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Planting trees...
Protecting our environment...
Loving our land...
Ongoing and increasing environmental threats highlight the responsibility we all have to live sustainably now so that we can bequeath a safe and nourishing Earth to our future generations.
The United Nations celebrates World Environment Day on the 5th of June, and the theme for 2006 is 'Don't Desert Drylands.' The call to protect the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, where nearly 2 billion people live, is particularly relevant to South Africa with its vast stretches of dryland and its low rainfall.
The aim of World Environment Day is to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment, and to enhance attention and action on pressing environmental issues. It is important to give a human face to environmental issues and to empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development. Communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues which will ensure we can facilitate a safer and more prosperous future for humankind.
Key to this is promoting care of the environment to the children and youth of today. Growing up with an appreciation of Nature and a day-to-day awareness of mitigating adverse human impact on the planet will help the future decision-makers of our country to have a lifelong commitment to sustainable living.
Of course, it helps that the South African school curricula now includes more extensive environmental education. However, there's no substitute for practical experience. For the millions of urban South African children, and for all those living in poverty, it is easy to be disconnected from Nature and unaware of the complex, interdependent eco-systems that sustain all life on Earth.
South Africa is blessed with a rich Natural Heritage and many excellent non profit organisations working to conserve and protect it. Every person can express their concern and care for our environment by supporting the work of organisations such as The Endangered Wildlife Trust, the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. Organisations such as Eco-Access, Cape Flats Nature Project and Daktari also run innovative programmes that help to increase children and youth's access to wildlife and the natural environment. |
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