Apolinar's Wren is an endemic bird in Colombia with a decreasing population trend, in the brinks of extinction. We want to help reverting it, by providing a new approach to environmental education in a rural school at Lake Tota (main location of its habitat), as a pilot with a potential to be spread out. A model to increase affection, participation and awareness, designed to be fun and creative, combining transmedia storytelling, in which children will also be introduced to various art forms.
As the largest lake in Colombia, Lake Tota provides drinking water to 400.000 people, is home to 171 bird species (10 are endemic, including our target-endangered Apolinar's Wren), and has a rich cultural history. Despite this, the past few decades have seen Lake Tota increasingly polluted by expansion of agriculture, fish farming, and urban runoff, which have already pushed two endemic species to extinction. Impacts to Apolinar's Wren habitat are severe and frequent, by lack of awareness.
Our project "SueTy" (whisper of the bird, in Muisca language) provides innovative birdlife education through music and art to the children in the chosen rural school of Guaquira at Lake Tota (close to bird's habitat). Along its 9-month timeframe, it uses transmedia storytelling for 5 topics with a mix of music, drawings, stop-motion, and birdsong to increase awareness, aiming for better practices and increasing participation. SueTy will also fulfill the lack of music & art education in the area.
Educating children about the importance of their local ecosystem will inspire communities to preserve their habitat & future by protecting Lake Tota. SueTy will not just raise awareness of nature conservation, but will also produce educational videographic content that we will publish to reach a broader audience. Our model promotes collaborative environmental learning that can be rendered in other threatened regions. Through SueTy we want to encourage young people to bring change to the region.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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