GIZ Introduces Climate Change Toolkit to Primary School Teachers

GRENADA:  St. George’s, 03rd May 2016: A series of four (4) teacher training sessions to introduce teachers of primary school aged students to the “Greenz Climate Champions” toolkit came to a close last week.
This toolkit will enhance the development of environmentally conscious, climate smart practices of the younger generation.
The toolkit is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) as part of the Integrated Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Programme (ICCAS) which is funded by the German Ministry for the Environment (BMUB).
The “Greenz Climate Champions” toolkit will be introduced to schools as part of the regular extracurricular curriculum in the form of environment clubs.
It will be the base of climate change teaching for children at young age, and hence lay the groundwork for a thorough understanding of the crucial importance of making environmentally conscious decisions for the survival of a small island developing state like Grenada.
There were twenty six (26) schools represented in the training sessions held in Grenada and eight (8) in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
The final teacher training workshop was held in Grenville St. Andrew’s, where Mrs Aria St. Louis, Head of the Environment Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry Fisheries and the Environment, addressed the teachers to thank them for their participation and interest in climate change, the environment and the sustainability of adaptation practices.
Mrs St. Louis stressed the importance of collaboration and cooperation between the schools and the ministry for further support in the education of our young people.
The day ended with a field trip to various environmentally significant sites such as the mangrove replanting site in Telescope, the composting area of the Belmont Estate in St. Patrick’s where the teachers were given a demonstration on climate smart agriculture techniques using compost and the NAWASA dam and treatment station in Mama Cannes.
The teachers present expressed the keen interest of the students in implementing the strategies learned in earlier modules as they have begun to use the toolkit resources in their classrooms. The climate change toolkit is comprised of components that span subject areas such as social studies, agricultural science and geography and has been endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
The “Integrated Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (ICCAS)” Program is funded by the German Ministry for the Environment, Building, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as part of their International Climate Initiative (IKI), and implemented jointly by the Environment Division of Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, UNDP and GIZ.