Photo ©
Genesis Flores
The Alianza Mexicana para la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre AMECVIS A.C. and the Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, formed an alliance dedicated to the conservation and environmental education in the communities of the San Luis Potosí region in Mexico. The goal of this alliance was to create an educational program about the local biodiversity of the area, and its ecological, economic and social importance to the inhabitants of El Porvenir, Coronado, El Epazote, Venado, Santa Rita y Guaname in San Luis Potosí, México.
At the beginning of the project, the group gathered data about the various species of birds and mammals native to these communities, and with this information created wonderful presentations to educate the interested participants of San Luis Potosí. These presentations taught about the local nature and the wild inhabitants of the region, and they also focused on incentivizing the care for the wild life and the environment. Participants also learned about the different aspects of the local ecosystem, and its importance for the animal and plant kingdoms and the people of San Luis Potosí. One of the presentations demonstrated how participants could benefits by engaging in environmental projects surrounding care, management and conservation of the environment; and in turn, how this could improve not only the local wild life, but also their own quality of life.
The alliance did a stellar job in being inclusive, as they were able to attract a great variety of participants: from the elder to adolescents! All of the participants, regardless of their age, responded with interest and excitement to the presentations. The participants learned about the bird species local to their community, and when they recognized them, the participants taught the educators the local name people use to refer to the species. In other words, the teaching and learning was a two way street where both community members and educators learned from each other. From this exchange of information it also became a lot easier to gather data about the local species with the participants. 
The organizers also cared to include school children in environmental education so they visited public schools in all of the communities of San Luis de Potosí. They adapted the presentations to target this younger audience, and they also included didactic activities to captivate the interest of the little ones. By the end of the activities the participants were every excited about environmental conservation and they were hungry to learn more about the nature that surrounds them and how to care for it.
The collaboration of FMVZ and AMECVIS A.C. was a great success. Many of the participants benefitted from learning about the birds and the ecosystem of this region in Mexico, as well as how they are able to improve their quality of life by helping the environment. In addition, the organizers also benefitted from learning about the experiences of the participants with the ecosystem. We truly hope that this inspires more educational organizations to work alongside local communities to form alliances of mutual learning and to better the environment, which benefits everyone involved.
This page was created by Vanessa Navarro Rodriguez.
Photos by Genesis Flores.