GREEN in Latin America

By Dan Poux, Earth Force Director of International Programs (dpoux@earthforce.org)

Juan Manual, an elementary school student in Usulutan, El Salvador, prepares a Dissolved Oxygen test while a buddy looks on.

Through an innovative multinational partnership, educators and young people in El Salvador, Panama and Mexico use GREEN programming and equipment to assess the health of their water resources and work to improve them.

Through a partnership with the Academy for Educational Development, CICEANA (an NGO based in Mexico) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Earth Force provides materials and training to educators in Latin America on how to involve young people in protecting local water resources. Launched in September 2000, the program is called CLARA (Coalicion para la Limpieza Activa del Recurso Agua) – a Spanish acronym whose English translation is Coalition for the Active Clean-Up of Water Resources.

CLARA's objectives are threefold:

• Engage and mobilize youth and other citizens to take a leadership role in promoting water quality improvements in their communities.
• Build indigenous capacity and competency among youth, NGO's and CBO's in basic and advanced water quality monitoring and improvement measures.
• Increase real-time information dissemination and exchange about water topics among youth and field practitioners through the development of an Internet-based network.

In partnership with Earth Force and AED, each NGO is responsible for recruiting teachers, conducting training workshops in the CLARA methodology, providing technical guidance, engaging youth in communicating through electronic based means, and providing technical support for the youth- and community-driven activities.

For example, in El Salvador, CLARA is working with Fundación de Apoyo a Municipios (FUNDAMUNI), and in Panama, with Parque Natural Metropolitano. Both organizations have established collaborative mechanisms with schools in the surrounding communities and with the Salvadoran and Panamanian Ministries of Education to implement CLARA.

Earth Force provides the materials, including a Spanish version of our Protecting Our Watersheds curriculum (Protegiendo Nuestras Cuencas Hidrologicas), and on-site training of NGO staff and educators. This past year, the CLARA project conducted seven training workshops-reaching 58 urban and rural schools in El Salvador, Panama and Mexico.

Here are some examples:

• In El Salvador, students and teachers from 15 rural schools are selecting the most urgent water quality problems-ranging from deforestation to drought.
• High school science classes in Mexico are coordinating their research around Patzcuaro Lake, looking for ways to preserve the historic beauty of the lake and its traditional fishing culture.
• Twelve urban high schools in Panama City are starting their watershed investigations in collaboration with Parque Natural Metropolitano-the only urban rainforest park in the world.

Success Indicators:

Improved Human and Institutional Capacity

• 9 NGO's implementing CLARA in El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama
• 364 people trained in the methodology
• 7 NGO and teacher training workshops, with 58 participant schools

Increased Dissemination of Concepts and Tools

• Produced and distributed 400 training manuals and 130 low-cost water monitoring kits
• 4,000 people informed about CLARA through participation and activities
• 11,181 hits on the CLARA website (clara.ciceana.org.mx)

Improved Understanding of and Participation in Water-Quality and Weather Monitoring

• Monitored more than 20 sources of water (El Salvador = 11 sites; Panama = eight sites along the Rio Curundu; Mexico = Lake Cupatitizo)
• Students have selected a problem and developed a plan of action to engage communities, government institutions, media and academia.

Sample CLARA project stories from El Salvador:

One group of students found the presence of fecal coliform bacteria in the drinking water. This water should have been free of microorganisms, since it is treated by the Aqueduct Administration. After learning of the students' research, local authorities instituted proper sanitary control along different points in the water network. The students hope to stop future contamination by controlling factors such as uncovered wells, trash, outhouses, clothes washing at the water supply source and a lack of civic organization to keep the area clean and well maintained.

Another group found the water from their wells had high levels of phosphates, nitrates and fecal coliform bacteria. The youth now understand that transparent and clean-looking water is not necessarily free of microorganisms and other contaminants. The students have identified the causes of the water contamination, and are investigating possible solutions that they could implement as CLARA clubs in their education centers.

Earth Force GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network) brings science to life by helping young people protect the rivers, streams and other vital water resources in their communities.

Through GREEN, Earth Force offers a network of support for educators throughout the world who engage youth in projects to protect local water resources. GREEN also offers a variety of resources, including training, water monitoring equipment, technical manuals and action guides.