EN
FR
ES
Climate Change is Wrecking Schools in the Amazon
As the school year kicked off for many communities in the Peruvian Amazon, relentless downpours and landslides struck, destroying schools and leaving children without a safe place to learn.
The damage was so bad that the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in over 300 districts, including Camantavishi, home to one of our partner communities.
Camantavishi’s primary school was hit the hardest. Six classrooms collapsed in the floods and landslides, leaving children without a safe space to study or receive their vital daily meals.
In Centro Camantavishi, the school was severely damaged as rising water flooded classrooms, affecting walls and furniture.
Learning Through Crisis
Every child has the right to learn in safe conditions. But in the Peruvian Amazon, that’s far from reality. 3 out of 5 of schools in the Amazon lack clean water and sewage systems, and over 64% are without electricity or internet access.
And it’s getting worse. Each year, climate change brings heavier rains, harsher temperature swings, more floods and landslides, making it even harder for children to continue learning. Indigenous communities are hit the hardest.
“This year we have seen more floods, more landslides, than in previous years,” says Melqui Huamán, a representative of the Camantavishi community.
The damage doesn’t stop at the school gates. For Camantavishi, they have also lost vital crops like cocoa, cassava, and plantain, leaving many families without food.
Ashaninka Cacao crops affected by flooding. Source: Central Asháninka del Río Ene (CARE).
Defending Education is Protecting the Amazon
It’s simple: if we want to protect the rainforest, we need to support the people who will defend it tomorrow. The children of the Amazon are the future of the forest. They will grow up to protect the territories and forest that they call home.
That’s why access to safe, dignified, and culturally rooted education is essential. It safeguards their well-being, preserves ancestral knowledge, and sparks the innovation needed to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.
Thanks to your support, we’ve provided emergency funds to Camantavishi, funds the community is using to rebuild their school, on their own terms.
Every time you donate to Cool Earth, you’re not just helping to protect rainforest and fight the climate crisis, you’re backing Indigenous communities, too. We think that’s pretty amazing.