Tongo (U/E)-Ghana, Nov 28, GNA – Stakeholders in environmental protection have expressed the need to leverage the potential of children to protect the environment, restore degraded lands and mitigate climate change impacts.
Environmental destruction, they said, continued to be a major challenge for many countries, leading to worsening climatic impacts on sectors such as agriculture and water, which threatened the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The environmental protection experts, teachers, and policy makers among others said children had significant role to play to reverse the trend when empowered with skills and knowledge on environmental protection and given the right tools to do so.
The experts made the call at Tongo in the Upper East Region during a review meeting of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Eco Clubs project being implemented in the Talensi District of the region.
The two-year project was implemented by the Forum for Natural Regeneration (FONAR), an environmentally focused organization, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, with funding support from the Awaken Trees Foundation of Austria.
Fifteen basic schools in the district benefited from the project, which provided the children with basic tree management skills to undertake environmental restoration initiatives in the schools.
They did that through the FMNR approach, which involves regenerating shrubs and stumps naturally without planting new trees.
Mr Sumaila Saaka, the Executive Director of FONAR, noted that children, constituting approximately 23 per cent of Ghana’s population, also contributed to environmental degradation and were adversely affected by such activities.
He said children were agents of change and should not be left behind in strategies and measures to preserve the environment.
“Once we build their capacities and make them understand the importance of preserving the environment, particularly trees in their communities, we will address the environmental challenges that we face because they are the future leaders,” he said.
Mr Saaka urged the communities, schools and the district assemblies to support the children by making lands available with the right tools to practice the FMNR concept to protect the environment.
The FMNR Eco Clubs and partners aim to empower young people to become environmental stewards and agents of positive change to address complex challenges such as the effects of climate change.
The review meeting was to evaluate the successes of the activities of the project being implemented within the two years which had benefited 300 students and 30 teachers directly.
The results from the assessment revealed that teachers and pupils had gained deeper understanding, knowledge and skills relating to natural regeneration of native trees and shrubs to mitigate deforestation and bushfires.
Mr Saaka noted that the project was undergoing redesigning for a second phase implementation.
Mr Titus Alzumah, the Human Resources Manager of the Talensi District Directorate, Ghana Education Service, commended FONAR for instilling environmental protection values in the pupils and teachers to change behaviours.
Mr Robert Abeero Alpha, the Talensi District Director, National Disaster Management Organisation, said natural disasters were increasing and wild animals were becoming extinct due to destruction of the environment and called for collective stakeholder approach to address the menace.
