The Faculty of AgriSciences and the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of MENDELU are coordinating an international project in the Amazon that contributes to biodiversity conservation, sustainable land management, and the improvement of quality of life. It is the first Erasmus+ project to directly address the compensation of the carbon footprint of mobility through tree planting on project sites. The aim of the project is to interconnect agriculture, forestry, ecology, ecotourism, education, and community development. The consortium also includes the Ministry of Education of Ecuador.
One of the main benefits of the project will be the development of educational modules for universities, vocational schools, and local communities in the fields of agroecology, agroforestry, and low-impact tourism. “The study materials will be prepared in English and Spanish, with selected sections translated into the local Shuar and Kichwa languages. In addition to an innovative and progressive approach to compensating the carbon footprint of mobility within project activities, the project will also feature, for example, cooperation between the university and local farmers on the creation of business models within a hackathon, the not entirely common involvement of local communities in practical project workshops, and the search for multidisciplinary solutions to local climate change impact issues,” outlined the project coordinator Michaela Menšíková from the Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of AgriSciences, MENDELU.
The project is expected to have a strong societal impact thanks to the involvement of local communities and regional institutions, which will contribute to strengthening the sustainable development of the Amazon. “The land on which educational workshops for students and local farmers will take place is owned by the local non-governmental organization Bosque Medicinal. The educational modules will therefore be directly integrated into on-site teaching, and their digital form will be available on the Moodle platform. The Bosque Medicinal land and selected sites in the Czech Republic will also serve during summer schools for the carbon sequestration of international activities—compensating the carbon footprint of mobility through tree planting on project areas,” Menšíková added.
The prepared study materials should serve local universities as a basis for creating a syllabus for a master’s degree program in Ecuador focused on agroecology and agroforestry. “In Asia, we currently have six partners who have accredited a Master’s Study Programme in AgroEcology in line with our Agroecology study program. I believe that we will be equally successful here. Our students will be part of a summer school that will take place in 2026 in Brno. The following year, another summer school will be held directly in Ecuador, where the participation of our students would be highly desirable. However, for MENDELU students, participation will depend entirely on support from the university,” described Milada Šťastná, Head of the Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology.
The project builds on MENDELU’s long-term activities in the Amazon carried out since 2019 within the United for Development of Amazon (UNIDA) consortium, which brings together Czech and Latin American universities. These activities include projects focused on ecotourism, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development.
The three-year project, which began in December 2025 and will run until 2028, involves—besides Mendel University in Brno—the Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Ecuadorian partners Universidad del Azuay, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, and Universidad Estatal Amazónica, Fundación Bosque Medicinal from Ecuador, the Spanish Universidad de Almería, and the Czech Agroforestry Association.
Contact for further information:
Ing. Michaela Menšíková, MSc, Ph.D.
+420 771 125 473
michaela.mensikova@mendelu.cz
Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of AgriSciences, MENDELU