Fairtrade lesson

Guardians of the Rainforest

'Guardians of the Rainforest' is a new film for schools about the people of the great Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone, West Africa. 14-year-old Beshey shares the story of his family, explaining how a group of cocoa farmers have come together to protect the forest, and develop their communities through Fairtrade.

This lesson teaches learners about the importance of forest-friendly farming which is a farming technique used by the Ngoleagorbu cocoa farmers of the Gola rainforest.

Lesson starter discussion

What do you think is meant by forest friendly farming?

What do you think farming looks like that is not forest friendly?

Why do you think this type of farming might be important?

Main activity

Use the Forest Friendly Farming worksheet, or draw a table with three columns.

There are three elements to forest-friendly farming that we will learn about in the film: working together, farming sustainably and protecting the rainforest. These will be the titles on the headings on their table.

Your task is to watch the film and to make notes about each of these headings using the table to guide you. You might want to pause the video to make your notes.

Forest Friendly Farming Worksheet.pdf