Martha Timana Imbachi

El Cauca, a rural region in the Colombian Massif, one of the greatest natural sites in Colombia and a zone heavily affected by the armed conflict, faced in 2015 one of its worst fires in decades. Thousands of hectares of land were burned to the ground, placing a considerable burden on the rural communities that rely on the land for farming. With support from the SDG Fund joint programme in Colombia, local students and teachers of El Rosal, one of the communities affected, decided to joined efforts to recover water and to protect the environment by turning their school’s nursery into a center for education and positive change. “We have learned and become aware of what could constitute unsafe practices, such as the felling of trees, the improve conservation or misuse of water, or the excess use of fertilizers and indiscriminate cutting of trees. It’s been encouraging to see how people who suffered from the fire have received new trees for their land”, explains student Martha Timana Imbachi (23). At the end of the day, the school nursery is strengthening the fabric of El Rosal by supporting not only water resources but by working to build peace in the region.