Instituto Verdeluz

Beatriz is the Founder and President of Instituto Verdeluz, a non-profit which engages young Brazilians with conservation initiatives, including sea turtle conservation, waste management and conservation units. Brazil has a vast coastline, spanning over 7,000 km, and supporting diverse ecosystems (1). 

Instituto Verdeluz engages with young people in Fortaleza to protect and restore the biodiversity on which nature relies. One of the organisation’s core initiatives is the protection and monitoring of endangered sea turtles, animals which are essential to maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem. Turtles maintain healthy seagrass beds and coral, provide a habitat for other marine life, and facilitate nutrient cycling from water to land, among other essential services (2). 

Since 2015, the organisation has registered 75 nests and 231 stranded turtles, and rescued 16. In 2018 and 2019, the programme educated 4,732 young Brazilians on the environment, inspiring them to be advocates and activists themselves.  Instituto Verdeluz also engaged the students in beach cleanups, which collected and catalogued 23,361 pieces of plastic. 

The research from these operations also contributed to the banning of the use of plastic straws in Fortaleza. This is accompanied by an educational campaign which will change consumer behaviour in the region. 
Instituto Verdeluz also sits on the management boards of six conservation units, through which they guarantee the protection of 9,281 hectares of marine and coastal areas.

Sources:

(1) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.00925…

(2)  https://oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Why_Healthy_Oceans_Need_…