By Martin Chiwanda & Charlie Ligomeka

Machinga, June 6, Mana: Machinga District Director of Education, Youth and Sports, Nellie Kamtedza, has stressed the need for community leaders to start teaching children about the importance of conserving the environment so that they grow up with a responsible mind.

Kamtedza made the call on Wednesday during the commemoration of World Environmental Day at Kamwendo Primary School which was hosted by NACALA Logistics formerly Central East African Railways (CEAR), Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM) and African Parks.

She said, as the future belongs to the young ones, there is need for all stakeholders in environmental conservation to start thinking of inculcating in children a spirit of environmental management for them to be more responsible in future.

“Stakeholders in the environmental conservation sector have tried to pump sense in adults on the importance of natural resources and how they can conserve them but they seem not to care.

“Therefore, we need to invest more in the young ones as they understand the importance of conserving natural resources. This is the reason we chose Kamwendo Primary School apart from being close to Liwonde National Park.

“We thought of teaching these children and the whole community on how we can restore and conserve the environment,” said Kamtedza.

Liwonde National Park Environmental Education Officer, Susan Chimbadza, said the organization decided to commemorate the day with learners to help them understand more on issues they learn through wildlife clubs about the beauty of nature.

“Raising awareness with the learners is a very important undertaking. We know they are in wildlife clubs and, therefore, we want them to showcase and replicate what they have been learning into the community,” Chimbadza said.

Machinga District Coordinator for WESM, Daniel Nkunga, said failing to conserve and restore natural resources in the country has brought several climate change challenges ranging from droughts and flooding.

Nkunga observed that children and the youth are supposed to be involved in environmental management in order to effectively mitigate effects of climate change in the future.

“Malawi is facing a lot of climate change issues which are negatively affecting the citizens. Some of these problems are unpredictable rainfall pattern, drought and floods.

“The country’s environment has also been heavily degraded. I am happy that there have been several efforts to reverse the trend in deforestation. We will continue to encourage people in the district to manage and conserve the environment,” he added.