Environmental education

The Asociación de Rescate y Conservación de Vida Silvestre is asking for support for their environmental education centre and also to organise a regional workshop on rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife.

Two groups of Guardianes del Ambiente were formed in the communities of Santa Elena and El Arrozal. These youth groups have the aim of channelling the energy of young people interested in the environment into activities that benefit the local environment and the conservation activities of ARCAS. A total of 436 children from 10 different schools participated in these activities. In addition, 30 teachers from 10 schools received training in environmental education and visited the CEIA. 60 educators from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico participated in the ARCAS workshop on environmental education held September 18-20, 2002 at the CEIA. For the last 2 years, ARCAS has been working as a consortium of organisations working in environmental education in Department of Peten (CIEA) supporting the creation of an environmental education guide to be used in the official curriculum of the Department of Peten. This guide has been accepted by the Education Ministry and ARCAS collaborated in a workshop for 200 teachers (the first of five) offering them training in how to use the guide. One of the most significant results of this project and of ARCAS's activities in Peten in recent years is the institutional growth of ARCAS. ARCAS has 12 years of unique, field-level experience in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, environmental education and protected areas management in the Peten area, and judging by the success of the two workshops held during the last year, the future looks bright as a centre for research and training in these areas. We were particularly pleased with the attendance at the Rescue Centre Workshop, where despite demonstrations, strikes and terrorists, and despite the fact that we could not offer funds for international travel, we were able to attract close to 50 people. It is especially interesting that two of the groups that participated were actually actively planning to establish rescue centres, so we were able to offer them relevant, timely, concrete advice on how to go about this. We think that in the future, ARCAS will play a central role in national and regional networks of wildlife rescue centres.