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PROJECT · ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN AGUA AMARGA
THE SCHOOL IN NATURE
In Agua Amarga, a fishing village on the southern tip of Baja California, children grow up surrounded by sea and desert without ever having known them up close. Once a month, they leave the classroom to explore: they swim with whale sharks, observe mobula rays, and map their own village. They learn to recognize the biodiversity around them and to feel part of it. Aguacea Explora runs the program with the community's primary school.
DURATION
— WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS
THEY GROW UP NEXT TO THE SEA BUT DON'T KNOW IT. THEY LEARN TO FEAR IT BEFORE THEY LEARN TO LOVE IT.
Agua Amarga, San Pedro and the villages of the Cerralvo region are fishing communities where the relationship with the sea is being lost from one generation to the next. Screens have replaced the schoolyard, tourism development has changed the landscape, and inherited fears of the deep sea keep passing from mothers to daughters. Before this project, the primary school of Agua Amarga had no structured environmental education program. Now it does.
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT DO?
One class in the classroom, one trip outside. Every month.
WHAT IS IT FOR?
So that the next generation cares for what it learned to love.
VC
Valentine Chassagnon
PROGRAM DIRECTOR · AGUACEA EXPLORA · RESIDENT IN AGUA AMARGA
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
— THE PROJECT IN OPERATION
EVERY MONTH, THEY LEAVE THE CLASSROOM. THE SEA AND THE DESERT TEACH THEM WHAT BOOKS CANNOT.
Classroom workshops prepare the field trip and process it afterward. The field trips are what stays: swimming for the first time in open water, watching a manta ray pass by, drawing the landscape of the village from a boat. These are the experiences that break the fear and build the bond.
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Monthly classroom workshops with games and drawing
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Children and families joining every outing
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Watching the mobula ray migration in Cerralvo
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Citizen-science trip with whale sharks in La Paz
— PROJECT TIMELINE
THREE SCHOOL YEARS. ONE TRIMESTER COVERED, FIVE TO RAISE.
The project is structured in three school years, each with two academic trimesters (March–June and August–December). Each trimester develops one complete thematic module. Only the first trimester (March–June 2026) is covered. Donors who join now ensure the program continues without interruption.
IN PROGRESS
MAR – JUN 2026 · COVERED
Modules on sharks and mobula rays. Classroom workshops, a science field trip with whale sharks in La Paz, and mobula ray observation trips in Cerralvo.
AUG – DEC 2026 · OPEN
New thematic module chosen with the children. Classroom workshops and one or two field trips depending on the module.
TO DO
MAR – JUN 2027 · OPEN
Continuity of the program. Two thematic modules defined with the school and students according to local ecological cycles.
AUG – DEC 2027 · OPEN
Second module of the school year. Continuity from year to year is what allows the bond and learning to be sustained.
TO DO
MAR – JUN 2028 · OPEN
Third year of the program with the school. Thematic module chosen with the generation enrolled in that cycle.
AUG – DEC 2028 · OPEN
Closing of the three-year cycle. Program report and transfer materials so that the model can be replicated in other communities.
PRODUCTS DELIVERED OVER THE COURSE OF THE PROJECT
— THE CHANGE YOUR DONATION DRIVES
THREE WAYS AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM TURNS INTO LONG-TERM CONSERVATION.
Aguacea doesn't teach conservation as theory. It builds a different relationship with the territory from childhood. Those three dimensions — bond, capacities, pride — are what hold long after the classroom time is over.
01
EMOTIONAL BOND WITH THE PLACE THEY LIVE IN
The children stop fearing the deep sea and the desert. They lose the distance they inherited and start moving through their own territory with curiosity and respect, not fear. That is the ground on which any future vocation or decision to care is built.
02
PRACTICAL SKILLS TO UNDERSTAND AND CARE
They learn to recognize species of sharks and rays from their region. To use basic snorkel and observation equipment. To record simple data. To move safely in the sea and the desert. These are concrete skills that prepare them to take part in the protection of their territory, now and in the future.
03
PRIDE IN BELONGING TO A COASTAL COMMUNITY
They recognize and value the fishing knowledge of their parents, grandparents and neighbors. They start to see themselves as caretakers of their heritage, not as people who want to leave. They imagine futures that combine work, local culture and care for the place where they were born.
— BUDGET AND GAP
SIX TRIMESTERS. ONE COVERED. FIVE TO RAISE.
The program runs in school trimesters of $82,000 MXN each. Two trimesters per year, three school years. Each trimester covers one complete thematic module: classroom workshops, field trips, materials, transportation and the team's fees. Only the first trimester is covered.
PROJECT BUDGET · 3 SCHOOL YEARS
School year 1 · 2025 – 2026
$82,000 + $82,000
Total project cost
$492,000
Institutional counterpart
+$700,000
Gap to be bridged
$410,000
All figures are in Mexican pesos (MXN). The dollar amounts shown in the donation tiers are referential and depend on the exchange rate on the day of the donation. Web donations are not tax-deductible. For larger donations with a tax-deductible CFDI receipt, please contact us directly.
— JOIN THIS PROJECT
THE FIRST TRIMESTER IS COVERED. ENSURE THE PROGRAM CONTINUES OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS.
Aguacea has been working in Agua Amarga since 2023, and the first cycle of this structured program is already in motion. Every trimester that gets funded is one more thematic module, one more trip to the sea, one more generation of children growing up to recognize and care for their territory.
DIRECT CONTACT
Write to impacto@maresdemexico.com or reach out by WhatsApp for questions, institutional donations, or conversations with the project team.