Over 30 Young Students Taught Values And The Importance of Environmental Preservation

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development has thrown its support behind the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for taking decisive steps to guide children and young people of Saint Lucia towards effective, sustainable environmental management strategies.

To accomplish this task the organization recently partnered with the Saint Lucia Division of Forests and Land Resources Development alongside the European Union with its Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) in ACP Countries Phase III program to implement a sensitization strategy geared at educating fifth and sixth graders from the Anse La Raye Primary School on the importance of rivers in the Anse-La-Raye community.

Dr. Therese Yarde ACP MEAs 3 Caribbean Regional Project Coordinator stated the importance of environmental protection strategies in child development.

“Through activities like this one, kids learned about the need of protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services in their communities while also having fun. Children and young people have the key to the future. The choices made today to protect the environment that they will unavoidably inherit will determine the quality of their life,” ACP MEAs 3 Caribbean Regional Project Coordinator, Dr. Therese Yarde.

Committed to empowering the younger generation, an estimated 30 students were taught the values of safeguarding rivers.  The Principal of the Anse La Raye Primary School voiced his support for the activity.

“The tree planting exercise was a great co-curricular activity for Grade 5 and 6 students at the Anse La Raye Primary School. To prepare students for the tree planting exercise, pupils learned about the consequences of water pollution, practices that can combat water pollution, the consequences of deforestation, and steps that can be taken to protect our forest and water supply. As custodians of the environment, they pledge to play an active role in fighting deforestation and water pollution,” Principal of the Anse La Raye Primary School, Flavian Isembert.

Topics like the hydrological cycle were explained with the linkage between the river and the community highlighted using interactive technologies, drawings, readings, conversations, and games.

Under the direction of the Division of Forestry, the students planted 25 fruit and forest trees along the school’s border to demonstrate their dedication to preserving their river. Ten-year-old, Trevor Cornelle was one of the students who participated in the tree-planting initiative. He said, “I enjoyed the tree planting exercise because I learned some important agricultural skills like how to prepare the land, how to dig holes to plant trees, and how to plant the trees well. The planting activity was extremely exciting. We planted many types of trees like cinnamon, nutmeg, and avocado.  The fruit-bearing trees will help us fight soil erosion and will complement our school feeding program in the next few years,” noted ten-year-old, Trevor Cornelle.

At the end of the sessions, the pupils were able to identify bad environmental practices and actions that could be taken to safeguard the river system and keep the water resource healthy. Forest Officer Charmain Augustin explained the importance of this activity for the Anse La Raye community.

“Anse La Raye is an area that is historically prone to flooding. The trees the children planted will help reduce the risk of flooding.  They will also help reduce future storm runoff, erosion, and pollution of the waterway. We must continue planting more trees, to contribute to global reforestation efforts, mitigate climate change, repair damaged ecosystems, and restore lost forests,” remarked, Forest Officer Charmain Augustin.

According to Leshan Monrose, National ACP MEAs 3 Coordinator for young persons living in a Small Island Developing State (SIDs) like Saint Lucia, their future might appear uncertain as the island, like so many others, sits at the forefront of climate change environmental emergencies.

“Every year SIDS faces threats from droughts, hurricanes, flooding, storm surges, and other weather-related which impact biodiversity, food and nutrition security, and livelihoods. Additionally, poor internal practices such as deforestation, inadequate land use planning, harmful agricultural practices, and pollution compound these issues. The work of the ACP MEAs 3 project is not only timely but also critical to the environment.” 

Under the project more than 5000 seedlings have been planted FAO and the Division of Forestry are working closely with community groups to revegetate the riparian zones of the Anse La Raye, Canaries, and Cul De Sac rivers by planting and maintaining fruit trees, forest trees, and vetiver grass.