Floods plague its southern half during the rainy season, while its north is a landscape of unforgiving agricultural terrain, desiccated land that’s turning into desert, spreading south, and forcing inhabitants farther from home. As temperatures rise, epidemics of diseases like malaria and meningitis become more frequent and severe. As in many such developing countries, there’s a great need for climate-change mitigation and adaptation assistance, an important component of which is environmental education.

Enter Camp Bio, a new eco-training camp nestled in the forêt classée des Monts Mandingues, in Djissoumabougou, Mali. Conceived in 2006, the camp sprang out of a convention signed by the Malian government and the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Funding for the camp comes from UNCCD, an NGO called the Malian Folk Center, and Mali’s government.

Today, the campus is nearly complete—the dorms, cafeteria, and classrooms stand empty in wait. In an open green space in the middle of campus, a new well pump waits eagerly for eco-warriors to use it. Beside the pump stands a neem tree, to be used by students as a non-chemical insecticide on the organic crops they’ll help raise. Around the corner, jatropha plants—to be pressed and filtered into sustainable biodiesel—bide their time.

When Camp Bio’s doors open in 2010, Malian and international students will travel there for one- and two-week sessions. At any given time, an estimated 200 students will work and study on campus, sharing ideas and acquiring skills they’ll need to help their communities mitigate and adapt to the climate changes coming their way.

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