Sustainable development education for children and the youth

General

enO Programme Association together with 4H Tanzania will implement a project for improving environmental awareness in the Iringa Njombe Morogoro and Ruvuma areas in Tanzania. The proposed project will raise awareness of sustainable development issues in sc hools and communities and create a road map for schools to be used around the world for planning and implementing such activities in the communities. The schools are encouraged to adopt the issues in formulating and designing their curricula content to cre ate a wider understanding of sustainable development. Tanzania is rich in natural resources but the rapid population growth and an increased need for living space and agricultural land as well as industrial activities have contributed to increase the count rys deforestation. Approximately 450 000ha of forest land is deforested in Tanzania annually. Deforestation is one of the contributors to for example climate change soil erosion biodiversity loss and loss of fertility in farms. Tanzania has identified that the lack of human capacity is hindering development. Therefore actions to address the capacity issue as well as understanding of natural resources have been identified crucial. The project aims at educating the children and youth on environmental awarenes s and sustainable development for them to understand the effects of forests and deforestation to the environment. The overall goal is to raise an environmentally conscious generation which will consider sustainable development issues in their everyday acti vities automatically whether it is in their personal life or working life. A road map for schools around the world will be designed and published. The road map can be used for introducing sustainable development and environmental issues to the public autho rities to encourage them in including them in the school curricula and extra-curricula activities. Case studies of successful sustainable development inclusions will also be presented.