi, to hold workshops with children in the area.

With the children of the Ulwa and Miskito peoples, activities were carried out to protect the natural resources of the territory, this in the context of the recent creation of a biological reserve of more than 140 thousand hectares, and of conservation actions of tapir, one of the species that is endangered and which is fundamental for forest ecosystems.

With joy in their faces, girls and boys welcomed the team of URACCAN and Project Tapir, where the fundamental purpose was to carry a positive message through stories, games representative of the environment where they should show their love and respect for what Mother Earth provides to their children, this as part of the very worldview of these peoples.

Juan Mendoza, field assistant of the Tapir Nicaragua Project, explained that "we are carrying out an environmental education campaign involving more than one hundred children from the communities of Karawala and Sandy Bay Sirpi, within the framework of the Awaltara territorial reserve and the accompaniment we give as a project and as an institute to the communities".

According to Mendoza, not only does the reserve have to be created, but it is of paramount importance to educate the little ones about the environment to cultivate in their minds harmony and good living with nature and that they understand the importance of natural resources and species of the territory, such as the danto , the tiger, the jaguar and many others who inhabit it.

The activity was based on playful and educational activities, so that through them children would learn the importance of some mammals for the regeneration and dynamics of forests.

With enthusiasm, the little ones drew landscapes of forests, trees, rivers, animals such as deer, tigers and tapirs, one of which they chose to draw, as it is one of their favorites. This action reaffirms that children represent the future of our forests and cultures.