Over 200 schoolchildren in Illes Balears participate in educational workshops on marine ecosystems, with posidonia taking centre stage

Redeia and Fundación Ecomar will bring their Marine Forest Workshop this week to four schools in Illes Balears. This educational initiative aims to promote environmental education and awareness regarding the conservation of marine ecosystems and, in particular, Posidonia oceanica, an endemic Mediterranean species.

This educational action is part of Redeia's Marine Forest platform, which aims to foster the conservation of marine ecosystems through active and passive conservation actions, the promotion of scientific knowledge, and environmental education and awareness.

Through the workshops, students acquire knowledge about the importance of protecting this species, which is essential for marine biodiversity and key to mitigating climate change due to its role as a carbon sink and its contribution to the resilience of marine ecosystems. The two entities are thus advancing their common goal of promoting specific solutions for marine conservation and fostering an environmental culture based on scientific knowledge and specific actions.

The initiative, which is part of Redeia's Comprehensive Impact Strategy, aims to maximise the collective impact on the recovery of marine ecosystems and raise social awareness of their importance.

During this week, which coincides with World Environment Day on 5 June, more than 200 fifth and sixth-year Primary and first-year Secondary students will participate across four schools.

Learning through play

The workshops are structured in two parts. The first consists of a 30- to 40-minute educational talk, in which the students learn about the posidonia plant and its importance – namely, its morphology, its benefits, and the threats it faces. They also learn about posidonia replanting methods. In this regard, students in Illes Balears will discover that a two-hectare posidonia replanting project was carried out in the waters of their islands, specifically in the Bay of Pollença, using a pioneering scientific methodology developed by Redeia and the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA-CSIC). This underwater meadow has achieved a plant survival rate of over 90% six years after planting.

The second part of the workshop focuses on a practical escape room-style activity, a challenge in which the schoolchildren become marine biologists who must solve a series of puzzles to save the last posidonia seed. 

In Mallorca, the participating schools are CEIP S’Albufera (Tuesday, 2 June) and CEIP Puig de San Martí (Thursday, 4 June), both in Alcúdia. In Menorca, the workshop on Wednesday, 3 June, will take place at IES Maria Àngels Cardona in Ciutadella. The week will conclude with the workshop taking place at IES Sa Blanca Dona in Eivissa, on the island of Eivissa, on Friday, 5 June.

The relationship between Fundación Ecomar and Redeia began in 2024, and since then, both entities have cooperated to launch initiatives to protect marine ecosystems through environmental education activities. The collaboration, which includes at least fifteen educational workshops this year, consolidates the work carried out and reinforces its educational dimension, with a special focus on raising awareness among younger generations. This line of action has become one of the strategic pillars of the Marine Forest platform due to its capacity to generate a lasting impact on future generations.

Since 2024, more than 800 schoolchildren have participated in Marine Forest educational workshops held in several Spanish provinces – Alicante, Almería, Barcelona, Granada, Madrid, Málaga, Mallorca, and Murcia. The two entities are thus advancing their common goal of promoting specific solutions for marine conservation and fostering an environmental culture based on scientific knowledge and specific actions.