Preparations are gaining momentum in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held next month but many Gauteng learners haven’t the first clue of what the fuss is all about.
Learners interviewed by the Teacher had little or no knowledge about the WSSD and an even vaguer idea about what sustainable development is.
It’s a sobering indication that many South African children who should be nurtured to be green thinkers of the future are being left out of the decade’s biggest gathering dedicated to environmental issues.
‘I don’t know anything about this summit and our teachers haven’t said anything to us about it,” says 17-year old Tshepo Moloi who lives in Pimville, Soweto and is in Grade 12.
Two Grade 11 learners, Clive Ranathibela (17) and Prudence Dubazana (17) were also ignorant of the kind of holistic and integrated approach to environmental issues that the WSSD is trying to promote.
‘If we don’t know about it – and we’re only 15 minutes from Sandton where this WSSD is supposed to take place – then what about children who are living in other provinces or in rural areas?” asks Ranathibela.
But these learners did show an interest in the idea that
environmentalism must look to a broad, all-encompassing approach that addresses issues such as social injustice, Aids/HIV, community rights and poverty alleviation. They believe the voice of children should be heard during WSSD 2002 as they will be the next generation of caretakers for the planet.
‘What we create is also what we can use to destroy. Look at the factories that pollute the air and the problems with nuclear waste. What we do and how we live shows who we are and I don’t think we should be showing a filthy country to the world,” says Moloi.
Ranathibela is concerned about pollution and waste management in Naturena, the suburb south of Johannesburg where he lives.
‘People just throw their rubbish wherever they want to and there isn’t any local action by the community to care for their own suburb,” says Ranathibela.
This low level of awareness around the WSSD and its significance for the country and the continent is something that the Department of Education (DoE) is trying to overcome.
Razeena Wagiet, environmental adviser to the Minister of Education, says that in a recent national competition it emerged that many schoolchildren still have a narrow understanding of sustainable development.
‘There is still a mixed response to what the idea of sustainable development is and it’s something that will be difficult to change overnight. But even if we take 10 steps forwards and eight steps backwards, it’s still two steps forward in the right direction,” Wagiet believes.
In 1999 the DoE launched the National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP) as one of the ways to integrate environmental education into the outcomes-based education programme. According to Wagiet, district education forums should by now have sensitised teachers to the need to incorporate the WSSD into the general curriculum.
‘Teachers have also been urged to focus on the WSSD through our newsletters which go out to all our districts. The DoE also plans to have an exhibition stall at the Ubuntu Village in Nasrec and to create a platform for learners to be involved,” Wagiet says.
Art and essay competitions run as joint projects by various government ministries attempted to focus attention on the issues being raised at the WSSD. Children tackled controversial issues such as the impact of trade on the environment, pollution taxes for polluting nations and how to address the lack of basic services for poor communities.
‘We should be developing an environmentally literate learner who will have a sense that he or she has to add to the environment in a way that is conducive to a good quality of life for future generations,” she says.
But getting schools to really buy into these ideas is not so easy. High school principal Simon Reif points out that, while they don’t have an objection to being involved with projects around WSSD, it isn’t a high priority because of the hefty burden of dealing with day-to-day education problems.
‘At my school we have to deal with core issues such as absenteeism, disobedience and low academic grades,” Reif says.
Whether it is because of apathy or a lack of resource material and opportunities, many South African children will simply not be among the 65 000 people expected to descend on Sandton to thrash out a 10-year environmental blueprint for the planet.
The shift from Rio to Johannesburg
The first Earth Summit, hosted by the United Nations, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.
The main outcomes of the Rio summit were:
– The UN Convention on Environment and Development (Unced), effectively a bill of rights for the environment;
– Conventions on: climate change; biological diversity and combating desertification;
– Agenda 21: a plan of action from global to national and local level, targeting governments, organisations of the UN system and civil society groups; and
– The Rio Declaration: A statement of intent underpinning the concept of sustainable development.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development’s theme and content includes:
– A shift in emphasis from purely environmental issues to the importance of sustainable social and economic development;
– The summit will review the progress on the implementation of Agenda 21; and
– Content will focus on the needs of the developing world, including:
– Financing for sustainable development;
– Technology transfer;
– Global trade agreements and the environment;
– Access to water;
– Access to energy;
– Environmental health;
– Air and atmosphere;
– Vulnerability to natural disasters;
– Land degradation; and
– Unsustainable exploitation of marine resources.