environmental educator canary islands biodiversity

Environmental educator: ‘Biodiversity in Canaries faces its greatest

‘I use humour to plant a seed of awareness’

He describes himself as an enthusiast, an environmental storyteller. He believes humour is an essential tool for communicating environmental messages. There are many positive things to share in this field, and his aim is simply to plant the seed of awareness, nothing more. No patronising, no imposition. Would Víctor de León say that his core mission is environmental education? Yes, completely. And why? Since I was a child, I have been someone who obsessively focused on whatever interested me. There comes a point, already during my Biology degree or even while doing my Master’s in Biodiversity, when I started discovering things that are simply fascinating. I don’t understand how people aren’t turning cartwheels in the street every time they learn about connections between different things. Driven by the enthusiasm of understanding how different environmental keys work, I felt the urge to communicate what I find surprising. How is it possible that people don’t know this or don’t feel they need to know it? I ask myself. Knowledge is literally at our fingertips.

From Twitter sketches to digital storytelling

Do you think scientists like Wolfredo Wildpret or Telesforo Bravo had a much harder time with public engagement? They are very different profiles. People like Telesforo Bravo started studying later in life. They certainly faced many more challenges. Bravo went down in history as a very approachable educator who took people to discover things he had seen first-hand. My profile is much more digital; I try to share the things I find out in the field via social networks. I started without any resources on what was then known as Twitter, writing very informal educational texts, making diagrams with Paint because I thought it was funny to be a bit rough and ready. There is far too much formality in the scientific and environmental world. Before, making a video was unthinkable, and now anyone, with a mobile phone and any app, can put together a spectacular video in an hour or two. I believe there are far more opportunities to reach people, which also means the content is not always entirely rigorous. Is this dangerous? Yes, absolutely. The tendency is for those of us dedicated to sharing knowledge on social media to gradually become tinted, little by little, like an environmental influencer. I think there are certain frictions there that don’t necessarily have to be entirely negative, but if your goal isn’t to educate but to be an influencer, and your theme is the environment, then perhaps you just want to stand out, get attention, and you talk about nature because it’s trendy in the Canary Islands right now—and that needs to be said. Even Quevedo has songs about the nature of the Archipelago. Now, suddenly, everyone is going crazy over cardón cacti. But there are people who spread misinformation, sometimes accidentally, sometimes with a bit of ill intent. I prefer to think it’s accidental most of the time, because the reality is that the natural world of the Islands is very complex, and if you don’t work with rigour, wanting to share something without having all the information can lead to major misunderstandings.

A passing trend or a genuine need?

Is scientific communication on digital platforms a passing fad or a public necessity? I think it’s both. On one hand, it is true that it’s a trend. Now everyone uploads videos or photos of landscapes, and they no longer sell them simply as a pretty or touristy place; they show them as a diverse location with its own intrinsic natural value. In that sense, yes, I think it has become a bit of a trend, which isn’t necessarily negative, but it’s also necessary. A trainee student once told me he was surprised because, when he started training in forestry, he had no idea about the global biodiversity impact the Islands have. The Canary Islands is a biodiversity hotspot. Most of the endemic species found in Spain are of Canarian origin. The fact is that around 20% of Spain’s endemic plants are Canarian, which would be one in five, on roughly 5% of the country’s land area. This is absolutely staggering, and we aren’t aware of it until we compare it with what’s around us. Communicating all this, having feedback from people living in other parts of the world who can compare it with their own realities, has made us reflect on the privilege and responsibility we have for nature here.

Biodiversity in the Canary Islands: a paradox

What is the current state of biodiversity in the Canary Islands? It’s paradoxical, because we have never had or received so much information about the species and ecosystems we have; we have never had so many protection designations, more or less effective; but we have also never faced the challenges we are facing now: an economic model that is steamrolling us, a bureaucracy that hinders the task of protecting these species, and also a lot of posturing. Biodiversity in the Canary Islands is fragile because the most sensitive species are often the most exposed. Many times, the measures that will have to be taken to conserve them will be unpopular with both tourists and locals. Measures will have to be taken that no one will like. That’s why I think the challenge we now face in the Canary Islands is the implementation of increasingly restrictive measures to conserve biodiversity. Drastic measures? In some cases, yes; in others, middle ground can be found. In the end, it depends on everyone cooperating. Not all measures have to be restrictive, but that requires a level of self-discipline and knowledge of the natural environment, its sensitivity, and the risk involved that not everyone possesses. Many people simply don’t even care.

Different times, different awareness

Looking back, do you think that in the past, despite having fewer resources, the population was more aware of the Canary Islands’ environmental heritage? They were aware within their historical context. For example, in the past, someone who went to the countryside without permits would carry out clear-cutting because they thought they were doing a service to prevent forest fires, and that it was normal and natural. Today we know you can’t go into the countryside and do that because it destroys everything there and, in the end, it allows the proliferation of species that actually benefit from those clearings and make the forest a more dangerous place. They are different contexts, even if not so long ago. For instance, Teide National Park was founded in 1954. At that time, taking goats into the countryside to graze was perfectly normal. People had an awareness of nature. Today, taking goats to Teide is almost environmental terrorism, and you can even be fined. Now we have much more information, more means to access that information, and there are people who are very aware and people who are overwhelmed by the amount of information available. Perhaps before, the natural environment was seen more as a resource to be exploited, which is why those types of actions you mentioned were committed. Exactly. Thinking of our grandparents as people who destroy the environment isn’t realistic. They were simply people who lived off the land, the countryside, and used whatever means were available to survive. Now, we have much more awareness, and there are also more people who get offended when they see something that harms the natural environment. We have improved, but there is still a huge margin for improvement, and we need to ensure that all this trendiness about nature doesn’t remain superficial.

The divulgator’s role: planting seeds, not imposing rules

In the current environmental context of Tenerife, is it more important to provide information or to let people do as they see fit despite the communication efforts? It’s important to have all the information available, and for those who are interested to be able to access it or have someone to ask, so that they can then form their own opinion. You don’t have to teach the population as if they were minors under your tutelage, but you do have to give them the tools to access knowledge. In my case, as a communicator, I don’t try to teach anything; I just try to plant a seed of interest in a specific topic. For example, I might talk about the thermophilous forest, which is one of the most threatened ecosystems across the Canary Islands, but particularly in Tenerife. Raising public awareness about the importance of conserving this ecosystem could be key so that, in the future, a lady who wants to decorate her garden doesn’t buy a geranium, but instead goes to a nursery and gets a Tenerife magarza daisy. This encourages the local biodiversity of invertebrates and plants to improve. It’s important to provide tools, not impose things, so that people internalise it, make their own decision, and take on the role of conserving nature as their own.

‘The four horsemen of the social media apocalypse’

Have you ever faced criticism from people who disagree with what you communicate? Yes. Sometimes there are people who simply disagree or don’t share the view, or those who are very deep into the subject and are very pedantic about how information is communicated; those who consider that a fossil mould cannot be considered a true fossil—that would be the lowest—and people wishing chemical castration on me for talking about the impact of cats on Canarian reptiles. Other times we talk about the impact of climate change, which, being a more abstract and much more gradual entity, many people cannot see directly and throw their hands up in horror, as if that delegitimises any reality you are presenting. The main detractors are climate change deniers, animal rights activists, or many hunters. Then there are the conspiracy theorists about the administration, because every time a topic comes up that doesn’t make the institutions look bad, they think it’s all a hoax spread by the island councils to make themselves look good. These are the four horsemen of the social media apocalypse who attack every time I upload a video.

Three professional paths: social media, a podcast, and a non-profit

You have three professional strands: communication on social media, the podcast Palique Divulgativo, and your work with Fénix Canarias. Do you have a favourite? My personal account, @biodiversital, isn’t a favourite. It’s simply my playground. I talk about whatever I fancy and fascinates me. I do pretty much what I want. Palique Divulgativo is four science nerds—a physicist, two biologists, and an environmental scientist—who get together to talk about current scientific events, especially focused on the natural environment of the Canary Islands. It’s like a pub chat between mates, but talking about science instead of football. And then there’s Fénix Canarias, a non-profit association that is my actual profession. The great thing about Fénix is that it allows me to develop physical projects that are often very visual. For example, in Tenerife, we have five schools where children have bird feeders. They put out fruit, and we’ve installed cameras so that, every so often, they can look at the photos and see which birds are eating, drinking water, or bathing. We try to interpret those results, on one hand, so those birds disperse the fruit, and on the other, so the students get fascinated watching the birds. It’s all about planting that seed of interest and helping them understand that everything is connected. So, which one do I prefer? Everything has its time and its format, and it’s better that way, because otherwise I’d be doing the same thing everywhere and I’d go crazy.

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