Reinforcing fire prevention for children, raising awareness about the risks of drought and promoting respect for the environment are the major objectives set by the Department of the Interior of the Generalitat de Catalunya through a new educational program called ' In nature, leave no trace'. The proposal is an initiative of the Agents Rurals in collaboration with the Kilian Jornet Foundation and the Federació d'Entitats Excursionistes de Catalunya (FEEC).
Through board games in the classroom and videos on social networks, the program seeks to instill the need to preserve the natural environment. "Having more technical and human resources in the Fire Department and Rural Agents is just as important as promoting awareness," said the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, on Tuesday.
"Nine out of ten fires come from human action, in several cases due to neglect," Elena recalled. In addition, she has highlighted the role of school campaigns to reduce this incidence. Along the same lines, the chief inspector of the Agents Rurals, Antoni Mur, has called for an "additional effort" from everyone so as not to harm the environment and contribute to the prevention of fires. Mur has ensured that the school workshops are a "very important bet" of the body "to promote the future."
The president of the FEEC, Jordi Merino, has joined this appeal to the new generations so that young people "go out into the mountains educated". Merino recalled that a million people go out annually to do activities in the natural environment and has asked the Interior to work on educational programs and that they are also trained in security, lamenting the increase in rescues during festive periods.
The talks of the 'In nature, leave no trace' program are incorporated into the awareness programming that Agents Rurals already do in educational centers. This new proposal proposes a game to learn to know the tracks of animals, but also of people who do not respect the environment.
Rural Agents offer boys and girls different experiences in which they must act as cyclists or people looking for mushrooms, among other situations. This game is complemented by some videos of the athlete Kilian Jornet in which different relevant actions are manifested to protect the environment when doing activities in the mountains. The workshop also incorporates some comics that illustrate dangerous situations that need to be corrected.
This Tuesday at the Josep Maria Madorell school in Molins de Rei, a pilot session of the project was held, which will be fully deployed during the 2023-24 academic year. Interested schools and institutes must make the corresponding request to the Department of Education.
