Earth Today | Forestry project targets youth empowerment for a greener future
Published:Thursday | February 27, 2025 | 12:07 AM
A NEW project funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) is seeking to raise awareness and spark youth advocacy for forest conservation as an important climate change response tool.
The project – a brainchild of Development Beyond Horizons – looks to tackle the lack of awareness among youth about sustaining Jamaica’s forests and the important role that they play in climate change mitigation.
“The project will directly engage 50 grade eight to 10 youth from Robert Lightbourne High School in educational awareness on Jamaican forests and forestry conservation. [It] will use an innovative educational approach and increase students/youth knowledge through a Forestry Conservation mobile application,” explained Roberta Brown-Ellis of Development Beyond Horizons.
This is to be complemented by engagement in instructive forestry conservation awareness workshops, the creation of educational forestry conservation e-card messages, and a three-minute advocacy and publicity video. Practical knowledge on forest ecosystems will be transferred through participation in a forest reserve tour,” she added.
According to Brown-Ellis, they will also seek to “solidify learning”, including youth participation in a six-month-long participatory agro-forestry demonstration plot, which will further inform on the forest ecosystem, the importance and positive utilisation of forests in daily lives.
GOALS
“The objective of the project is to increase awareness and encourage active participation of Jamaican youth in forestry conservation, [as well as] to achieve a greater number of Jamaican youth demonstrating increased knowledge to advocate for forestry conservation in the fight against climate change, amplifying Jamaica’s position in the fight. Another 190 students across the school population will benefit indirectly through the extended use of the mobile app,” she said.
Development Beyond Horizons works with individuals and communities to create opportunities that support and promote community growth and development, increasing the opportunities for youth by implementing innovative ideas in environment and agriculture.They are among the 10 local organisations recently awarded $51 million in grant funding from the EFJ.
“Funding from the EFJ will help the organisation to continue and expand its work in creating environmental awareness and implementing environmentally friendly initiatives. The funding will advance the mandate of the organisation and build its capacity to continue work in the field, to implement projects and respond to the needs in this thematic area,” Ellis noted.
“Development Beyond Horizons has worked with several youth on environment and climate initiatives; the funding will continue to keep this at the forefront of the organisation’s mission, hence reaching a wider population of youth across the country,” she added.
“At the end of the project, the capacity of the organisation and its team will be strengthened, and the organisation will be in a greater position to expand partnerships to engage youth and communities and address climate change issues in Jamaica,” Brown-Ellis said further.
Twenty-one million dollars of $51 million allocated by the EFJ was awarded under the Forest Conservation Fund to Development Beyond Horizons, the Jamaica Environmental Trust and Source Farm. The other $30 million was allocated for Climate Change Adaptation projects to seven other entities.
Meanwhile, Brown-Ellis is hopeful about the sustainability of their efforts.
“The Robert Lightbourne High School, the main partner in the project, intends to develop a climate-smart agriculture curriculum and become a model agricultural school. The project activities will be incorporated in the school’s curriculum and will be implemented by the already well-established agricultural sciences department,” she said.
“School administrators/teachers, including the agriculture teachers and the principal, will participate in the forestry conservation workshops. This will allow for continuity and continued support for activities beyond the life of the project. The demonstration plot will remain in existence at the school and will be heavily utilised as part of the school’s agriculture classes,” Brown-Ellis added.
Maintenance of the demonstration plot will be done by the school administration, while the mobile app will be available for continued use by project participants and other students, and will be integrated into the school’s agriculture classes.
PROMISE
Eleanor Jones, deputy chairperson for the EFJ, said the project holds much promise.
“There are three aspects of this project that are outstanding. One is that they are working with students.The second is that they are using technology and introducing students not only to the use of technology, but using technology to enable the widespread sharing of knowledge. And the third is the whole issue of the management of forests and the significance of managing our forests, and why it is important to our lives,” she told The Gleaner.
“Students need to be sensitised and excited about what they are doing, and I think this is an opportunity to excite them about the environment.That it is practical is also good. So often we talk to them, but we do not show them. With this project, they will be hands-on,” she added.
As for the focus on forest conservation, Jones said this is critical.
“So it is a novel approach and very encouraging. I am looking forward to what the outcome will be,” added Jones, herself a sustainable development professional.