By Vida Msiyo

Blantyre, October 7, Mana: Malawi's young people have been urged to take an active role in environmental conservation efforts to help achieve the country’s sustainability goals. 

Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency on Monday, Chief Executive Officer for the Centre for Youths and Environment, Calvin Mataya said that the energy and potential of young people make them ideal for spearheading environmental activities such as cleaning cities, places they stay and tree planting. 

“Youths are the ones that are still energetic. Even though older people can do some environmental activities, youths can do that work much better. They can involve themselves in cleaning our cities, planting trees and a lot to do with the environment for a better Malawi. We must invest in our youth and provide them with the necessary tools and knowledge to lead environmental initiatives,” he said

In providing youths with necessary tools, Mataya said as the country there is a need to invest in young people because they influence their friends to do positive things in their communities.

“When youths are empowered, they can influence their peers and communities, creating a flow effect that can lead to significant positive change,” he added.

Environmental expert Mathews Malata also emphasized the importance of youth involvement, saying that Malawi is a country full of young people and there is a need to push them to act.

“Malawi is a country full of young people. Transformational leadership and development is when you can see how best to pass on knowledge from one generation to another, this is in the Malawi 2063 vision enabler 7, which emphasizes environmental sustainability,” he said. 

Malata added that youths play a key role in driving innovation and change as they act as a bridge for knowledge transfer, innovative leaders and agents of change.

“We cannot win if we focus on the same people who brought us where we are now. We need to target young people, some of whom are in secondary schools and universities so that they can be at the center of our transformation,” he explained.