FOL visits CEIP Santa María do Castro at Spanish “11 de Febrero” initiative

The Spanish “11 de Febrero” initiative has been created to commemorate the “International Day of Women and Girls in Science” in order to encourage girls to follow a scientific career. With this initiative in mind, FOL was invited by CEIP Santa María do Castro to talk about its current research on fisheries adaptation to climate change. FOL is really pleased to participate in this event to inspire girls since our research group is led by Elena Ojea, the first Galician women in getting an ERC-Starting grant.

This occasion was a great opportunity to disseminate scientific knowledge about climate change adaptation to an eager, motivated and spontaneous audience – children from 3 to 12 years with a high environmental interest. After a brief presentation to introduce the concepts of climate change,  its impacts and some examples of adaptation as well as talking about the evidence on the spatial shifts of marine species, children learned about the redistribution of fish in the ocean playing a game designed by us. During the activity they had to think how fish and fishers would behave considering climate change impacts by moving different pieces of fish and ships on a big world map. Moreover, we discuss about the socioeconomic impacts of such changes.

We thank the CEIP Santa María do Castro for organizing the event and letting us take part in encouraging children to be scientists. Particular thanks for its very nice acceptance, participation and awesome audience who is really concerned about environment.

Very glad of the results and with hope of coming soon!