7 November 2025 –The Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability of the United Nations University has just awarded the educational initiative “Escola aberta e con fume” of the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab its “Flagship Project” distinction, as part of the 14th edition of the RCE Awards for innovative education for sustainable development.

The award, a recognition of outstanding educational practices at a global level, was announced following the jury’s deliberation during the 14th Global Conference of Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, held in Okayama, Japan, in late October.

“Escola Aberta e con Fume” is an educational initiative aimed at introducing activities and learning content related to community woodlands (montes veciñais) into schools throughout Galicia, acknowledging their territorial, cultural and environmental importance. The proposal responds to the need to familiarise students with a reality that occupies around a quarter of Galicia’s territory and represents a distinctive model of collective ownership and direct democratic management exercised by local residents.

The project is coordinated by Fundación Montescola within the framework of the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab, a broader initiative focused on promoting ecological transition and territorial resilience in the region. The Lab is funded with the support of Fundación Biodiversidad of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), through funds from the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

Community-managed woodlands represent one of the most vibrant and transformative forms of collective land stewardship, with enormous potential to rethink land use in terms of sustainability and to advance towards more community-based forms of management, moving beyond approaches focused exclusively on productive exploitation. In this context, it is essential for younger generations —future commoners— to learn about, value and connect with their territory from an early age.

“Escola Aberta e con Fume” offers a flexible and adaptable format for both primary and secondary education, with a structure organised into different levels of specificity. Depending on each school’s capacity, teachers may choose to run a single activity or implement the full programme. In all cases, the project provides a valuable educational tool connecting the school with its socio-environmental context, fostering in students an interest in the place where they live and contributing to the development of local identity and community attachment.

Both the primary and secondary versions of the programme include an activity booklet to complement an initial visit to a community-managed woodland. These materials, produced by Fundación Montescola, help consolidate and deepen the content and learning dynamics of the project. Interested schools may request printed copies from the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab, which distributes them free of charge (while supplies last).

Additionally, the booklets and other publications produced within the project are available for free download in the digital library on the Lab’s website.