Tierras de Niños (Children's Lands) in Lima's Urban Slums - Peru

This activity is working with disadvantaged youth in Lima's urban slums to create youth-managed green spaces called "Tierras de Niños" (TiNi) or Children's Lands.

Fast facts

TiNis have been initiated in 12 regions of Peru and in more than 10 countries;
In 2012, the Children’s Land methodology was officially recognized by UNESCO as a best practice of education for sustainable development;
So far, there are 22 TiNis in Lima (in schools, communities and homes), fostering climate-change resilience and improving the quality of life of hundreds of urban youth and their families, particularly in slum areas.

The problem

Urban green spaces are vital for urban adaptation to climate change globally, but Lima only offers two square meters of green spaces per person, far below the World Health Organization’s recommendation of eight square meters per person.

The solution

The Children's Land (TiNi) initiative reconnects young people to the natural environment. It instills in them an understanding of how and why we should protect, nurture and restore natural ecosystems and promote sustainability in our changing world. TiNi is an area of land given to children by adults, where they can learn how to collect seeds, propagate and plant useful native and multipurpose plants. More than just green spaces, the Children’s Lands methodology and kit tells the story of two characters: Ania and her brother Kin and how they are taught to create children’s lands to help the Earth. The Children’s Land methodology provides tools for schools to offer education for sustainable development. By creating open “green classrooms”, best practices of natural resource management are learned and implemented by the students on their school campuses, in their homes, and throughout their community. The kit includes two stuffed dolls of Ania and Kit, story books, DVDs and comprehension games.

Helping the planet

TiNis foster young environmental leaders, vitally needed in Peru, one of the countries predicted to suffer the most from human-driven climate change - particularly in desert-situated Lima. TiNis also exist in other parts of Peru including in rural communities and protected areas.

Helping people

Data collected showed that where energy-saving cook stoves were used, there was a reduction in cases of respiratory disease among women and children compared to those who were still using open-fire cooking. There were also economic benefits since most women using the improved stoves spent were able to spend more time working on their farms, rather than collecting fuel-wood in the forest.

Scaling Up

This activity plans to create exchanges between rural and urban youth on climate change and environmental education issues, increase TiNis in urban slums in coordination with local municipalities to improve climate-change resilience and adaptation for the most vulnerable urban populations, and work with the Ministry for Education and the Ministry for Environment, who wish to include the TiNi approach in the national environmental education curriculum.