The Institute of Biodiversity and Environment participates in an environmental contamination project in Tudela

The Institute of Biodiversity and Environment of the University of Navarra joins Recicleta Ribera -a group of people who promote the use of bicycles as a sustainable means of transport in the municipalities of the Ribera de Navarra- to develop a project on environmental pollution in the surroundings of schools in Tudela. The project consists of measuring pollution -generated by traffic- inside and outside public and subsidized schools, and propose solutions to improve air quality.

This is a Citizen Science initiative in which the students of primary and secondary education in Tudela - two schools in Fontellas and Corella will also join - will be the protagonists in the extraction and measurement of data, and the preparation of a monthly report on the situation of their school.

The Institute will coordinate the scientific part and will train students on how to extract data, interpret results and prepare reports. "Bioma will prepare more complete reports on pollution levels in school environments, relating the results obtained by the students to different variables such as, for example, the weather, traffic intensity, time of day, street characteristics, etc.," says Jesús Miguel Santamaría, director of the Institute.

One of the most important aspects of this project is to raise awareness among the younger generations about the importance of breathing clean air and the means of transport used to travel in the city. "Students from different schools will be able to compare the levels of pollution to which they are exposed and propose possible solutions to improve the quality of the air they breathe. This can lead to changes in their behavior, for example, by choosing more sustainable means of transport," he says.

For Jesús Miguel Santamaría, breathing clean air is a fundamental human right and "any project that investigates the levels of contamination to which citizens are exposed, especially in the case of vulnerable groups such as children, is of great importance", he concludes.