Environmental Education
The town of El Astillero is only 5 kilometers away from the Chacocente Wildlife Refuge, a unique hotspot for biodiversity. Chacocente is one of the only 7 beaches in the world where massive nesting of sea turtles occurs and is one of the largest fragments of tropical dry forest left on our planet.
Poaching of sea turtle eggs, killing of sea turtles, illegal deforestation, and unsustainable fishing practices threaten the social ecological richness of this area. While protection of natural resources has often focused on excluding the community from the protected area, the aim of our environmental education program is to create incentives to protect natural resources through employment opportunities, research and education.
La Brigada Ecologica environmental youth group was featured in the State of the World Sea Turtles!
Impact Highlights
Providing environmental education through extracurricular activities for over 100 local students
Conducting weekly beach cleanups and other activities to support conservation efforts
Published 1 scientific research paper
Over 40,000 turtles eggs saved
Constructed 3 new sea turtle nurseries
Planted over 15000 trees with MARENA and INAFOR
Formalized a partnership with MARENA (Nicaraguan Environmental Ministry)
Selected for the Management committee of the Chacocente Wildlife Refuge
Casa Congo believes that focusing on the younger generation through education programs will facilitate long term success of conservation initiatives. We have worked hand in hand with the local school and with the local community in El Astillero to establish an educational program. The Brigada Ecologica was born with the goal of giving the opportunities to young local students to learn about ecological processes while at the same time implementing on the ground projects. 3 members of the Brigada are now employed and many other members of the Brigada have experience as research assistants for projects involving the local fishery, water management and primates conservation.
Casa Congo aims to keep expanding this education program to other communities in this area, aspiring to build an environmental and ecological conscience in the local youth. The Brigada Ecologica is a team of young environmentalists who want to inspire their community to protect the local environment. The group is working with Casa Congo to research and preserve the natural resources of El Astillero and Chacocente. They have fun hiking in the field, bird watching, collecting plant specimens and making products with recycled plastic. They take direct action in conservation by supporting MARENA (Nicaraguan environmental government body) with the operation of three sea turtle nurseries, with turtles patrols, and reforestation campaigns.
“When I came to Astillero for the first time most of the students had never been inside the Chacocente protected area. Thanks to the Brigada Ecologica program students get to spend time in the protected area and value the resources in it. Why would you protect something you don’t know? ”
Luca Marsaglia, Cofounder