Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA says environmental education and awareness are critical components in the effective implementation of environmental management and biodiversity conservation.
This is according to environmental commissioner Timoteus Mufeti, who says Namibia highly values the concepts of environmental and sustainable development education.Mufeti made these remarks at the official launch of the national task force for the implementation of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) policy held in Windhoek last week.Mufeti said the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism established the EE/ESD policy and the communication, education and public awareness strategy to guide national education on environmental issues of concern such as land degradation, desertification, water and air pollution and climate change.He explained that EE/ESD has gained prominence on global platforms following the 1992 Rio Conference and the 2002 Johannesburg Summit and since the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolutions 57/254. This resolution set precedence for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development observed from 2005 to 2014.“The UN Resolution calls for all levels of education and training systems to be oriented towards a model of education that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” said Mufeti.He said environmental awareness alone is not enough and therefore called upon the task force to transform the contents of environmental conventions as well as environmental information produced by his ministry and other stakeholders. He proposed that more environmental education materials be distributed to increase the knowledge base of the general public on environmental issues in Namibia.“Indeed it is high time Namibia increased the local environmental content in the national education curriculum to make it easier for our children to learn environmental science subjects with reference to Namibia’s physical environment and biodiversity to which they can easily relate,” he said.University of Namibia professor Alex Kanyimba, a member of the task force, said EE/ESD fosters an understanding and awareness of environmental issues and develops caring attitudes and values towards the environment.“More importantly, EE/ESD empowers us to engage in [environmental] activism. Activism is a force of demonstration when our knowledge and actions cannot influence the observable apocalypse,” said Kanyimba.He said EE/ESD is the responsibility of every stakeholder and it becomes effective when conceptualised collectively.The environment ministry will serve as the secretariat of the national task force.
