Youth Ambassador News
ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH LEADER’S COURSE (in KZN)
Young people are beginning to understand the magnitude of the environmental challenges we are facing, and want to be part of the solutions. To this end, WESSA Durban Branch is holding an innovative youth leadership course from 29 April to 1 May.
This will be the foundational course of an ongoing programme to develop young people with both the passion to protect the environment and the knowledge needed to do so effectively.
The course will be diverse in composition, and introduce young people to some of our fascinating local environments. It will focus on three key areas – Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve, the City Centre and Durban Bay, and the uMngeni River. There will be a combination of practical activities and more formal sessions. It is hoped that ongoing workshops will be held to further extend the participants. Schools are welcome to apply to send a small group.
Age: 15 to 25 years
Cost: R250 for the three days. Bursaries are available for those unable to afford the fee. Refreshments will be served
Dates: 29 April to 1 May
Times: 09h00 to 16h00
Attire: Sensible shoes, hat, rain jacket, sunscreen etc.
To apply, Contact: Jenny at the WESSA offices, 100 Brand Road, Glenwood.
E-mail research@wessakzn.org.za Tel 031 201 3126 or Fax 031 201 9525
A certificate of attendance will be issued on completion of the course.
Space is limited so a selection process will be applied should numbers exceed the quota for the course. The objective is to ensure a varied cross section of participants, therefore for assessment and selection purposes, applications must be received by 15th April 2012. Successful applicants will be sent some basic pre-course study material for background information and to familiarise themselves with the key words and environmental terms that will be used on the course.
Programme
29 April Joining the dots Venues: 100 Brand Road Glenwood │Pigeon Valley
• THINK GLOBALLY — ACT Locally: Making connections on a personal, community and global level. Creating a culture of sustainable living, building resilient, self-sufficient communities and why ‘local is lekker!’ Short films: Tomorrows Cities & Innovations in Sustainability
• Urban Biodiversity hot spots: Why do we need them, and how can we protect them?
30 April Sustainable Cities Venues: Master Builders Association│City Centre and Durban Bay
• Green Technology: Tour of the MBA building │Technology may provide the answer to many of our environmental problems but is it always the solution it promises to be?
• WASTE: Presentation on the 3Rs and how to recycle │‘There’s no such thing as away!’ Waste is new, it has not always existed and in nature there is no waste — the detritus of each organism fulfils the needs of other organisms in a never-ending cycle … so in what ways can waste become part of the solution and not just a problem?
• Greening our concrete jungles: What is an Urban Heat Island? Looking at municipal and community efforts to green our urban environments.
• The importance of the Bay: Durban Bay functions as a nursery for our commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as providing other ‘free’ ecosystem goods and services that we depend upon — often we only begin to understand and truly value the benefits of these services when they break down.
1 May Healthy Planet – Healthy people Venue: uMngeni River
• River health and ecosystems: ‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!’
• Human Impacts and biomonitors: How what we do affects the other species that share the Earth with us. Why plants and animals can be important environmental indicators, and why these indicator species are often both ecologically and economically important.
