Forest Literacy in Crato

The pandemic brought even greater need for forest preservation, to have a natural ecosystem consisting of a diversity of species. In this sense the awareness and environmental education actions that do not take place specifically in the classroom but that transport the students to green spaces and forests are essential, allowing greater involvement with the sites and the construction of knowledge in a more appealing and motivating way.

In order to encourage students to become active agents in forest conservation, leading them to discover forest areas near the school and curiosities about the associated ecosystem, LPN - as part of the Forest Literacy project - started the field trips in May, after several preparation sessions held with students and teachers online.

Involving also several municipalities in the country, the project included several online sessions where the strategies and tools were provided, and the subsequent field trips that started with students and teachers from the Professional School Agostinho Roseta, in Crato.

The place chosen by the students and teachers was Nascentes dam, a very pleasant place, where after a 7 km walk from the school to the dam, the students observed and got to know the ecosystem with the help of a guidebook prepared within the scope of the project and with the collaboration of the school teachers and LPN's facilitators.

The Nascentes dam is located in the parish of Aldeia da Mata and Monte da Pedra, in the municipality of Crato, which used to supply water to the population of Crato and where an important electronic music festival is usually held, with a strong ecological aspect - Waking Life that is based on three objectives - environmental awareness, art and music. Currently the site has been given over to a private entity and has a huge area of stone pines, willows and also eucalyptus.

Besides having reinforced the need to defend native species and biodiversity, namely the importance of species such as willows and umbrella pines, the problem of invasive species such as eucalyptus and acacias was also highlighted. But as a forest is not made up of trees and shrubs, its herbaceous stratum in the region presents good edapho-climatic conditions for the practice of beekeeping, which leads to the richness of the melliferous flora and the production of honey of excellent quality.

Finally, the students planted some native species, placed nests and feeders for the birds and then had a picnic in a pleasant conviviality. It was thus a matter of promoting the protection of endogenous resources, raising awareness and responsibility for the need to protect the Forest ecosystem.