Angel David Paulino Batista (he/him)

How are you using education to build more sustainable and equitable communities? Tell us about your EE work and impact. 

I use environmental education to help people understand that many of the environmental challenges we have learned to see as normal can actually be changed, and I focus on making that learning practical, especially in communities where environmental and social challenges are deeply connected. For example, in Río Salao, more than 60 children learned about marine ecosystems, waste management, and community leadership, leading to a network of Ocean Guardians and a community composting initiative that redirects organic waste from the river. Through Escuelas por un Futuro Sostenible, we have reached more than 2,600 students across 13 schools with practical education on single-use plastics, waste management, sustainability, and climate action. And beyond the Dominican Republic, through Voces de la Tierra, we have trained more than 387 people from 15+ Latin American and Caribbean countries who have developed more than 300 community project ideas. Our education has also moved into nature-based solutions, including the planting of more than 460 red mangrove seedlings in Cotubanamá National Park, because for me education becomes truly powerful when people can take what they learn and use it to transform the places they call home. 

Tell us about your journey to where you are today. What inspired you? What has your path been like? 

My journey began in Río Salao, a riverside community in the Dominican Republic, after a manatee named Pepe was killed by a boat. Seeing how a lack of understanding about marine ecosystems could have such a painful consequence made me feel that I could no longer just watch, so I started teaching children and families about marine life and waste management. But as I became more involved, I also started listening and understanding that environmental problems were connected to deeper realities, from families throwing organic waste into the river because they lacked reliable waste collection to children growing up seeing pollution as something normal. And that changed the way I understood environmental education, because I realized that awareness alone was not enough and that education had to respond to what communities actually needed. This led me from teaching about marine ecosystems to developing composting initiatives, school programs, nature-based solutions, and eventually regional climate education programs across Latin America and the Caribbean. Although my work has grown far beyond where it started, I still carry the same motivation that began in Río Salao, helping people understand their relationship with nature and recognize that they can protect it. 

How can people learn more about or support your work? 

People can learn more about my work through my LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as through Generación por el Desarrollo and Blue Carbon, where we share the communities, projects, and environmental solutions we are building, from environmental education and community action to nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration.

When it comes to supporting my work, I am always open to collaboration in all its forms, whether that means creating new projects together, bringing our work to new communities and audiences, exchanging knowledge and technical expertise, or connecting our initiatives with funding opportunities that can help them grow, because some of the most meaningful projects I have been part of started simply with people and organizations deciding to work together. And I believe there are still many possibilities we have not explored yet.

A Little More About Me

What (or who) keeps you hopeful for the future?
What keeps me hopeful is seeing sustainability become part of more conversations and decisions across communities, businesses, and governments, while new opportunities for climate action and funding continue to open up, especially for NGOs and young people, and although we still have a long way to go, we have more possibilities to create change than we did five years ago. 

How do you recharge?
I recharge by spending time in nature, especially at the beach or by a river, and sometimes simply by going for a run somewhere open and surrounded by trees, because for me there is no better way to clear my mind, slow down, and reconnect with myself, and I think we all need moments like that from time to time. 

What song or artist has uplifted you lately?
"2020" by Chantel Cofie, because it makes me reflect deeply on our world and its challenges while also empowering me to believe that we can change it.