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Government urged to comprehensively upgrade environmental education for present and future generations.
By Gilberte Koffi with the contribution of Sanogo Kapoury and Antoine Kalinganire
Environmental degradation and climate change are major concerns for all countries in the world. The damage is increasing year after year despite all the engagement and goodwill in conservation and restoration. African countries are not spared from the disastrous impact of these factors, which is becoming more acute, particularly, in the Sahel region.
The Government of Mali is facing both urban and rural environmental challenges despite their adherence to international conventions and agreements related to protection of the environment. To further mobilize the nation, legislation and regulations have been established to encourage the education community to serve as an important vehicle for conservation and restoration.
Like other countries promoting climate-smart actions, the Government has implemented various initiatives aiming to sustain environmental management and education in schools. Environmental education has been supported since 1990 through the Information and Training Programme on the Environment, the Education and Culture Development Programme, and the Support Plan for the Generalization of Environmental Education in Mali, among others.
Significant trials and successes have marked the history of national education in this field, helping 320 primary schools and their teachers and trainee teachers to receive training in environmental education. It is widely understood that environmental education plays an essential role in the management of natural resources and solid and liquid waste.
However, despite the continued efforts of the Government to include environmental education and climate-change themes in curricula, there is still a long way to go. The political will demonstrated by the Government is still insufficient to develop a comprehensive and integrated environmental education curriculum, especially at primary and secondary school levels.
To mark another important step on the path in sustaining the Government’s efforts, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in partnership with the Ministry of Basic Education through the Academies of Education, Centre d’Animation Pédagogique, Scaling-up Climate-Smart Agroforestry Technologies in Mali (SmAT-Scaling) Project partners, mayors of Koutiala and Nafangan and local school management committees in Koutiala held a national workshop in Koutiala in October 2019 to discuss how to stimulate a new dynamic for environmental education. The workshop was supported by the United States Agency for International Development.
‘This national workshop is aimed at revising the environmental education curriculum of basic schools in Mali, consolidating teacher-training modules and developing a strategy for the implementation of agroforestry technologies,’ said Mamadou Kanté, representative of the National Director of Basic Schools, in his opening remarks. ‘The aim of environmental education is to train, on a global scale, a population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and related problems and which, through its knowledge, competence, state of mind and sense of commitment, is in a position to contribute collectively and individually to solving the problem and preventing it from causing new ones in the future.’
Schools represent an excellent tool for promoting environmental education because students act as channels for the dissemination of information on appropriate practices for a sustainable environment.
ICRAF and its partners’ engagement is underpinned by the need to support the training of future generations to adopt environmentally friendly values and behaviours for the efficient management, protection and restoration of the natural resources of Mali.
‘The training modules are intended to be a guiding document for a better integration of environmental education and climate change in the curricula of primary schools,’ said Ademonla Djalal, ICRAF Sahel coordinator. ‘ICRAF, through the Feed the Future SmAT-Scaling project, intends to contribute to the modules to raise awareness and provide solution-driven approaches to environmental issues.’
During the workshop, participants worked in groups and discussed efficient, contextualized tools to strengthen environmental education as well as how to build a comprehensive strategy to boost it.
‘We are not starting from scratch,’ said Antoine Kalinganire of ICRAF, ‘but we will build on the existing national environmental education curricula to identify what has worked and what has not and propose the necessary changes.’
A field visit was made to a school in Koutiala and the Rural Resource Centre in Signe village run by ICRAF. The visit allowed the participants to see and understand ICRAF’s work on building communities resilience through establishing tree nurseries as well as building awareness of the importance of trees in school environments.
The workshop ended with development of recommendations, including the generalization of environmental education as an official programme in school and academic training curricula, harmonization of teaching units, establishment of a national committee on environmental education, provision of substantial funds for the implementation of theoretical and practical environmental education, introduction of education inspection in all school and academic systems, development of synergy between the Direction Nationale de la Pédagogie and the Direction Nationale de l'Enseignement Normal for the elaboration of the modules, development of contextualized teaching material, inclusion of environmental education in the initial training of student teachers, support for in-service training for teachers of Basic 1 and 2, implementation of agroforestry as an operational component of environmental education and the establishment of an information and communication platform on environmental education.
Read the policy brief
Sanogo K, Kalinganire A , Arinloye ADD, Koffi G, Dembélé SG, Kanté M. 2020. Boosting environmental education in primary schools in Mali. Policy Brief 49. Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
World Agroforestry (ICRAF) is a centre of scientific and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. Knowledge produced by ICRAF enables governments, development agencies and farmers to utilize the power of trees to make farming and livelihoods more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable at multiple scales. ICRAF is one of the 15 members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. We thank all donors who support research in development through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund.