AMA SCHOOL Most, Czech Republic develops Garden of Generations pilot; replicable model for Europe.

Garden of Generations – From Local Biodiversity to a Model for Europe

A Czech pilot connecting biodiversity, science, education and generations

At AMA SCHOOL - základní škola a mateřská škola montessori o.p.s. in Most, Czech Republic, we are developing the Garden of Generations (Zahrada generací) – a pilot model bringing together schools, plant genetic resources, research institutions, children, parents, older generations, local authorities and the wider community.

The idea goes far beyond creating a school garden.

Together with the Czech Gene Bank and research institutions, we want to identify what biodiversity is important for our particular region, understand what has historically grown here and, where possible, bring old and locally relevant varieties back into a living educational environment.

Scientific institutions are therefore not an addition to the project. They are one of its foundations.

From genetic resources back to the region

Gene banks preserve plant genetic diversity for the future. Through cooperation with researchers, the Garden of Generations creates a bridge between these preserved resources and the communities they originate from or can serve.

Research expertise helps us understand which species and varieties are meaningful for local biodiversity, climate conditions and regional heritage. Access to preserved genetic resources can then allow selected traditional or locally relevant varieties to return to cultivation.

Children can experience this process directly.

They do not simply learn what biodiversity means. They participate in preserving, growing, observing and understanding it.

This creates a powerful connection between scientific research, local environmental knowledge and education.

Children are at the centre of the project, but they are not working alone. Parents, older generations, educators, researchers, local authorities and community organisations are brought into the same process. Each contributes different knowledge, experience or resources. For children, this means sustainability becomes something they can influence themselves. They help create and care for the garden, observe changes over time and experience the consequences of decisions concerning water, soil, plants, food and biodiversity.

For adults and institutions, the garden creates a concrete place to share knowledge and responsibility with the generation that will inherit the results of today’s environmental decisions.This is intergenerational fairness made tangible.

A living laboratory for sustainability

The Garden of Generations becomes a living laboratory where biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, food production, water management, science and community learning meet.

It develops GreenComp competences including valuing sustainability, promoting nature, supporting fairness, systems thinking, futures literacy, collective action and individual initiative. Most importantly, children learn through real responsibility rather than through sustainability as an abstract subject.

From one Czech region to a transferable model

Our ambition is not to create one perfect garden and replicate it everywhere.

It is to create a replicable framework.

A Garden of Generations in another part of the Czech Republic should begin with the same question:

Local schools can then work with gene banks, researchers, municipalities, families, older generations and community organisations to identify locally relevant biodiversity and knowledge and bring them into education. The plants, varieties and environmental challenges may be different in every region. The model remains transferable. Our pilot in Most can therefore become a starting point for a wider network of locally rooted Gardens of Generations across the Czech Republic – and potentially across Europe.

Each garden would be different because each region is different.

But they would share one principle:

preserve the biodiversity and knowledge of a place by connecting the institutions that protect it with the generations that will inherit it.