Stars and STEM Stories
Green Heritage Fund Suriname's Mangrove Activity Boxes Engage Students
In 2020, the Green Heritage Fund Suriname (GHFS), started the Community Based Mangrove Management (CBMM) pilot project for the preservation and protection of mangrove ecosystems. One of the aims of this project was to develop content and execute activities to build community and stakeholder awareness and active engagement in the conservation of mangrove ecosystems. In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of mangrove ecosystems, the GHFS distributed activity boxes to 13 highschool students in Nickerie and Coronie.
The inspiration for these boxes came from the GLOBE country coordinator from Paraguay, who had talked about these boxes during a regional meeting. While the original idea was to use the boxes as a way to engage with students during the COVID lockdown, it became clear that it was also a great way to stay in contact with the students living outside of the capital Paramaribo, where the GHFS office is located. Since the trips from Paramaribo to Nickerie take about 4 hours, the staff aren’t able to go there as often as they would like. By using these boxes, they are able to provide information and fun activities for the students and allow them to learn about the environment at their own pace, in the comfort of their own homes.
The objective of the activity boxes was to educate high school students on the importance of mangroves and water quality using educational activities. Between May and September, the students received boxes filled with materials and instructions for mangrove-related activities. The various activities focused on the role of mosquitoes in mangrove habitats, the identification of mosquito breeding habitats and the determination of mosquito larvae, the erosion process and how mangroves protect coasts against this phenomenon and the water filtration properties of mangrove ecosystems. A WhatsApp group was created to stay in contact with all of the students. In this group, the students asked questions about the activities and arranged meetings to pick up or drop off the boxes. They also shared videos of them doing the activities. The students had a booth at the Mangrove Fair organized in Nickerie; there they were able to show their boxes, execute the activities and share all they had learned with members of their community helping to further raise awareness on the importance of mangrove ecosystems!
While Suriname is a small country, it is not always possible to reach people in rural areas. The activity boxes were a great way to involve youth in these areas, educate them about the different aspects of mangrove ecosystems, and also allow them to explore their creativity by making fun videos of their experiments.
Images courtesy Cheyenne Samson, Green Heritage Fund Suriname (consultant) and GLOBE Trainer.