Pronatura Noroeste: Education for Conservation

By: Lizz González Moreno – Conservation Education Program Coordinator at Pronatura Noroeste and Collaborator of the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program

As an oceanologist and environmental educator, with an extensive background in promoting conservation in northwestern Mexico, I have been able to combine my academic training with my passion for working with people in communities, and towards the care of natural resources through the development and implementation of innovative environmental education strategies. Since 2007 I have been the coordinator of Pronatura Noroeste’s Conservation Education program and have led numerous initiatives to train teachers, educators, and environmental promoters on key topics such as sustainable fisheries, shorebird conservation, and plastic pollution mitigation. My focus is on developing educational materials for teachers and environmental educators to fulfill my commitment to making environmental education accessible and effective.

By using activities and games to make theory fun and easy to understand, we motivate people of all ages to protect the environment. As author and co-author of several manuals and teaching materials, I seek to convert the vast scientific material into practical and accessible resources for educators and the community at large.

In 2019, I had the opportunity to develop a guide for teachers and environmental educators entitled “Shorebirds and Wetlands: Teaching Techniques for Conservation,” an initiative of Pronatura Noroeste dedicated to promoting shorebird conservation in northwestern Mexico. This material was a collaborative effort between members of the organization, including Cecilia Hernández Celis and Flor Torres González, on the educational tools; Bárbara Medina Escobedo, Paola Murrieta Olguín and Luis Sánchez Carreño, in the creative side; and Adriana Hernández Álvarez in science and text editing. 

This guide is an invaluable resource that provides synthesized information and practical tools to effectively address this topic in and out of the classroom. The inclusion of key aspects, such as shorebird generalities and adaptations, the importance of wetlands, migration, threats faced by these species, and necessary conservation actions, has been instrumental in providing educators with a complete and up-to-date overview of the topic. It includes a variety of tools designed to promote knowledge and understanding of these topics, as well as to reinforce knowledge in areas such as geography, language, mathematics, ethics, and the environment; developed with a holistic and multidisciplinary approach that enriches the students’ learning experience.

The program “Shorebirds and Wetlands: Teaching Techniques for their Conservation” has been applied through workshops for teachers, environmental educators and community promoters. We count more than 100 people who have worked as replicators of these materials in their communities, benefiting more than 750 teachers and 4,300 children, youth and adults in communities in northwestern Mexico, such as Guerrero Negro, Bahía Magdalena and Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California Sur; Ensenada and San Quintín in Baja California; Golfo de Santa Clara and Bahía Tobari in Sonora; Marismas Nacionales in Nayarit and Ensenada Pabellones and Bahía Santa María in Sinaloa, as well as in the communities of Berbería, Jicarito and Punta Condega in the Gulf of Fonseca in Honduras.

On the other hand, these materials have provided the guideline for the creation of knowledge modules that make bird conservation actions visible in different communities. The modules are used by community groups, volunteers and environmental educators in environmental and cultural events in their localities to create awareness in the community about the fragility of the ecological processes that occur there and the need to protect them. The modules include species infographics, board games, different exercises and activity booklets for children. 

The module for the conservation of gulf grunions (Leuresthes sardina) and shorebirds at El Golfo  de Santa Clara, Sonora, is an excellent example of how these resources can have a direct impact on local awareness and conservation actions. It is used by a group of local women, supported by the costumed character “Pizo the Red Knot”, who conducts talks and activities during the spring, a time of peak visitation in the community. This coincides with the grunions spawning and an important feeding period for migratory shorebirds, which promotes actions that people can take to protect these species. Those attending the module mentioned that they did not know about these species and later showed interest in being able to see them directly, so they were invited to see them through binoculars and telescopes. 

Furthermore, the knowledge module for the conservation of the Snowy Plover (Anarhynchus nivosus) and Least Tern (Sternula antillarum browni) in Ensenada, Baja California, which involved the collaboration between different conservation initiatives, including the participation of the 2019 Coastal Solutions Fellow, Jonathan Vargas along with his organization Pajareando y Conservando, as well as Pro Esteros, Pacifica, Pronatura Noroeste and the Municipal Department of Urban Administration, Ecology and Environment. This module is used in different events, through volunteers who act as spokespersons for the conservation actions that are carried out in their locality and promote actions for conservation. People are thrilled to know that there are these small birds nesting, others tell us about their recurring experiences with these species and the problems that exist. During the activities we promote not removing the algae from the beach, which is where the plovers get their food, and to walk their dogs on leashes, one of the main threats to the birds at the site. During the 2023 season, we had 300 people attending the module in different environmental events on the beach, as well as the participation of 50 volunteers who joined the conservation actions, in which 17 nests were protected out of the 50 registered, and we counted 49 hatched chicks, and managed to band 10 of these.

Over the years I have also played an important role in the organization of several shorebird festivals, both in Mexico and abroad. Notable examples include organizing the first bird festival in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur in 2011 and 2012. I also co-organized the first shorebird festival in Honduras in 2023 with Onil Rodriguez (Coastal Solutions Fellow 2022), and the First Bird Festival in Ensenada de La Paz with Victor Ayala (Coastal Solutions Fellow 2022), which was held on March 22-23, 2024.

These initiatives were consolidated in a virtual course hosted on Pronatura Noroeste’s Courses and Workshops platform, marking a significant advance in the adaptation of educational and training activities to new technologies. Through this platform, and thanks to the fact that it is a free and easily accessible online course, the program has managed to reach several countries, including Mexico, the United States, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and Argentina. All this work would not be possible without the support and work of dozens of volunteers who always provide initiative and creativity.