Empowering young leaders for forest conservation

The municipality of Turbaco in the Caribbean is home to over 1,000 hectares of the seasonally dry tropical forest, one of the most endangered and degraded ecosystems in the tropics worldwide. Threats include unsustainable land use practices, mining activities, and urban expansion. At the same time, the school system is inadequate, especially in rural areas, from which young people suffer and cannot exercise their right to education. The project strengthens educational institutions by empowering students and their teachers to represent and contribute to conservation initiatives for the protection of tropical forests and biodiversity as well as ecosystem services in their respective communities as Young Leaders. For this, visits and workshops to the Botanical Garden, guidance on the establishment and strengthening of environmental interest groups and virtual support for teachers and students, and finally the dissemination of the project results are planned.