Emc2 Project celebrated the ‘World Biodiversity Day’
Students from Almancil EB School discovered the white crowberry plant species at Ancão
Within the Emc2 Project ‘Exploring White crowberry Coastal Habitats’, coordinated by Researcher Alexandra Abreu Lima (MARE-ARNET & INIAV, I.P.), an educational field trip to the coastal area integrated in the Ancão Forest Management Plan area (Algarve) was carried out during the World Biodiversity Day (22 May) week.
This field trip had the collaboration of Alexandra Abreu Lima, of João Pinto (Ancão Forest Management Plan team), and during this coastal area field trip, a 3rd grade students’ group from the Almancil EB School, accompanied by their teachers, explored the region and learned about the local flora and fauna. For many students, this was the first time they had seen male and female plants of the white crowberry plant - Corema album (L.) D. Don., an endemic plant of Iberian Peninsula, whose female plants bear white crowberries which are peculiar edible small white fruits.
This was an initiative based on a strong connection to nature that creates in students a sense of place and emotional involvement that are essential to meaningful learning processes in childhood. In our societies, with the current growing trends of ‘Young people disconnection from Nature’ and ‘Extinction or Decreasing Botany Teaching’, Schools will have to be able to awaken in young people a passion for nature, so that they can then better understand and protect it, and empower them to halt biodiversity loss, during the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).
This field trip had the support of Municipality of Loulé, which provided students transportation by Bus. The Emc2 Project is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), through the strategic projects UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020 granted to MARE - Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences, and project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associated Laboratory ARNET - Aquatic Research Network.
Text by João Pequeno