Hosted by OSOS , contributed by hpereira on 17 June 2019
The banks of Cadoiço's creek were once the most sought after by Loulé's inhabitants for their leisure time, especially at dusk of the long summer days. The uncontrolled growth of weeds, water pollution and the surrounding urban constraints, prevent Cadoiço's brook from becoming, for the time being, one of the main attractions of the town. Despite these challenges, the river also presents a set of opportunities (patrimonial and natural values) that the students intend to make known to today's town inhabitants.
Αισθάνομαι
This project aimed to develop a local logic of environmental education based on the involvement of the students in the valorization of the territory. Centered on the Cadoiço's creek hydrographic network, the project included, in addition to monitoring actions, other initiatives so that the main axis of this stream could be transformed into a green corridor, allowing spatial continuity and conservation of biodiversity, geodiversity and cultural heritage throughout the region.
Φαντάζομαι
During the planning phase the students worked in small groups which explored diffrent aspects of the Cadoiço's creek natural and cultural values. In order to sparkle their imagination and motivations the students had the opportunity to participate in a fieldwork session with a biologist and a geologist. Students were also encouraged to talk about the creek chlallenges and opportunities with their families and local people.
Despite the challenges identified by the students (e.g. uncontrolled growth of weeds and water pollution) they were able to imagine a new scenario that could include a green corridor going from the spring untill the ocean.
Δημιουργώ
During this phase the students performed several field work sessions during wich they made an inventory of the biodiversity, geodiversity and cultural heritage values that are present troughout the Cadoiço's creek banks.
The students identified the occurence of several native (e.g. Mauremys leprosa) and invasive species (e.g. Ricinus communis).
While studying the bedrock geology they also found some interesting features such as limestones with fossil of ancient marine creatures such as corals and sea urchins and beautiful waterfalls.
They also found some abandoned hidraulic structures, such as water mills, that were used for irrigation until a few decades ago and that could be recovered in order to teach younger generations about their importance and how they worked.
The students also performed several monitoring sessions, using macroinvertebrates as water quality indicators and also measured some other environmental parameters such as pH, wich allowed them to infer the seasonal changes in water quality.
Μοιράζομαι
The final phase of the project included several actions that allowed the students to share the knowledge and learning that they develop during the project. As an example, below you will find a few slides of a presentation made by the students in the framework of an Erasmus+ short term exchange.
