Meio Ambiente

The Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA) will expand the "Green Rooms" project beyond the Brazilian borders by taking these centers for all Portuguese-speaking countries. The MMA's Department of Environmental Education conducts this month a series of workshops in Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe, with the participation of local society and government.

This Monday, October 5, the project manager Renata Maranhão and the consultant Cláudia Martins arrive in Guinea Bissau to present the project Environmental Education in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in the context of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which aims to highlight the exchange of experiences in environmental work between the countries.

During the workshop in Guinea Bissau, which will be held until the 8th of October, the representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment will help representatives of local government, NGOs and civil society, specially young people, in preparing the Pedagogical Political Project (PPP) for the creation of the "Green Room".

For the creation of the PPP, working groups will be formed, each one with a subject area to create actions that can be carried out in the "Green Room". The goal is to show that the space can be used not only for research of environmental information, but also as a place where they can meet to discuss actions toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

According to Cláudia Martins, the project will also provide technical cooperation, allowing the country to identify environmental problems and potential solutions.

The launch of the first "Green Room" of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries is scheduled for October 16. Sao Tome and Principe will be the first country in the community to join the initiative of the MMA. The space will function within the National Library and it already has 200 environmental publications.

The cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries to strengthen environmental education was signed in May 2006 by the Environment ministers of the eight member countries. The objective of the project is to create two "Green Rooms" in each country, as well as to establish the Environmental Education Program in the CPLP.

The idea is that each country should donate 25 publications for each of the 16 spaces that will be created and that all the "Green Rooms" should be connected in a network, which will permit the exchange of information.