{"id":78103,"date":"2025-06-05T15:23:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T18:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alana.org.br\/?p=78103"},"modified":"2025-06-05T15:27:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T18:27:26","slug":"environment-solutions-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alana.org.br\/en\/environment-solutions-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Awarded for Conserving Brazil’s Six Biomes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

World Environment Day marks the announcement of the winners<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Fab\u00edola Sinimb\u00fa \u2013 Reporter at Ag\u00eancia Brasil
<\/a>Published on 06\/05\/2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this June 5th, World Environment Day, six youth-led projects from every one of Brazil\u2019s biomes were recognized for presenting proposals that combine conservation and environmental solutions with the appreciation of traditional knowledge from local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These initiatives won the Criativos Escola + Natureza Award, which encourages children and adolescents to transform their realities through youth empowerment and is promoted by Instituto Alana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now know that children are the population most affected by climate change and racial inequalities worldwide, yet they are not always considered when it comes to solving these problems\u2014or even listened to about what affects and troubles them,\u201d says Ana Cl\u00e1udia Leite, an education and childhood culture specialist at Instituto Alana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elementary and high school students and their educators will receive an online educational journey, which will lead them to activities related to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ana Cl\u00e1udia, the goal of this journey is to foster exchange between school communities and their territories, enable the  technical improvement  of the projects, and boost visibility and social impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be content, connections, and experiences that can expand these children ability to take action in their territories and strengthen these projects so that they can scale up, influence their surroundings, and foster more dialogue and partnerships\u2014whether with the private sector, government, or third sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award also includes a financial incentive of R$12,000 per team, with R$10,000 for the students and R$2,000 for the educator or adult mentor. The winners were chosen from nearly 1,600 projects from 738 municipalities across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received projects from quilombola* regions, from communities linked to Indigenous groups, and from areas with multiple Indigenous communities close to schools. There are also projects from dense urban areas. They\u2019re diverse not only in what they propose and how they foster social transformation, but also in the students\u2019 life stories,\u201d explains Ana Claudia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biomes<\/strong>
<\/strong>In the Caatinga biome, in the town of Carna\u00edba, Pernambuco, students at Paulo Freire State Technical School developed a low-cost filter made from pine husks and activated charcoal to reduce the toxicity of manipueira<\/em>, a by-product of cassava flour production with high pollution potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe girls who live in the Quilombo do Caru\u00e1 community noticed that even though <\/em>the spaces where cassava flour is milled and cooked are vital as sources of income and symbols of resistance, they’re also a place that produces a large amount of waste. So, they proposed a solution to the problem they observed,\u201d explains Gustavo Bezerra, the teacher who supervised the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Cerrado biome, students from the State Institute of Education, Science and Technology in Cod\u00f3, Maranh\u00e3o, created an autonomous water reuse system that collects and filters water from fountains and taps for non-potable use, such as flushing toilets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey built the entire prototype: plumbing, barrels, the robotic part. They wanted the system to be fully automated and sustainably self-programmed to reduce both waste and human intervention. They did everything themselves, without any engineers. They were their own engineers,\u201d recalls teacher Vivian Sousa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in the Cerrado the solution came through engineering, in the Pantanal biome, students from the Sebasti\u00e3o Rolon Rural Municipal School in Corumb\u00e1, Mato Grosso do Sul, turned to art to address the frequent wildfires. After researching how rural populations can help reduce fire outbreaks, the students developed an educational theater piece to raise community awareness through culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany students are children of farmers or cattle ranchers. Wildfires are common here. They often didn\u2019t know who to call or what to do when fires happened. They said there was a lack of information, and until then, no one really knew what to do. Through the project, they began to find answers,\u201d says teacher Stella de Souza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was so successful that students and teachers are now working to expand its reach and the formats used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe intend to create books written by them, and comic books too. We\u2019re trying to align the content with other subjects so we can expand the concept and reach not only adults but other children as well,\u201d Stella adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pursuit of balance with nature also came from diverse experiences. In the Amazon biome, inspired by the success of Indigenous community practices, students from the Amazonas Institute of Education in Manaus developed a project to integrate traditional knowledge into the school curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The phrase, \u201cYou, with your knowledge, can help us. And we, with ours, can help you,\u201d spoken by a member of the Tukano people and heard by students during a visit to the Bahserikowi Indigenous Medicine Center, had a lasting impact. After that experience, exchanges increased, and transformation happened inside and outside the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know back then that some of my students were Indigenous. Later, I found out from one mother that she had told her daughter not to say she was Indigenous. She was afraid her daughter would be discriminated against or bullied like she had been,\u201d recalls teacher M\u00e1rcia Gomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the project progressed, those students began to proudly share their knowledge and heritage as guardians of sustainable living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I saw them finally saying they were Indigenous, talking about their culture and traditions, I realized the project had gone beyond learning\u2014it was about self-worth and serenity,\u201d M\u00e1rcia emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the opposite end of the country, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, a group of students from Saint-Hilaire Elementary School was inspired by Futuro Ancestral<\/em>, a book by Ailton Krenak, to deepen their connection with nature.They saw the nearby Saint-Hilaire Park as a potential space for connection and realized how distant the community had become from nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey started talking about it\u2014\u2018We\u2019ve never been to the park. We could go, but it\u2019s always burning.\u2019 They began monitoring it and saw fires becoming frequent after reading the book. One of them said, \u2018We could make a project about this,\u2019\u201d recalls teacher Maria Gabriela Souza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of educational, artistic, and environmental activities in the park was developed by the students to raise awareness in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey created storytelling sessions, theatrical performances, and a literary fair using works by Indigenous and Black authors like Krenak and Ant\u00f4nio Bispo. They worked hard, created educational kits. It was a success. The whole school got involved,\u201d the teacher says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional knowledge from shellfish gatherers and artisanal fishers in Est\u00e2ncia, Sergipe, inspired students and teachers at the Federal Institute of Sergipe to develop an environmental education model for conserving the Atlantic Forest biodiversity found in mangroves and coastal scrublands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project combines multiple activities\u2014like documentary production, trail signage, and flora and fauna identification\u2014bringing together the traditional community, students, and teachers in immersive biome experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a guided trail led by shellfish gatherers and students, and a \u2018sustainability bike ride,\u2019 where one student rode alongside her grandmother. We aim for strong social inclusion, beyond the Institute and partner schools, to involve the community and especially families,\u201d says teacher M\u00e1rcia Santos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She notes the project also fosters youth leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey took an active role in this educational process because they are also teaching. The idea is for young people to spread this environmental education involvement so that others in the community can also engage,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Award
<\/strong> Created in 2015, the Criativos da Escola<\/em> Award is promoted by Instituto Alana, a nonprofit organization focused on children’s rights. Its goal is to encourage youth to transform their realities and build leadership through the Design for Change<\/em> methodology, developed by Indian educator Kiran Bir Sethi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complete list of winning projects by biome:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n