Over 120 Kids Acquire Skills in Climate Information Gathering, Nursery Establishment

At least 120 community kids and youths from the Bamenda Highlands and Mount Cameroon Area have acquired new skills on climate change information gathering & dissemination, and nursery establishment. This was the outcome of some climate change experiential learning sessions, which took place in Bamenda and Buea recently.

Aimed at engaging the youngsters in bringing climate change challenges in their communities to the limelight, and contributing in finding solutions to the global crisis, the climate action activities were organised by Voice of Nature (VoNat) and Meg Wah with funding from Earth Rising Foundation.

In Bamenda, over 50 kids were drilled on information gathering, processing and dissemination techniques. This culminated in an outdoor session where the kids were enlightened on the role of trees in fighting climate change, how emission by vehicles contribute to climate change and the effect of climate change on streams and rivers in their communities.

To the Executive Director of VoNat, Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho, the outreach sessions on climate change impact and causes was of great essence. “There is a saying that seeing is believing. So, taking the children out was a great way of enlightening their understanding about the palpable causes of the climate change crisis affecting them and their communities and its severity. This has undoubtedly stimulated in them that desire to be part of the solution against climate change, and we believe they will start taking actions in their respective communities that will contribute to mitigating climate change and its impacts,” he expounded.

Haven come face-to-face with the causes and impact of climate change in their communities, the kids could not remain indifferent.  “We discovered a river with very low volume, with waste and plastics in it. People need to be sensitized, clean-up campaigns organized to keep the rivers clean,” said Helga wafa.

In order to boost the water volume, Akweseh Peace made a clarion call;   “Trees should not be cut down by the river banks because it exposes the water body to the sun. Bamboo and raffia trees should be planted at the banks and not eucalyptus trees”.

In Buea, the kids had a practical session at the Limbe Botanical Garden were they gained skills on the different stages of nursery establishment, tree planting and the role trees play in fighting climate change. The involvement of kids in this experiential learning exercise on nursery establishment, according to the ED of Meg Wah, Mr. Ako Peter, was of utmost importance. “We can’t talk about species conservation in climate change without mentioning trees and their conservation. The session on tree planting was necessary because we wanted these children to know the importance and connectedness of trees to humans, and how they help in curbing carbon emissions. So, we emphasized on indigenous trees at the verge of extinction especially in the Mount Cameroon Area,” he said.

Meanwhile, plans are underway to engage the kids in Bamenda in transforming the information gathered into short articles, stories, poems, songs etc. for community-wide sensitization, and those in Buea in using the knowledge gained, to establish an orchard