CATCH-THEM-YOUNG, SIZINDA SEC SCHOOL SPEECH

Speech for Sizinda Secondary School Tree Planting and Textbook Presentation.

I would like to thank the Sizinda community for extending this invitation to Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe. We are honored to take part in this green event. EBZ was founded in 2013 and has been working with various schools in Zimbabwe. EBZ’s mission is to raise awareness on sustainable forest management practices.

Under our Catch -Them-Young project we work with schools in marginalized communities on afforestation issues. The idea is to instill values of sustainable environmental management in children so that they grow to be adults who are environmental sensitive and custodians of the environment. In addition, by stimulating interest and stewardship in them, we hope that they will share what they learn at school with their respective communities. Current students are future leaders, hence there is need to equip them with information that will assist them with making sound environmental decisions.

Schools have a duty to provide quality environmental education to students. Quality education is education that fits purpose. In the wake of climate change and global warming, schools have a duty to sensitize students and communities on the causes, impacts and mitigation measures of climate change effects. Some of these effects include:

Education can only be effective if schools have all the necessary teaching aids such as books to execute their duties. It is for this reason that Chikoro Africa donated books to Sizinda Secondary School. As an organisaion they believe that schools can truly empower children and deliver a world of opportunities.

Traditionally, photosynthesis was taught as process whereby green plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere to make their own food. Textbooks then lacked the link between photosynthesis and climate change. Yet today trees have emerged as the readily available solution to absorb CO2 and other gases from the atmosphere. A special thank you to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for incorporating climate change into the new curriculum. Nature studies, global warming and climate change need to be instilled in children from a tender age.

Victoria Falls is a tourism community. Its economy and society depend on tourism activities such as game viewing. Forests provide animal habitat, thereby keeping the tourism sector afloat. This very economy is under threat from a decline in animal populations due to habitat loss. There is need for joint effort among stakeholders in protecting trees and other forest resource if we are to keep the tourism industry alive.