A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, is holding a climate change quiz competition for some selected Secondary Schools in Port Harcourt, Rivers, aimed at educating the students on climate crisis.
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The organisations, under the auspices of the National Civil Society Framework on Paris Agreement and the SDGs (NCSFPAS) said the competition was the first of its kind in the region.
Mr Tito Uzomah, the Executive Director, Prime Initiative for Green Development (PIGD), the lead CSO, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the competition, which commenced on Feb. 21, will end on Feb. 28.
He said that the competition was aimed at educating the students on climate crisis by introducing sustainable development tenets into the informal activities of secondary schools in the country.
“This initiative is aimed at generating the needed momentum toward the reorientation of our educational systems in line with global environmental agendas on education and creating collaboration on environmental sustainability among schools.
“PIGD aims to inculcate in our students and schools core values underlying the sustainability paradigm such as children, women and gender; climate crisis, environmental pollutions and waste management.
“Others are climate smart agriculture, climate smart innovations, green energy, plastic recycling and SDG’s action.
“We know it will require working together to succeed, hence we are using the NCSFPAS framework to organise this climate change quiz competition,” he said.
He noted that the competition’s peer education session on climate change actions would create the awareness needed to meet the needs of the present generation.
According to him, this will be achieved without jeopardising the ability and encouragement of future generations to come up with climate smart innovative solutions.
Uzomah said that this could also lead to younger generations within the age bracket of 10 and 17 years in secondary schools becoming part of the key players and advocates in climate change and environmental sustainability.
“Hence, education for sustainable development becomes imperative in the teaching and learning curricula in secondary schools to transform young people, impact skills and change the misconceptions toward curbing climate change,” he said.
The executive director said that the CSOs would use the week to raise awareness within schools in Port Harcourt on climate crisis and proffer solutions to end environmental pollution in the Niger Delta region.
“The environment needs attention and environmental education in our secondary schools is key to achieving this,’’ he said.
Uzomah said the competition was held in collaboration with Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria and the PanAfrican Climate Justice Alliance.