RCE North Rift - 2022

POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND ECONOMICS OF CONSERVATION AS AN EDUCATION PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN TRANSNZOIA COUNTY
CSV
Basic Information
Title of project : 
POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND ECONOMICS OF CONSERVATION AS AN EDUCATION PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN TRANSNZOIA COUNTY
Submitting RCE: 
RCE North Rift
Contributing organization(s) : 
1. Green space environmental club
2. County government of Transnzoia
3. Northrift RCE
4. Tuwan girls secondary school
Format of project: 
Manuscript
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Update
Web link: 
No
Additional resources: 
No
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
Sand harvesting policy
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Local
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Africa and Middle East
Country: 
Kenya
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Green space environmental club
PO box 4187-30200,
Kitale.
Ecosystem(s):
Grassland, Wetlands
Target Audience:
Community, Primary, Secondary, Teacher Ed.
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Kitale is an agricultural town in the North rift , Kenya situated between Mt Elgon and the Cherangani Hills at an elevation of around 1900 m (6200ft asl). the town is the headquarter of TransNzoia County largely known as the Kenyan bread basket for her Agricultural potential and activities both large and small scale especially for Maize, wheat, tea, coffee, horticulture and dairy farming. According to the 2019 National Population and Housing Census the town had a Population of 162,174, as compared to the county population of 990,341. Trans Nzoia County lies approximately between latitudes 00° 52´ and 10° 18´ north of the equator and longitudes 340° 38´ and 350° 23´ east of the great Meridian. The County covers an area of 2,495.6Km2. The County is ranked the 37th in terms of size in relation to the 47 counties. The contributors of environmental degradation in the County include: encroachment on fragile ecosystems, poor agricultural practices, climate change effects, over abstraction of natural resources including sand harvesting and timber logging. Unsanitary solid waste disposal especially open dump site, dilapidated sewerage treatment works, open dumping in wetlands and forests and conflicts arising due to scumblinv of limited natural resources.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
Tree per child initiative is cognisant of the challenges and gaps of failures to prepare citizens who are more responsive to environmetal problems, which affect every aspect of our interaction with nature. Forests are destroyed, wild animals are endagered, ecosystems are made weak and also humans become exposed to unknown infections agents that threaten our lives. We therefore use evironmental clubs in schools as a tool of ecological diplomacy and conservation efforts to address the challenges through buiding peace, source of hope and to enhance stakeolders involvement and create awareness.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
April, 2016 to October, 2022
Rationale: 
Tree per child as an edcation pathway for peace project is greatly driven by the unique culture and cultural practises as perceived y human on ther environment. Severe environmental degradation along the stream boardering the school, deepened division and triggered conflict between the school and community due to sand harvesting which tempered with the school boundary, severe soil erosion and poor solid waste management. We begun awareness by incorprating learners in branding environmental degradation as a common aversion, and seeking for ways that would lead into cooperation between conflicting parties. The joint activities like clean up and planting trees exercises provided hands on experience to learners, which is starting point of learning and gave the community an encouraging approach that were tailor made and thus did not feel sidelined. This enhanced a development of environmental behaviours and increased pro-environmental attidudes. The project has been able to reach out to young generation in primary and secondary schools, women in villages and youths. We do an aerae of 30,000 trees per year. We utilise well the world marked days for environment.
Objectives: 
Objectives
1. To equip community members with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue peace through conservation.
2. To enhance environmental awareness creation among the young generation.
3. To promote conservation and management of biodiversity and soil conservation.

Learning outcomes
The project is purely participatory exercise. In this forum, conflicts have been aired out and resolutions approached. The participants are directly exposed to the real environment, nature deficit disorder. This has built critical thinking, understand sources of conflict about climate change and prioritize problem solving skills as they conduct local projects to mitigate and adapt to climate chnges.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
The main activities included, clean up of market places, planting trees along the stream and degraded land, establishing a tree nursery for schools to enable each child access a tree, planting trees the age of a participant during their birthdays and funerals, and having joint talks with the communities around.
Size of academic audience: 
So far, we have recruited 47 schools across the county with 188,000 learners, 60,000 community members and teachers and have planted 366,000 trees.
Results: 
We have brought together all stakeholders including the government agencies that assisted in putting in force the sand harvesting policy and political intervention to stop the conflict. We also have an opportunity as teachers to utilize and expand the already existing knowledge on conservation. Increased tree canopy cover on community farms and schools and also we have displayed a significant component of cultural diversity that enables people to earn a living from the local biological environment.
Lessons learned: 
Resilience.
Network
Creativity
Restoration
Economic activity.
All of the above have been great lessons learnt throughout the dispensation of this project. We realized a better understanding and integration of the relationship between communities and nature.
The challenges faced are majorly logistical, lack of field trips for learners, and exchange programs. Attitudinal challenges are mainly associated with learners disinterest. We strife to overcome such by having rewards and incentives to make the activities encouraging.
Monitoring and evaluation, which is key aspect is largely affected by lack of funds.
Key messages: 
This project is a solid base for environmental education. Severe environmental degradation can deepen regional divisions and trigger social conflicts for communities that depend on these resources for their livelihoods and fulfillment of basic needs. We join the 2019 IPBES report on biodiversity warning, that a million species are at risk of extinction and that such a loss and a failure to conserve ecosystems will have catastrophic effects on people as well as nature. We face no less than a "battle for our lives" in the words of UN Secretary-general Antonio Gutierrez.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
Yes. Solid waste management.
Environmental awareness.
Conservation of endagered species.
Protection of riparian land.
Protection of water sources.
Funding: 
No funding.

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon IMG_20201118_142202.jpg (7.04 MB) Community interaction with the school during conflict
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Indirect
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Direct
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Indirect
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Direct
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Direct
Theme
Disaster Risk Reduction 
Direct
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Arts 
Direct
Curriculum Development 
Direct
Ecotourism 
Direct
Forests/Trees 
Direct
Plants & Animals 
Direct
Waste 
Indirect
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 4 - Mobilizing youth 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
Yes
I acknowledge the above: 
Yes