Nicaragua - Trees For Life

Cool Earth has financed a local project in Nicaragua designed to help change attitudes towards local forests. Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and still has the largest area of forest. But although the population is only six million (in an area the size of England and Wales) the forest is disappearing quickly. Even near the city of Masaya, in an area where the tree coverage is still fairly good, the sound of the motor saw can be heard daily.

The Leicester Masaya Link Group has been working with its local Nicaraguan partner ADIC Masaya to run a project called ‘Trees for Life'. In the last two years, primary school children in the small village of El Pochote have been learning about the importance of trees, their role in climate change, and how they can take action themselves.

Simple tests conducted with the children who took part, showed that they do now know more about the importance of trees and the role they play in climate change. The teacher, Oscar Arias, said ‘All this work has been important to get the students to value and care for the natural world'.

Cool Earth also hopes to start a similar project in a village school near Masaya's volcanic lagoon. As well as the school programme, ADIC will run a sustainable farming project that will encourage tree-planting. What is now needed is hundreds of initiatives like this one to take the message to all the areas of Nicaragua which still have forests.

Bookmark this page: