A total of 18 centers in Alicante receive municipal aid for their Environmental Education projects

A total of 18 schools will receive aid from the Alicante City Council for the development of their environmental education projects within the annual call, promoted by the Department of the Environment, led by Manuel Villar, and endowed with 18,500 euros.

Manuel Villar has highlighted "the importance of promoting healthy habits from school so that primary school students are educated in values of respect for nature and social commitment in tasks such as waste selection at home, the development of sustainable agriculture with community gardens or respect for endangered species to conserve ecosystems, among other issues."

The 18 centers benefiting from the aid are IES Jorge Juan, CPEE Santo Ángel de la Guarda, IES Jaime II, Sociedad Cooperativa Valenciana Aire Libre, CEIP Juan Bautista Llorca, CEIP Isla de Tabarca, CEIP San Francisco de Asís, IES San Blas, IES El Pla, CEIP San Gabriel, IES Bahía de Babel, IES Francisco Figueras Pacheco, IES Mare Nostrum, CEIP Gloria Fuertes, Fundación Educativa Ángeles Galino (Colegio Santa Teresa – Vistahermosa), CEIP Mora Puchol, CEIP Rabassa and CEIP El Tossal.

The call is aimed at subsidizing environmental actions or activities, as well as resources for their development and dissemination, included in the action plans or sustainability programs of the schools in the municipality of Alicante that participate in the municipal Environmental Education project called The Sustainable School or that promote actions related to Climate Change and express their intention to join the Project.

The aid focuses on actions related to Climate Change and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Most centers allocate the subsidy to environmental education activities related to the school garden, a small ecosystem for learning. Often school gardens also take on the role of 'community garden', opening up to their surrounding community and being a space to promote organic farming as well as responsible and sustainable consumption.

Some centers complement environmental activities related to the garden, landscaped areas or open spaces with projects such as installing a 'sustainable greenhouse', or creating 'the bat house', building boxes that provide an artificial refuge for bats, essential in ecosystems and pest controllers due to habitat loss and climate change.

Aid is also requested for actions related to recycling, reuse and consumption reduction; highlighting projects that include identification, collection and recycling of waste generated in spaces and classrooms, acquisition of containers and management of waste treatment.