( CNN ) -- The African Wildlife Foundation is hoping to do some tricky medicine on the world at large . It 's trying to stop the planet 's lungs from collapsing . `` If you think of the world as having two lungs , the Amazon rainforest is one lung , and the Congo Basin forest is the second . It 's a place everyone should be concerned about in a time of climate change , '' says Patrick Bergin , the organization 's CEO . The Congo Basin is also home to the bonobo , forest elephants and Congo peacocks -- species whose survival is dependent on that of the surrounding forest . Bergin has launched an innovative program to save the environment , not just the one region , but on the whole African continent -- the cradle of civilization and potentially its ecological safe keeper . Over the next decade , the African Wildlife Foundation is building 15 conservation-themed primary schools in some of Africa 's most remote regions -- areas that are also highly strategic from an environmental standpoint . The schools are designed to be state-of-the-art , built with attractive faculty housing that will hopefully lure some of Africa 's best teachers . In exchange , the organization not only helps to shape young minds to further the cause , but gets written agreement from the local community to set aside a patch of land for conservation purposes -- a stretch that will be free form hunting , logging and unplanned agriculture . `` It 's a bargaining tool , '' admits Bergin . `` [ These communities ] are rich in land , but poor in cash . We brought in a resource to help build a school , and we barter . '' Education in the Bush . Bergin notes that when it comes to education in Africa , resources go first to schools in the city , then to those in the surrounding towns . `` Kids that live in the Bush are likely to be deeply disadvantaged , '' he says . It is precisely that segment , he argues , that needs access to good schooling to protect the future of the continent . `` When children do not get access to a good education , they 're doomed to a life where exploiting natural resources is the only way to make a livelihood . If you ca n't get a skill or a job that allows you to enter the modern economy , harvesting bush meat , cutting trees -- these are your only options , '' he says . Sustainable schooling . Construction has already begun on the first school in Ilima , an extremely isolated village in the Democratic Republic of Congo that sits on the corridor between two protected areas . `` We work in a lot of parts of Africa that are remote , but this takes the cake , '' says Bergin . Getting there involves a two-day motorized canoe trip from Kinshasa , followed by a five-hour motorcycle ride . What that means is that getting materials in and out of the area can prove troublesome . Architectural firm MASS Design Group has partnered with the African Wildlife Foundation to build the schools . For the Ilima project , it was imperative that the designers used materials that are easy to source and replace . `` If there 's a need to repair or maintain the school 45 years down the road , the community has to be able to do it without depending on materials like steel or cement , which would be hard to locate , '' says Andrew Brose , the project manager . Mass Design started by researching not just the materials in the region , but local construction methods . `` We 've found that when you go into remote regions like this , the things people build are already climate-intellegent . They know how to build with rainfall in mind , '' says Michael Murphy , CEO of Mass Design . `` We look at how we can adapt and learn from what 's already done quite well in the area . '' The school is built primarily from mud bricks and local hardwood . Brose 's team tested different soils and palm oils in the region to find which combination of ingredients would yield the most durable bricks . Factoring in the rainforest climate , which is prone to heavy rains and high heat , the school walls only go up two-thirds of the way to allow for cross breeze . Rain catchments will store water for agricultural uses . `` This building is one of the most sustainable we 've ever built , '' says Murphy . A portal to the 'modern economy ' Like Bergin , Murphy views the schools project as a means to really impact the continent . `` Our ambition is to have more systemic change through a better building process . It 's not just a one-off project , '' he admits . For starters , Mass Design has trained local craftsmen in its techniques as a way of passing on the baton . `` They could build tens of thousands of schools in the next decade , '' says Murphy . `` As the population booms significantly in Africa , there will be a massive demand for low-cost , rural school construction . ''
The African Wildlife Foundation is building conservation schools in rural Africa . Hide Caption Partnered with MASS Design , it is bringing better schools to the Bush .