Through awareness-raising activities, the initiative mobilized more than 5,000 people in municipalities in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo
The Doce Alive project, which seeks to guide communities in the Doce River Basin on how to care for the river’s water, is completing three years. Developed by the Renova Foundation, the initiative served 46 locations within the 39 municipalities that the Project encompasses in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. In one hundred meetings, held between 2019 and June 2022, more than 5,000 people between schools, associations, rural producers and the community in general.
The activities involve lectures, technical visits, workshops, training, training and theatrical interventions. The meetings aim to increase the community’s confidence through information on the quality of the water in the Doce River, as well as guidance on water care, in addition to raising awareness of its use without waste. Participants know the equipment used for collection, wear Personal Protective Equipment, receive booklets and handle samples of bioindicator beings that live in the river.
The Water Monitoring analyst, Laysa Costa, says that the project strengthens relations between the Renova Foundation and the communities affected by the Fundao dam collapse (MG). “The activities provide conditions for participants to understand the topics covered and learn about the actions carried out by the Renova Foundation, contributing to an integrated conception of the water theme”, she explains.
Audience
Doce Alive’s actions are aimed at schools, teachers, residents’ associations, fishermen, commissions for those affected, riverside dwellers, rural landowners, among other audiences.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the activities took on a new format and currently follow in a hybrid way, further expanding the reach of the public involved. In the first half of this year, 26 meetings were held for schools, children and young people, rural landowners and commissions for those affected. In some meetings, it was also possible to monitor the collection of water samples from the PMQQS, carried out by the Renova Foundation teams and partner laboratories, whose results can be viewed through the Monitoring Doce River Portal.
In the case of schools, webinar training is offered to teachers, who pass on knowledge as an extracurricular topic to students. Rural producers who have properties where monitoring collection points are located are also part of the actions. “The proposal to have them as a target audience is to bring information about what is being done by our program and by Renova within the property, with the objective of raising awareness so that they can understand its importance within the repair process”, says Laysa.
Water Monitoring
The Doce Alive Project is also aimed at providing information on the Doce River Basin Monitoring Program. Created in 2019, the initiative was born when the Program promoted environmental awareness activities developed in schools for the Environment Week. After the first presentations, new invitations emerged to work on the topic and disseminate the water quality results to the communities.
Background
The first edition of Doce Alive took place in the municipality of Santana do Paraíso on June 5, 2019.The meeting was held at Maria Ivone Damasceno School (municipal) and José Rosa Damasceno School (state) in celebration of World Environment Day and was attended by 240 children and adolescents.