With a call to “Explore, Understand and Protect”, the International Union of Speleology (IUS), composed by 56 member countries, celebrates 2021 as the International Year of Caves and Karst (IYCK) (Figure 1). The IUS called the entire speleological community to integrate actions aimed at disseminating speleological knowledge.
In 2021, as
it was in 2020, the caving groups were able to carry out little or no activity
in person, since one of the main ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to
take sanitary measures and avoid social contact. This pandemic context of Covid-19
impacts the entire world community, and as we write this report, it has reached
the mark of 179,686,071 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,899,172 deaths
(World Health Organization-WHO, https://covid19.who.int/) and in Brazil alone,
almost 512 thousand deads (National Council of Health Secretaries CONASS https://olhardigital.com.br/2021/06/25/coronavirus/covid-19-brasil-tem-2-mil-mortes-nas-ultimas-24-horas-total-ultrapassa-511-mil/).
However, in
response to the calling of IUS for the International Year of Caves and Karst,
the Guano Speleo group, which is headquartered in the city of Belo
Horizonte/MG, Brazil, despite the critical sanitary scenario, and observing all
the standards of health authorities, identified
an opportunity to spread knowledge about speleology to the practically unacquainted
community on the subject.
The action
took place through a partnership with Guimarães Rosa Popular Course, from the Medicine
School of UFMG. This course works with the contribution of a team of volunteers,
from organizational part to the teachers. The institution serves forty
students, aged from seventeen, from the outskirts of Belo Horizonte and
neighboring municipalities, such as Santa Luzia and Ribeirão das Neves.
They share
the desire to enter a Public University, through the National Secondary
Education Examination - ENEM, but they are hampered by the set of social
determinants typical of territories with medium and high social
vulnerabilities, such as the lack or difficulty of access to public health,
education, basic sanitation and low-income policies. Due to such determinants,
many students, when they finish high school, find it difficult to prepare to
enter higher education, especially the public.
And it was in
this context of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also of hopes for a better future in
preparation for ENEM, that a team from Guano Speleo entered, on June 22, 2021,
the Geography class at Guimarães Rosa Course. The class was held in a virtual
setting, which could refer to the darkness of a cave. Team members showed up
wearing clothes and equipment used in the speleological exploration. The class
aimed to insert, within the theme “Brazilian Biomes”, introductory information
about caves, in order to awaken in students a view with a conservationist bias,
on the relationship and existence of caves in global ecosystems. As a
complementary research to the class, and with the necessary authorizations from
the producers, two videos produced by the Biotrópicos team were reproduced,
which address the environmental impacts that the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest
biomes have been suffering.
Addressing
the theme of speleology in geography classes was already a proposal by the
member of Guano and also volunteer professor of this discipline at Guimarães
Course, Eleciania Tavares. However, the idea actually materialized when, in one
of the previous classes, the students had many negative doubts and common sense
about bats. Thus, the demand was presented by the teacher to the pedagogical
coordination of the course and to the entire team of speleologists at Guano
Speleo, who immediately embraced the proposed action with the students. This
proposal would also integrate the IUS’s calling for the International Year of
Caves and the Karst.
The members
of Guano Speleo, Narjara Pimentel (biologist) and geographers Valdair Vieira,
Erick Carvalho and Eleciania Tavares, provided students with introductory
knowledge about speleology, care and equipment needed to explore a cave.
However, the emphasis was on the part of biospeleology, with scientific
information passed on in a very didactic way with dialogued exposition, by
Narjara Pimentel.
With the
format of dialogued exhibition conducted by Narjara Pimental, for approximately
one hour, students were able to present questions and considerations through
direct speeches or manifestations in the message box of the Google Meet
platform, where classes are normally taught. Information on the diversity of cave
fauna was presented, and supported by academic and scientific studies, the
theme about bats was the main focus. The biologist explained about the natural
history of the group in question (Figure 2) and the importance of these animals
for the balance and maintenance of Brazilian and world ecosystems (Figure 3).
She also spoke about myths and truths (Figure 3), trying to demystify the
negative image that these animals in society, even more in times of
coronavirus, when various untrue information about bats circulated putting
these animals at greater risk of suffering extermination.
Figure 3:
Myths and legends about bats and the importance of conserving these animals.
Images provided by the speaker (Narjara Pimentel).
The proposal
is that during 2021, other interdisciplinary classes may take place with
approaches involving speleology, as this science can be explored from the
perspective of other existing disciplines in the prep course. Students, teacher
and pedagogical coordination recognize that these themes and approaches can
serve as complementary knowledge for students in their preparation process for
ENEM. The pedagogical coordination also expressed interest in carrying out, at
the right time and after the pandemic, a field activity in the city of
Cordisburgo/MG. This is the birthplace of the author from Minas Gerais, which
gives its name to the popular course, and which has cultural and speleological
relevance for the national and world scene, as it is where the Maquiné’s cave
is located, where the naturalist Petter Lund (known as the Father of
Paleontology Brazilian) made very important discoveries that revolutionized the
history of Natural Sciences. According to the Chico Mendes ICMBio Institute,
Brazil has a total of 21,893 caves (CECAV, 2021). One third are within
Conservation Units and the States of Minas, Pará, Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte
lead the ranking of Brazilian states with the largest number of natural
underground cavities.
Since March
2020 – when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health organization
– the Guimarães Rosa Course team of volunteers and students have been striving
to adapt to the new reality of remote education. Many challenges were found
along the way, such as structural and social difficulties, considering the
realities of the students. A point that the team noticed is also the impacts on
mental health, given the uncertainties of the pandemic scenario and the
challenge for ENEM. However, the team of volunteers has been brilliantly
identifying ways to avoid dropouts and ensure the permanence of students in the
course. Analogous to the exploration of caves, this pandemic can be configured
as a dark and still unknown “con”duit, but which can and will be explored and
overcome with the help of science and collective action.
“Exploring to
know and, knowing to protect”, as well as the dark
‘‘con”duits
of the explored caves, which will be illuminated by collective action and with
multidisciplinary knowledge. The COVID-19 pandemic will soon be overcome by
scientific knowledge, enabling the whole society to celebrate at the highest
level, especially in the space of speleology, which knows so well what it is
like to celebrate when a new discovery is made. Let 2025 come.
Text:
Eleciania Tavares/ Narjara Tércia Pimentel
Translation:
Ana Lupe Cavalcante
