The Green School Project is a school based initiative of African Centre for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development to raise and drive actions on climate protection and forest conservations.
The global glamour for environmental sustainability, among other things seeks to draw the attention of states, national and international organizations as well as institutions to the menace of environmental degradation. The impact of climate change, including drought and flood, and deforestation seems to be more critical in the rural and remote communities. These have seriously affected communities that depend largely on agrarian and farming activities as their major source of livelihood.
For instance, Akwa Ibom State being one of Nigeria’s coastal states, where national climate models project a warming trend that will result in severe hydrogeological, marine and ecosystem changes. The primary impacts already being witnessed in the state with rising intensity include flooding, erosion, saline intrusion due to sea level rise, flood-related surface water contamination, massive failure in crop productivity, biodiversity loss, and pest proliferation following ecological changes.
These have implications on the socio-economic development of the state and the country at large, including threats to huge investments in cross-sectorial infrastructure development, environmental safety and security, livelihoods and social system stability.
In safeguarding the environment, citizens are therefore saddled with the responsibility of taking concrete actions and programmes as well as encouraging activities that could support the protection and ensure a peaceful and quality environment for wealth creation and sustainable development of Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria in particular.
It is therefore on the aforementioned problems and environmental challenges that African Centre for Environment, Agriculture & Rural Development is implementing environmental education and conservation gardens in seventeen (17) schools in Akwa Ibom State. The project seeks to raise awareness on environmental conservation, climate protection, with the target of planting an average of 1000 economic trees per school and raising of nursery gardens for project sustainability. The schools also benefits with renovation of sports facilities and installation of solar powered lights. Environmental Vanguards are inaugurated in the schools to the champion the initiative.
This project is funded by Sports 4 Future e.V. German Association and implemented Zenaga Foundation gGmbH. The both German based non-profit organisations implement projects that help people and at the same time protect the climate and the environment.