Browsing by Author "Barracosa, Helena"
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- Ocean literacy to mainstream ecosystem services concept in formal and informal education: the example of coastal ecosystems of Southern PortugalPublication . Barracosa, Helena; de los Santos, Carmen B.; Martins, Márcio; Freitas, Cátia; Santos, RuiThe concept of ecosystem services (ES) emerges as strategic to explain the influences that the ocean, and in particular coastal ecosystems, have on us and how we influence them back. Despite being a term coined several decades ago and being already widespread in the scientific community and among policy-makers, the ES concept still lacks recognition among citizens and educators. There is therefore a need to mainstream this concept in formal education and through Ocean Literacy resources. Although important developments in OL were done in the United States, particularly through the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA), this concept was only recently introduced in Europe. In Portugal, several informal OL education programs were developed in the last years, yet formal education on OL and, in particular, on ES is still very deficient. To address this limitation, the "Environmental Education Network for Ecosystem Services" (REASE), founded in 2017 in the Algarve region by a consortium of educational, environmental and scientific institutions, aims to increase OL through the dissemination of the perspective of how ES provided by coastal vegetation may contribute to the human well-being. The projects and activities implemented by REASE focus mostly on formal-education of school children and include: (1) capacity building for K-12 teachers, (2) educational programs to support and develop ES projects in schools, including a citizen science project to evaluate blue carbon stocks in the Algarve, (3) the publication of a children's book about the ES provided by the local Ria Formosa coastal lagoon, with a community-based participatory design (illustrations made by schoolchildren) and (4) a diverse array of informal education activities to raise awareness on the importance of coastal ecosystems on human well-being. REASE challenges are being successfully addressed by identifying threats to local coastal ecosystems that people worry about, and highlighting solutions to improve and maintain their health.
- REASE – Rede regional de sensibilização dos serviços prestados pelos ecossistemas das pradarias de ervas marinhas e sapais na região do Algarve.Publication . Reis, Emanuel; Santos, Rui; de los Santos, Carmen B.; Martins, Márcio; Freitas, Cátia; Pinheiro, André; Veiga-Pires, C.; Borges, Rita; Ramos, Ana; Nora, Manuel; Cunha, José R.; Sousa, Celeste; Barracosa, HelenaA Rede de Educação Ambiental para os Serviços Ambientais (REASE) é uma iniciativa recentemente criada no Algarve, por instituições de pesquisa científica, educação, divulgação científica e uma ONG ambiental. O REASE tem como objetivo desenvolver projetos de educação ambiental na área dos Serviços Ecossistémicos (SE), especialmente aqueles gerados pela vegetação costeira, incluindo sapais e pradarias marítimas. Atualmente, a rede está trabalhando em: 1) capacitação de professores e gestores ambientais, a fim de promover o conhecimento científico sobre os serviços prestados pelos ecossistemas costeiros; 2) a criação de uma “incubadora de projetos” para poder desenvolver em escolas locais projetos SE inovadores de educação formal; 3) sensibilização dos estudantes e do público em geral sobre o papel dos ecossistemas para o bem-estar humano através de exposições e palestras em centros de divulgação científica; 4) publicação de um livro para crianças sobre SE de ervas marinhas, num processo participativo de base comunitária (ilustrações feitas por crianças nas escolas); 5) o lançamento de um projeto de Ciência Cidadã, para avaliar a produção de Carbono Azul no Algarve, envolvendo escolas que recebem kits de campo e de laboratório e respetivo apoio científico; 6) o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação móvel para fazer upload diretamente das medições de campo e dados do carbono azul no site do projeto, onde os dados são cientificamente validados e analisados.
- REASE: A regional network to raise awareness on ecosystem services provided by seagrass meadows in the Algarve (South Portugal)Publication . Santos, Rui; Santos, Carmen B. de los; Martins, Márcio; Freitas, Cátia; Santos, Anabela; Veiga-Pires, C.; Reis, Emanuel; Borges, Rita; Nora, Manuel; Cunha, José R.; Sousa, Celeste; Barracosa, HelenaThe Environmental Education Network for Ecosystem Services (REASE) is a recently founded initiative in the Algarve (south Portugal) by institutions of scientific research, education, science outreach and a local environmental NGO. The REASE aims to develop environmental education projects in the area of ecosystem services (ES), especially those provided by coastal vegetated ecosystems, including saltmarshes seagrasses. The network is currently working on: 1) capacity building for school teachers and environmental managers in order to promote scientific knowledge on the services provided by coastal ecosystems; 2) the creation of an “incubator of projects” to design innovative, formal education ES projects to be developed in local schools; 3) raising awareness of students and general public on the role of vegetated ecosystems for human well-being thorough expositions and talks at science outreach centres; 4) publication of a booklet for children on the ES of seagrasses, with a community-based participatory design (illustrations made by schoolchildren); 5) the launch of a Citizen Science project for schools to evaluate the Blue Carbon stock in the Algarve, for which schools have been provided with field and laboratory kits, and scientific support; 6) the development of an app to directly upload field measurements and blue carbon data into the website of the project, where data will be scientifically validated and analysed. The actions and events are being successfully welcome by the local community and having a high media impacts and participation rates.