Marlborough St Mary’s Otter Class are conservation heroes

Marlborough St Mary’s Otter Class are officially conservation heroes. They received a certificate awarding them this title from the Rainforest Trust UK. This award recognises their efforts in raising £700 for the Trust. The money will be used to protect 1,270 acres of prime Amazonian rainforest.

Their teacher, Beckie Ambrosini, told marlborough.news, “Otter pupils have done astonishingly well to contribute to something that is not only very close to their hearts, but also reaches out and helps the rest of the world is such a positive way.

With the hottest June ever recorded in the UK and Europe tackling widespread climate change fires, Otter class has done its very best to help. Amazingly, in spite of the difficulties created by the cost of living, the children managed to raise £700 for the Rainforest Trust.

They have worked tirelessly throughout the year, with a clear target of securing rainforest for the world. They sold their own handmade gift tags, ran a second-hand sale and topped it all off with a sponsored walk in our own local ancient and magnificent rainforest- Savernake.

In class, the children learnt about climate change, its growing impact and studied the pressures on the world’s most important rainforest of all – The Amazon. Having become so knowledgeable about the issues facing the Amazon such as mercury poisoning from gold mining, land clearance for illegal logging, agriculture and the deliberate slash and burn techniques, the children became passionate about doing something positive to help the forest and the many critically endangered species.

We looked at the many amazing fundraising projects that the Rainforest Trust currently have running- 11 in total and all in desperate need of help. The children learnt about the difficulties facing each project, the numbers of critically endangered species present and the amount of carbon locked into each land piece. How to decide which project to donate to? A class vote meant the funds were allocated to the Brazilian rainforest, linking directly to their vast knowledge of the issues. A worthy winner!

Otter class have now secured a staggering 1,270 acres of prime Amazonian rainforest. The entire project when complete will safeguard an astonishing 20 million acres of the most biodiverse land in the world, save critically endangered species who live there, and lock in the equivalent of 6 BILLION tonnes of carbon dioxide, tackling climate change head on.”