Unceded Algonquin Territory — Ottawa, ON | February 3, 2025
A new project by Nature Canada has kicked off to train and connect educators and students in communities around James Bay with counterparts in southern Brazil who share the same threatened migratory shorebirds.
Last fall, Nature Canada’s naturalist team visited the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, a community where they’ve been partnering with locals to monitor birds for several years. But this time they came to town for a different reason.
Nature Canada has just launched a new project to connect schools around James Bay with schools in Lagoa do Peixe in Brazil.
But what do Chisasibi and southern Brazil have in common? The answer is migratory birds who travel thousands of kilometers back and forth every year to reproduce in the Arctic summer and escape winter along the South-American coasts–and the passion to protect them. These summer-chasing travellers have experienced major population declines recently, worrying researchers, conservation groups, and communities located along their migratory paths.
To help raise awareness and support local action for shorebird recovery efforts, Nature Canada has partnered with bird conservation groups across the Americas to connect communities along the birds’ migratory routes, or “flyways”. Some of the biggest allies to realize this work are schools, teachers and their students.
“As a Brazilian biologist living in Canada since 2020, it’s meaningful to me to be part of a project connecting the two countries that both the migratory shorebirds and I call home. Isolated efforts in either place can only do so much, there needs to be coordinated community-based action, and this is exactly what this project is meant to support.” – Priscilla Santos, Campaigns Officer at Nature Canada
Left: Lara and Priscilla from Nature Canada (front row) at their first workshop with Grand River High School science teachers and community elders in Chisasibi, QC. Photo: Narure Canada. Right: Science teachers and community elders from Chisasibi, QC, at Nature Canada’s first wader curriculum workshop. Photo: Nature Canada
Early in December last year, the Nature Canada team travelled to the Cree community of Chisasibi on James Bay in Eeyou Istchee for the first in-person workshop with teachers and community members, introducing them to the shorebird curriculum – and the partnership with Brazil. The curriculum is designed to reflect place-based, locally relevant content that bridges scientific and traditional knowledges, with the support of community members.
“It’s amazing how a little shorebird like the Hudsonian Godwit can help bridge gaps between different cultures and languages” said Jimmy Fireman from the Chisasibi Council of Elders, who attended the workshop. “These communities are halfway around the world from each other, from the high north like the James Bay region in Quebec, Canada to the coastal communities in the country of Brazil”, Jimmy concluded.
Frederick Gilbert, science teacher at the Grand River High School, agrees with Jimmy. “I am very enthusiastic to participate in a project where a passion for ecology creates bridges between students living in different countries. Discovering shorebirds is a cross-curricular project where ethnoecology is pivotal. It will be very interesting to see how different cultures will transpose this project in their schools”, he said.
Outreach to more schools across James Bay is underway and is expected to carry on through 2025. The Nature Canada team will be present at the Great Moon Gathering in Timmins on February 12-13, conducting a curriculum training workshop for interested teachers.
A Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Barba Azul Nature Reserve in Bolivia. Photo: Daniel Alarcon
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Americas, schools, teachers, and students in the community of Tavares located in the Lagoa do Peixe region in southern Brazil can’t wait to share more about how they’re learning to protect shorebirds with their classmates far to the north.
Franciane Terra, teacher and Director of the Tavares School Board, says that “To be part of a project like this is fantastic! It allows us to get to know new cultures while also contributing to strengthening efforts underway for migratory shorebirds, inspiring people at a global scale”.
SAVEBrasil, the bird conservation partner organization leading the work in Brazil, has been present in the community and supporting teachers and schools on the Discover Shorebirds Curriculum since 2019. “Working together to connect people for shorebird conservation is our main goal. It is rewarding and a great learning opportunity to help bridge Lagoa do Peixe and James Bay communities by fostering cultural and knowledge exchanges” concluded Raquel Carvalho, Project Coordinator for Shorebirds at SAVEBrasil. The Discover Shorebird Curriculum is a tool created by WHSRN’s Executive Office for the network to help students connect to shorebirds, conservation, and the importance of local ecosystems.
This two-year (2024-2026) project is funded by the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant Program under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with Nature Canada, SAVEBrasil, Cree Nation Government, Moose Cree First Nation, Manomet Conservation Sciences, Birds Canada, and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Nature Canada’s work to Save Bird Lives is also supported by the National Audubon Society and BirdLife International.
Nature Canada is Canada’s voice for nature. For 85 years, Nature Canada has helped protect nearly 144 million acres of parks and wildlife areas in Canada and countless species. Today, Nature Canada represents a network of over 250,000 members and supporters and more than 1,200 nature organizations.
The initiative strengthens the commitment to the protection of endangered waders by promoting the exchange of knowledge between communities that share the same species along their migratory routes. Photo: SAVE Brasil.
For more information, contact:
Scott Mullenix
media@naturecanada.ca
613-366-4776
Cover Photo: Citizen Science training offered by SAVE Brasil to teachers in the municipality of Tavares/RS. Photo: SAVE Brasil
