Environmental education
Quick link: Environmental education stories
Our worldwide educational activities allow people of all ages to develop their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the environment, as well as their impact on it. We promote the enjoyment, care and sustainable use of the earth’s precious resources, encouraging the development of appropriate skills and acknowledging the needs of local communities both now and in the future.
We aim to increase public awareness of the impact of climate change and other environmental issues and the need for sustainable lifestyles everywhere to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2015, over 26,000 people took part in A Rocha’s environmental education programmes, including a huge range of hands-on activities through community events, workshops, wildlife clubs, summer camps, school visits and much more.
These youngsters on an A Rocha eco-adventure summer camp in Switzerland identified over 200 species including birds, mammals, salamanders and dragonflies. (A Rocha Switzerland)
How do A Rocha’s education programmes make a difference?
Children in Kenya go to secondary school helped by bursaries provided by A Rocha Kenya’s ASSETS programme. Their parents agree to help conserve the local forest by refraining from cutting down trees for firewood. Children and parents learn to grow and plant tree seedlings which provide timber for their needs.
A Rocha Ghana works in partnership with Climate Stewards planting native trees to establish woodlands in the grounds of 15 schools around Kumasi. These woodlands capture carbon, increase biodiversity and also generate income, for example, through growing cash crops in the improved soil, beekeeping and fish farming in the school grounds. Staff and students nurture the trees, acquire agro-forestry and other skills and learn about the threats to Ghana’s forests.
A Rocha Lebanon is creating a woodland and community garden at Qab Elias in the West Bekaa valley where local families can picnic, play and learn about the country’s diverse but endangered wildlife. An environmental education programme is being developed for use by local schools when they visit the project.
In Peru, youth aged 13-19 years from the Chicama Blue Planet Youth Club re-designed a main street and provided green areas. These young people have now become community leaders running environmental activities for the local community.
Through Eco-school activities in Uganda, A Rocha is teaching young people how to grow vegetables in sacks, thus improving their diet. (A Rocha Uganda)
PLEASE HELP US! Through ‘Gifts With a Difference’ at shop.arocha.org you could provide one day of training, allowing 10 people to learn how to make and care for their sack gardens.
Read some stories by our Environmental Education Storytellers
- One event, one future changed – Fête des Courmettes, France
- Eco-parables: a new treasure from A Rocha Switzerland
- Connecting the urban young to nature – A story from Kenya
- My Gift With A Difference in action – Angela McKay in Uganda
- Amazing growth! – Angela McKay in Uganda