Art and a children’s book for coastal adaptation and resilience in Grenada

By the Climate Centre

The Grenada Red Cross is creatively supporting two local communities, Woburn and Telescope, in strengthening resilience through ecosystem-based adaptation and environmental education.

A children’s book, Mangrove Heroes: Saving Our Shores!, has been rolled out at the communities’ respective primary schools, introducing young readers to the critical role or mangroves in coastal protection, biodiversity and climate resilience.

It was developed by the IFRC in consultation with the Grenada Red Cross Society and the Jamaica Red Cross.

Mangrove Heroes is part of a broader resilience-building framework under the Ecological Connectivity and Community Resilience project, funded by the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund and is being implemented in Grenada and Jamaica.

ECCR achievements to date include an enhanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (eVCA) last April, a brief on community advocacy and policy, and a broader framework to guide ecosystem-based, community-led resilience.

The Grenada Red Cross last week unveiled a community mural at Saint Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School in Telescope (pictured), painted jointly by its pupils and Red Cross volunteers and also part of the ECCR-supported work.

Developed with the active participation of community members, the mural reflects local realities and encourages collective ownership of public spaces.

‘We want it to be education, from today onward’

Grenada Red Cross Programmes and Operations Manager Yvonne Thomas said that through art, the National Society was able to depict the results of the eVCA in terms of local vulnerabilities resources, and nature-based solutions, “and take all this information and make it one story …. of how educating a community can make for better resilience.”

Local muralist Princess Jeremiah of Nashon Jeremiah Arts told the Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN): “The overarching theme for this mural is education and longevity. We don’t want it just to be a picturesque backdrop for photos. We want it to be education, from today onward.”

Mangroves play a critical role in climate resilience, protecting coasts from storm surges and providing a home for marine species, GBN noted.

“The community of Telescope has been a casualty of coastal erosion, threatening livelihoods and incomes,” the network said.

The (mangrove) roots-of-resilience mural, now completed and on display to the public in Grenada. (Photo: Grenada Red Cross via IFRC)