Understanding to preserve local biodiversity Erasmus Project

Project Title

Understanding to preserve local biodiversity

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

Our goal is to   prepare our students to become responsible activists involved in the protection of biodiversity and especially the conservation of local  species.
In order to achieve this goal we may work on the 4  following objectives :  to train,  to  get involved,  to  communicate ,   to take part in research work
1- to train
The multiple resources on environmental protection are often misunderstood by our young students who do not know how to accurately handle these different sources. Indeed they have very little knowledge about the animal and plant species in their immediate environment. 
We aim at making our students aware of environmental issues and develop a better understanding of nature through different means .
-In the classroom in different subjects ( Not only biology but also foreign languages, history, geography..)
-In the high school during extra-curricular activities (club membership , exhibitions )-
by inviting specialists to give lectures (beekeepers , organisations involved in environmental protection )

2 To get involved 
Nowadays  young people  feel all the more helpless and distressed by environmental issues  since they can’t see how they might be able to positively impact the enviroment.
 It is therefore important for them to be able to get involved in real actions which will bring visible, clear and quantifiable results .

Thanks to the structure of each high school the students will be able to :
– participate in a better vegetalisation of our school premises so as to create a safer environment for wild insects.
– plant in and around  high school endangered species so as to  help them persist over time
Depending on each biotope, we can also :
– cultivate species in vitro during the last year of high school with the specific purpose of growing rare or endangered plants
– get involved with the upkeep of a beehive sheltering an endangered species of bee:the black bee (apis mellifera)
– watch birds and maybe feed them during winter

These actions could be continued outside school  ( harvesting seeds from the high school and dissemination in the students’ homes or in other areas )
.
3- to communicate 
– inside the school : thanks to poster campaigns and electronic display
– communicate to other schools : in primary schools for example.
– in each town : : we ‘ll contact the townhall
– create a youtube channel 
-gather our examples of our work in a small catalogue or calendar 
– organise a small open-air market in the high school : selling seeds or plant cuttings …
– communicate our actions through different artistic forms -sculptures in recycled material, decorate bus -stops with herbariums, green walls ..

4- participating in the research work
French hign School can continue being involved in such projects organised by France’s Museum of Natural History .For instance  :
-wild plants in my streets 
– numbering earthworms 
–  taking photos of pollinating insects 

It will be able to take part in new projects :
– birdwatching
– monitoring air pollution through observation of lichens (moss)

This is the probable  work schedule with its major highlights :
During the first year of the project we’ll put the accent on making a presentation of the natural habitat of each country -near high school and in the surrounding area
Each time there is a mobility -an exchange -the guest country brings required material to participate in the building of protection tools ( trap for invasive Asian hornet, nesting box…). Together The students and their correspondents will establish a new protection area.

During the year, we’ll put the stres on how to present results and diffuse them. Some of these activities would be choosen :
– design a catalogue (videos, articles )
– plant collection (seed library, cutting )
–  exchange results and solutions 
-exchange our environment protection practices and improve them
-designing a calendar with tips easy to do at home

This second year will be used to measure and assess the impact of involved pupils on the other pupils ,on the community. We could also question government authorities and give them proposal from our work.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 134898 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lycée Anita CONTI & Country: FR

Project Partners

• General Lyceum of Eleftherios Venizelos
• Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves, Valadares, Vila Nova de Gaia
• Liceul Tehnologic Baia de Fier