To mark the celebration of Earth Day, HTR officially launched four environmental clubs in four schools in the Nippes department as part of awareness-raising and movement building activities of its Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) pilot project funded by the Caribbean Biodiversity Funds to help protect the Bondeau mangroves. The aim of these environmental clubs is to transform local youths into environmental stewards to help protect and manage natural resources in their communities while developing a spirit of eco-responsibility.
156 students and 4 teachers attended a series of presentations and actively participated in discussions about the importance of trees, protection of biodiversity, the history of Earth Day and why the need to protect mother earth. They also had the opportunity to use locally-made compost to plant several fruit trees in their school yard.
HTR has hired an Environmental Education Specialist to help develop an environmental club kit including curriculum guides, educational posters and other relevant materials to help teach them about environmental subjects mainly climate change, biodiversity, mangroves, agroforestry, waste management, recycling, composting, and tree planting. Over the next few months, training will be provided to selected teachers and students to equip them with environmental knowledge to be able to conduct all the environmental club activities. An annual Climate Change Science Fair and Awards Ceremony will also be held for the students to showcase small climate change research projects and reporting on climate change and natural resource management issues in their local area.
Engaging children and young people around climate change and the environment is compelling for two main reasons. First, children are in a learning mode and this makes it easy for them to connect their daily experiences to the larger concepts of climate change. As they learn, they teach as well, bringing the concepts and ideas home to their parents and other family members. The second reason is that the youth of today will be living with the consequences of climate change in a way that is hard for us to even imagine, and it is our responsibility to create the frameworks and strategies they will need to survive.
Tree planting is a very important element of the environmental club activities and Haiti Takes Root works closely with members of the Ayiti Vèt Coalition and other partners to provide seedlings for the students to strategically plant trees and vegetation in the Bondeau-Paillant watershed and nearby degraded fields. For instance, the fruit trees planted by the students for this year’s Earth Day celebration were donated by Trees that Feed Foundation, an international organization that supports tree planting activities in over 18 countries to help communities adapt to climate change.
If you want to join us in shaping Haiti’s future environmental stewards with the environmental club in schools and tree planting as a response to climate change, please contact us at coalition@haititakesroot.org.