Mr. Matthias Berthold, the Project Manager of the European Union Resilient Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project, has observed that the younger generation risks the worse impact of climate if measures are not taken to mitigate the menace.
“Young people are among the most impacted by climate change and must be part of the solutions and influence the response”, he said.
Mr Berthold made the observation when he launched a REACH Nature Club at the Doodiyiri Islamic Basic School in the Wa Municipality on Monday, April 4, 2022.
The initiative was part of the implementation of the REACH project in the Savannah Ecological Zone to help fight the issue of climate change in the area.
Other beneficiary schools of the club were the Samanbo D/A Basic School in the Wa West District; Gbieri Baptist Basic School in the Lawra Municipality; Numbeg Basic School in the Jirapa Municipality and Nadowli Model and St. Paul’s R/C Basic Schools in the Nadowli-Kaleo District.
The Nature Club was to bring together school children in selected basic schools to educate the children on the impact of climate change and to empower them to serve as change agents as far as the fight against climate change was concerned.
While stressing the need for the young people to lead in the fight against climate change and poor environmental practices, Mr Berthold indicated that the younger generation was among those to bear the consequences of the climate change in the future.
The Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2020 was the warmest since it is being recorded. The same is true for the last 7 years”, and attributed the canker to energy production from fossil fuels, deforestation, and agricultural production among others.
“I am highly convinced that through the Nature Clubs, good practices to protect the environment will be strengthened and collective ways of preserving and valuing nature will be reinforced”, he added, and said the clubs would be extended to other schools in the region to widen the education.
The environment is deteriorating and it’s high time we wake up and take action. We need to appreciate nurture and love our environment to save it.
This can be achieved if we collaborate and instill into the younger generation the habit of protecting and contributing towards environmental conservation to create the needed change we desire”, the Project Manager said.
The Upper West Regional Director of Education, Mr Razak Z. Abdul-Korah, thanked the GIZ for the initiative to empower the children to protect the environment.
According to him, the Ghana Education Service had prioritized extra -curricular activities in its training of the children to enable them develop the appropriate skills, values and practices for their holistic development.
“I earnestly believe through the support and expertise of the coaches of the clubs, pupils will learn to understand, appreciate and protect the environment through positive practices”, Mr Abdul-Korah said.
The school children recited poems that sought to elicit the importance of the environment, the human actions that were destroying the environment and what could be done to save it from eminent destruction.
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