10 Oct 2022

A non-governmental organisation, Junior Ranger Botswana, will hold an environmental awareness conference on October 19. 

The NGO intends to promote nature conservation and sustainability as well as provide environmental education under the slogan: They Explore, Learn and Protect Nature Conservation and Sustainability.

The organisation’s project coordinator, Ms Agang Tsheko, said in an interview that the purpose of the Maun conference was to raise awareness, educate and empower pupils, teachers and the community on issues concerning environment, biodiversity and wildlife conservation.

Environmental awareness, she said, could help minimise pollution and global warming.

 “At the end, we want to have empowered community members who will be active in conserving our environment and caring for the planet. We also believe that it is important for our future generation to have knowledge about the flora and fauna in promoting tourism activities,” Ms Tsheko added.

The event, she said, would begin with a panel discussion under the theme: Biodiversity on the Edge with panelists from Elephant of Africa, Cheetah Conservation, Department of Wildlife and National Parks and other tourism industry professionals.

Ms Tsheko said the discussions would also look into the challenges relating to biodiversity, environment and bird migration, adding stakeholders would share in depth knowledge on the environment and how they were influencing its conservation.

To spice the day, she further noted that they would conduct an award ceremony for the piggy bank competition, which was launched in March this year.

The competition targeted Junior Range Botswana and StartUp4Kids Club members from schools, who made piggy banks/money boxes from recyclable waste.

She said the competition dubbed: Save Money, Save the Planet was intended to help pupils apply lessons about the importance of saving money and the planet through recycling.

Meanwhile, Ms Tsheko explained that the environmental conference was an initiative of Knyphausen Stiftung and StartUp4Kids Foundation in partnership with industry leaders.

The foundation produces educational material on the nature specific topics, which serve as a practical reference work for the children and young people. 

The children and young people were thus provided with the necessary technical, social and design skills in the areas if environmental protection. Ends