São Paulo, Brazil
Salas de Aula Mata Atlântica I
Reconnecting schoolchildren to Brazil’s native Atlantic Forest
Salas de Aula Mata Atlântica is an ambitious project that will create a constellation of outdoor classrooms in five Unified Educational Centers (CEU) across São Paulo.
These CEUs are located in highly urbanised and low-income neighborhoods on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. They are important community spaces, providing free access to educational, cultural and leisure activities for local people and each CEU also has several schools attached to it. On average, a single CEU serves between 2-3000 students aged 0-14.
This constellation of forests will restore denuded or unused pockets of land and transform them into native - and highly endangered - Atlantic Forest, showing students and the local community how a biodiversity desert can be transformed into a thriving ecosystem once again.
In December 2022, the UN declared the Atlantic Forest as one of the 10 hotspots in the world for ecological restoration and has designated efforts to do so as one of its World Restoration Flagships.
Forest Maker formigas-de-embaúba
2,070
TREES
700
SQUARE METERS
100
NATIVE SPECIES
“When we talk about planting and regenerating a space, we talk about re-signifying that space. It’s about attributing meaning to this space and making students understand that they can be agents of positive transformation.”
— Eduardo Murakami, Environmental Education Group, São Paulo Educational Department
Site 1/3
CEU Parque Novo Mundo
Site 2/3
CEU Meninos
Site 3/3
CEU Jardim Paulistano
Connecting children to nature
The creation of these forests will also have an important 6-month educational programme running alongside them, thereby amplifying the impact of the project.
As a whole, Salas de Aula Mata Atlântica will forge a connection between thousands of school children and nature, supporting their wellbeing along with that of the planet. It will bring living outdoor classrooms to children across São Paulo that will educate, nourish and inspire.
The schools involved in the project are located in highly urbanised and low-income neighborhoods on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. They are important community spaces, providing free access to educational, cultural and leisure activities for local people.
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