Education and Community Art for the Conservation of the Giant Chinchaycocha Frog
Location:
Ninacaca, Pasco, Peru (Junín National Reserve)
Art Medium:
Painted Jerseys & Environmental Parade
Partner:
ONG Grupo RANA
Artist:
The Challenge
The giant Chinchaycocha frog (Telmatobius macrostomus) is endemic to Lake Chinchaycocha, the second-largest lake in Peru, and is classified as Endangered after losing more than 95% of its population since 1997. The school just kilometers from the lake, Apóstol San Pedro, had students who could only really associate the frog with eating it, and who were skeptical that human intervention in the ecosystem could ever be positive. Without a generational shift in how students understand and identify with the frog, the species’ decline would continue unchallenged in its own backyard.
The Action
• A baseline survey of student knowledge and perceptions, then iterative workshops mapping threats to the frog and the lake and translating them into student-authored solutions
• A direct field visit to the reserve with park rangers and specialists to observe and monitor the frog in its natural habitat, paired with biodiversity recording via iNaturalist
• Student-led creative production: 37 students designed and painted their own jerseys featuring the frog and other emblematic species, plus posters with environmental messages
• A public conservation-themed gymkhana that brought the school out into the community, including a parade through the town, sports matches, a dance contest, and several spontaneous student-written poems about the frog
The Impact
• Increase in 37 primary school students’ knowledge about local biodiversity, threats, and conservation actions
• A community parade through Ninacaca that coincided with both Latin America’s Day of Natural Protected Areas and the regular “Glass of Milk” mothers’ meeting in the central plaza, dramatically expanding visibility
• Formal alliances strengthened between the school, the Junín National Reserve, the Ninacaca municipality, and conservation funders, with the gymkhana officially registered into Latin American protected-areas celebrations
• An institutional commitment from the school to keep environmental education, art, and citizen science in its annual programming and to extend the methodology to other schools across Pasco and Junín
Photo Gallery
