Instituto de Ciencias Agroindustriales y del Medio Ambiente

The Colombian school that has become a living, open-air laboratory to fight climate change

Instituto de Ciencias Agroindustriales y del Medio Ambiente "ICAM", an independent primary and secondary school in Villa de San Diego de Ubaté, Cundinamarca, Colombia, is empowering students from some of the country’s lowest socio-economic backgrounds to become active climate change advocates within their community through its transformation into an open-air laboratory. Starting out in a region plagued by environmental degradation of the land due to historic mining combined with a significant lack of financial resources to build adequate school infrastructure, ICAM historically saw only 20% of students continuing to secondary education. To turn this challenge into an opportunity, the school transformed into a living laboratory in 2006, a decision that has allowed students to take ownership of their learning, creating a ripple effect of positive environmental impact far beyond the classroom. 

The result is in an education model that prioritises environmental action as an extension of regular lessons, training students to see themselves as technicians, researchers, and scientists, creating a thirst for knowledge that ultimately empowers them as change agents across all facets of the climate crisis. The student-led laboratory is actively tackling how the region is treating wastewater, protecting and conserving water, assessing the quality of water sources, and supporting the biome that provides drinking water for most of the population of Colombia. It is also fighting against the deterioration of air and soil quality, as well as reducing the high incidences of skin cancer with solar radiation education through applied research projects that are influencing the communities around them and even public policy. The work being done by the students has led to agreements for teacher training in environmental education across Cundinamarca, contributed to national decisions on sustainable building practices, and inspired the creation of the Cuchavira Air School that addresses the environmental and health problems in their community.

Since changing its educational model to one of applied research and including subjects such as agri-environmental techniques and research methodology, ICAM has become a generator of change for the entire community. The laboratory has benefited more than 3,000 ICAM students, and the school dropout rate in 2021 was 0% compared to 3.58% in Colombia. 

While the journey began with only 20% of local students continuing into secondary education, today, over 60% pursue higher education, despite 56% coming from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds, proving that ICAM's transformed education model is creating a place where young people know their voices matter and are given the means and opportunity to sustainably change the world around them.