Translator: Selene Sanchez García
Joaquín Leguía and Tatiana Espinosa have something in common. They began their activities in taking care of the nature in Madre de Dios and they both continue to do it until now. They played similar games in their childhood; for example, Joaquín played in his grandmother’s garden in Barranco and he imagined that the dogs were lions and he was Tarzan; and Tatiana imagined that she was explorer who climbed the trees of the park which was in front of her house in Bellavista.
A resolution issued by the Ministry of the Environment at the end of 2022 invites to “Recognize Mother Earth as a teacher in the encouragement of environmental education for the formation of values, attitudes and environmental empathy in favor of life and nature.”
Joaquín, founder of Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente – ANIA (Association for Children and their Environment), has worked hard to promote nature and Mother Earth as a teacher in educational institutions and, in this way, empower children and young people as agents of change. He has been the creator for the achievement of this resolution issued by the Ministry of the Environment.
Tatiana, founder of ARBIO Peru, an organization dedicated to protecting forests endangered by deforestation in Madre de Dios, points out that it is vital that the education sector leads the empathy and care of nature to change consumption patterns that destroy ecosystems such as the Amazon forest.
Joaquín and Tatiana are friends at present time, and they dedicate their activities to the protection of Mother Earth, and it is because they both enjoyed playing surrounded by nature since childhood.
He created the concept called “Tierra de Niños” (Children’s Land), a methodology for school education which protects a forest where ancient trees such as the Shihuahuaco, that reach more than a thousand years of age, are preserved.
Learning from Mother Earth as the main teacher means learning from nature and recognizing that we are part of it.