other species who live around us and who really depend on uh the habitat around us to survive and so as humans we know that we've been having an impact on the earth and on the land surface and habitat and biodiversity for not only ourselves but other species but we also know that if we act uh carefully and positively we can also have a very positive impact on reversing that biodiversity loss and protecting the planet and the home for all species who who live here so today the idea is that we're
going to have our speakers share with you at the significance of um particularly Environmental Education so promoting awareness understanding and action towards preserving and conserving biodiversity uh we're hoping that by the end of the conversation you will walk away with some knowledge and on benefits of preserving biodiversity both in terms of cultural values and ecosystem services and also some motivation and inspiration to take action and preserve the diversity of life here on Earth so wi
th that let's get into our presentations today we have two fantastic speakers we're so excited uh that they agreed to join us uh today so first is going to be Dr Enoch Bessa and then second is olimide idowu so let me first go towards introducing Dr Bessa um so Dr Bessa is currently a lecturer at the Department Of Agricultural and biosystems Engineering of the Kwame nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana his research interests are Broad and they include climate change soil and land
use science and engineering Water Resources management ecosystem services and integrated assessments and modeling and he's working on a project called climapa Africa where his research will seek to quantify and cost the flood risk mitigation Services provided by landscape scale green infrastructure in Nigeria and Ghana in order to contribute to the debate on the payment of ecosystem Services as a mitigation and adaptation measure to climate change so thank you so much Dr Bessa and with that we'
ll hand it over to you to share your screen and go ahead and share your presentation with us thank you Katie um I'm I'm happy to join you this morning afternoon or evening um because of internet I will just put on my output of my video and focus on the slides so that we'll be able to go through it uh thank you um or or who have joined us this morning afternoon to be part of the fifth webinar of Park policy I'm happy excited to be here and to be sharing with you a bit of information on the import
ance of biodiversity and why Environmental Education is key in achieving the conservation of biodiversity I'm already introduced so uh I think because of time let me just continue quickly so that we can finish within the demarcated prayer for the project program my presentation will follow this outline we'll look at what biodiversity is and then we come to Environmental Education and finally look at indigenous knowledge uh how does since we are talking about education which bothers on knowledge
how does indigenous knowledge contribute or coming in the conservation of biodiversity biodiversity which is biological diversity um it's just the contraction or the impact on biodiversity biodiversity we are looking at the impact that's a human impact on biodiversity the United Nation Convention of biological diversity in 1992 they defined it as the variability among living organisms from all sources including inter-alia terrestrial Marine and other Aquatic ecosystems and their ecological compl
ex complexes of which they are packed this includes diversity within species between species and of ecosystems and so biological diversity or biodiversity um borders on everything that has to do with living organisms including us humans how we affect ourselves within and without and because of the importance of biodiversity to livelihood in 2022 the UN International biodiversity of 2022 focused on building a shared future for all lives and there is this statement that I picked from that program
said when biodiversity has a problem Humanity has a problem so taking care of biodiversity is just caring for the human environment as long as we neglect biodiversity it's more or less like eating our own selves without knowing and so the focus has been on the restoration of biodiversity un has focused on restoring biodiversity because they know the importance of biodiversity and as it has been contributing to 80 percent of human diet which means that if this resource depreciate or deplete human
right to also go down and invariable will affect livelihood this year as on 22nd May the international deal of biodiversity will be focusing on from agreement to action that's brought back biodiversity during our cup we have been talking about action action action action but it seems the action is delaying the talking is becoming too much so this year the UN International biodiversity day is focusing on agreement we are moving from agreement now we have agreed we have to take action so that we
can restore back biodiversity and Restore Life or the the greenness that we have before industrialization changed everything for us now what is the importance of preserving biodiversity if you want to know the role of Environmental Education in preserving the on the importance of present biodiversity then we should look at the contribution of biodiversity to human life so this can be classified time classified it into four that is food and nutrition and the further nutrition comprised of the Agr
icultural resilience but obviously help us in agriculture resilience gives us higher nutrition it also gives us provision it's a provisional ecosystem service provides sources of food and ensures food security on the cultural and economic value we are able to identify ourselves through biodiversity it gives us Recreation like um some of the waterfalls um the national parks the reserves that we go to relax it also gives us energy which is a major source of economic um value in most of our countri
es on health we get medicinal medicine from some of the biodiversity like the plant we get medicine from plants from fishes both to the traditional and modern ones most of the sources are from biodiversity they help avoid the spread from wildlife they also gives us physical and mental health there are a lot of benefits especially from ecosystem Services the ones that we've not been able to quantify and attach monetary value to it's still ongoing research has not been able to come up with the spe
cific value monetary value for some of the services we benefit from these diversity biodiversity but they are enormous also they are helping to they help to regulate climate they help in climate adaptation they improve our microclimate as well as the water cycle sustaining the water cycle so these are the things that Environmental Education it is helping us to Attain unless we know them we didn't know how important it is to protect the environment quickly there are five major threats to biodiver
sity conservation Land and Sea use currently about one third of our land area is being utilized for crop and lifestyle production they're over exploitation of resources biodiversity resources climate change is another thing that is threatening I read the press release of the the UNESCO or you know director the biodiversity laws is increasing because of climate change and so we need to look at addressing them together if you will take climate change on its own and you live biodiversity you'll be
just solving one part of the coin pollution is another threat to biodiversity an invasive species invasive species is destroying most of the things that is giving us the livelihood that we are enjoying so if these things are threatening what sustains livelihood what is Environmental Education and how will it help to protect biodiversity uicpa defines Environmental Protection as a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues that is the first part they engage in problem solving
and take action to improve the environment I think the world as a whole we've come with we have now explored the environmental issues we have engaged on tables in problem solving it's left with the last part taking action to improve the environment and the beauty of Environmental Education is that we don't you don't wait for the global or the national to take an action as long as you are aware and you are practicing it at the household level at the district level at the local level it can be pr
acticed so action is not like a national something but anyone that is environmentally educated takes action on his own and the term was first used from the conservation do you know for conservation of natural nature and natural resources in Paris in 1948 now you could understand that there is a link between Environmental Education and biodiversity is because of conservation that Environmental Education came about and throughout the years from the Stockholm conference in 1972 they made a recommen
dation that there should be an international program on that and the first intergovernmental conference on Environmental Education was organized by UNESCO and unique that was in 1977. so Environmental Education is old and the main component of Environmental Education it's first the being away and sensitive to the environment and environmental challenges around us unfortunately majority of the world we are at the first level awareness and sensitivity some have progressed to the level of knowledge
and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges now to understand the environment cannot be achieved through awareness creation the people must be screwed then from the knowledge that they will gain they build attitude of concerns for the environment which will motivate them to improve and maintain Environmental Quality and because now they have attitude they attain skills and all these are part of the education you have the attitude and the skill which will help you resolve e
nvironmental challenges and finally if you have all this and you are not participating that is the action part you are not participating to resolve the challenges we are having then we can say you have fully attained Environmental Education foreign what are some of the legislation globally on Environmental Education the U.S was the first to implement and act that the National Environmental Education Act of 1990. and this MA shows countries that have National policies on environment or they have
environmental laws which is owned specifically on Environmental Education or related to Environmental Education United States Brazil Japan Philippines Republic of Korea and Taiwan Taiwan is a residence they have specific legislation or policy on Environmental Education it's specific the others like Finland France Ghana Mozambique and South Africa they have environmental laws that are related Environmental Education they don't have specific laws yet they run programs on Environmental Education bu
t they are here to have specific act or legislation on Environmental Education UNESCO edges that in 2025 Environmental Education will be a Core Curriculum in all countries and that is that is their target that in 2025 we are in 2023 two years to go and even on environmental laws and education and policies it's only few countries that have them so I don't know how this will be achieved but let's let's hope that is possible because until we come to that level that everybody knows about the environ
ment it will be difficult to protect it uh these are a few case studies I brought out a few case studies on uh first on tree cover comparing Global to some of the African countries where we have environmental laws in countries without environmental laws according to the global records Global tree cover mostly biodiversity are conserved in forest is the the highest source of um that okay is the ocean ocean followed by Forest but on the terrestrial is the forest so from the forest Russia recorded
the highest loss from 2001 to 2021 that is 20 years followed by Brazil Canada United States and Indonesia then I try to compare Ghana to the world there are forests lost in Ghana globally is at 41. that is globally but when you compare it on the decada decline of forest it is equivalent to about 20 decrease since 2000 since 2000 forest in Ghana has decreased by 20 percent but you would understand this when you compare it with the forest area of the Nations assuming a country has about 200 megah
hectares of forest and they lose 10. um they lose 10 you might think oh 10 is is it's not that much but if they have let's say 20. and 10 mega hectares is lost now that is almost like 50 so you will see Ghana being at 41. you might think oh it's they are that is not much but because when you compare it to our Forest coverage or three cover coverage this Forest laws it's very hard and there's a need to control it if you want to present biodiversity then I brought Congo according to un go has the
highest biological diversity in Africa the the Democratic Republic of Congo they possess Africa's highest biological diversity and about 91.90 and this diversity has both Global and local relevance the biological diversity biodiversity in Congo it's just like the Amazon it doesn't affect only Brazil it affects the world it controls the climate it affects a lot of things and 190 species are currently endangered probably due to land use change they are indigent and this country according to the ge
p records they don't have a policy on Environmental Education there is an association on Environmental Education the country but there's no policy on it and it runs cyst globally from Global watch for a forest watch from 2000 to 2021 forests lost in Democratic Republic of Congo exists in the world I I brought some images from Google map to show you what is happening in Ghana this is a case study of Ghana there's a problem reason why I do most of my work I picked just one part these what this lin
e here is River pra or prior River you can see the color and this is as a result of galaxy in Ghana says illegal small scale mining so and what they do is they direct water to wash the stones that they mine and after that they reconnect the water with the polluted water to the mainstream so all these Sports you see in the forest uh places that have been degraded because of God I'm saying all these spots that you see here and you can take time to check reverse in Ghana and most African countries
where this small-scale illegal mining are currently ongoing forests are being depleted water bodies are being destroyed and it is affecting the two major sources of biodiversity the major sources of biodiversity that is supporting livelihood the terrestrial and the Aquatic or Marine so I there is another one from often it's another river that I work on you see along the river challenge all these degradations you are seeing is supposed to be a buffer Forest buffer for the river but they are all d
egraded and this could be traced to environmental the lack of Environmental Education in our country we must have it as a law but how many of the people who are passing through our education system even know about it at the first level of going to the level the second level of knowledge or having concerns for the environment and to even talk of attaining skills and attitude to protect the environment our record shows that these are students school going age the people who are supposed to be in s
chool and they are being used for these activities and for us to solve it I think Environmental Education should include a major stakeholder that is the indigenous people the indigenous people must be involved according to unit the indigenous papers of 2017 was about 370 million and these people are managing about 80 percent of the world's biodiversity and so how have they managed eternal they should have certain level of knowledge which would help the scientific Community even in the developmen
t of Innovations to protect our biodiversity and that reposites that areas managed by indigenous people are the oldest form of biodiversity conservation and often the most effective this implies that until they become part until we we reduce the phenomenon of co-production not not co-sharing not that we create the knowledge and go and share with them not that they come and suggesting we we start everything with them who will not be able to manage biodiversity even through Environmental Education
for the sustainance of livelihood biodiversity conservation is synonymous to sustainable development sustainability until we are able to preserve our biological diversity we cannot sustain our world Sultan said that the indigenous and local communities they have deep and rich source of traditional knowledge which we will need to increase the protection for the fragile landscapes that The Fragile landscape does is a land use and the diversity that it presents and so uh we need to bring them on b
oard we need to bring them on board the indigenous people I think this is the end of my presentation I hope that I've not used most of that about statement I'm not going to be young thank you for listening thank you so much Dr Bessa that was a beautiful overview of the whole topic and then thank you so much for giving us uh the definitions as well as the history behind some of these Concepts and where we stand now we totally agree that we have talked a lot and that is important to keep doing tha
t and also bring different voices to the table including indigenous voices but equally important now is action so that we can meet some of those upcoming targets you were mentioning 2025 so here we are at 2023 and if we want to reach that Target surely more people will have to get involved so that's why we're having this webinar today is is to inform people how they can get involved in this topic so thank you so much again Dr Bessa that was a beautiful presentation and very information Rich cong
ratulations and if I anybody has questions please do write them down and we'll come to them after our second speaker where we will go just now so just to introduce our second speaker we're excited to have with us Mr olomide Olu is a climate change activist from Nigeria he promotes environmental awareness and a balanced approach to the growth and protection of the environment he is as concerned about development as he is about climate change and Environmental Protection his conservation work is s
pread over a variety of venues he's been actively involved in climate change activism for the past 12 years and is strategically positioned to engage both younger and older Generations through his active engagement in climate change organizations and social media where he is known as Mr climate so Mr climate welcome we're so happy to have you here and we're sure from that introduction that your your presentation is going to be very complementary to what Dr Bessa has just shared with us so olamid
e passing it over to you welcome and hi you're most welcome to share your presentation yeah thank you very much everybody thank you doctor you know it it makes me to look as if I'm back in the class when I was teaching and I can tell you all that that is the foundation and the basics of words we want to actually discuss today thank you so much for bringing me on board and to speak to of you know young old people across the continent thank you so much and uh you know from what uh doctor have actu
ally shared with us I think we don't really have too much to say on the basics of biodiversity I just want to start by saying that the system that's actually sustained all the life on Earth including human life are dependent on biodiversity to function properly and that is why you see we both save everybody on this call is having the opportunity to live on Earth and we are unable to also have early ecosystem upon which we rely to relate to give us with the food that we eat and even the air that
we breathe if we do not have what we call diverse collection of animals plants and microorganisms and from what a doctor have shared with us we've been able to understand that biodiversity is actually the Bedrock of development Bedrock of growth when it comes to economy when it comes to development when it comes to growth individually and also three things I want us to put in mind as we are having this conversation the food you eat the house umbrella where you stay and the clothes you wear look
at all these things look at the foundation of where they are coming from people say we should not cut strips but we are building houses people say we should you know eat sustainably but people keep eating both animals everything even the clothes we are making remember 7 to 15 of pet bottles makes a Jersey so all these things I just took are three things I just mentioned are the set of things that you and I cannot do without can you be inside the Sun and be joining this Zoom call I and you have g
ood environment no is it possible for you when you want to sleep in the night you don't have a shade on you no can you work naked in the community no so our biodiversity lies within our society lies within the comfort zone of where we find ourselves now we need to now start looking at what are the Urgent actions we have a lot of uh uh uh academics activists you know even women in biodiversity young people doing fantastic work but the bottom line is how do we start building collaboration how do w
e start building attitudinal change and how do we start building sustainable living in our society so the conversation of biodiversity is very very detailed when we want to build conversation conservation that practice of protecting and preserving the wealth and a variety of species habitats ecosystem and even the genetic diversity on the planet it's also very important for the Earth for the world for the food for the fuel and services we depend on I'm saying this because biodiversity to me has
shown to me as a development and as a group to a society we find ourselves and it actually play an Integrity role in supporting many sectors of development so anywhere you find yourself whether the ministry of environment Ministry of Agriculture minister of humanitarian Ministry of a petroleum every Ministry biodiversity can never be taken away so we need to start looking at this I want to mention number one food security how it actually depends upon natural resources that form the basis of our
food production we should not forget that secondly biodiversity conservation is very vital for the economic development and our poverty reduction thirdly we should also put at the back of our mind to relate it to climate change that biodiversity conservation can help address the effects of climate change which is very very key in this kind of conversation and doctor I've already lay emphasis on all the treaties all the you know interventions and evil all the generation of our biodiversity become
and where we are going to for future an ad winner talk about natural resources that are often at the root of all conflicts because if you look at the value chain now you see that the natural resources we have across the world most of them are even causing crisis most of them are causing conflicts and these are the things that have been given to us by Nature then it's not left for us as human to start looking how not to mismanage the natural resources and amid the biodiversity that can increase
poverty instability in our society you and I need to start looking at how can we help communities and individuals to actually secure the rights of our natural resources or the use of our natural resources and now we can start involving different local agency local communities in responding to manage all these natural resources it is very very key in us to see how we can prevent and minimize conflicts and provide divers of opportunities for economic growth so for me as an individual I'm from Nige
ria and when you look at the biodiversity space in Nigeria majority of things that we talk about as our income is oil and gas so you will understand that we are facing a very powerful problem when it comes to Natural Resources because all these things have taken away our diversity our biodiversity in the essence that farmers cannot fish again to to get fish in the water again uh uh uh fisherman cannot fish the farmers cannot plant I cannot grow in another uh in the um uh let me let me say it in
the there's a region in my country called Niger Delta is is a region that's supposed to be enjoying the biodiversity we see now but because of what we call oil spillage because of what we call gas flaring then it's not a big problem for our development and for the growth of that kind of a community so it's very very important for you and I to start raising our voice you know most of them might not have the money but we have the voices we have the understanding we have uh the some of us have the
technical experts that can actually change The Narrative of the conversation that we are seeing as our country or as a continent and we should start to understand that biodiversity conservation will help us to protect our plants our animal our microbi uh our uh every time unsustainable agricultural production and the use of what species for food or fuel can produce biodiversity everybody is calling for just transition why are we talking about it because we want to see just environment we want to
see a just Community we want to say just in a a continuity when it comes to handing over from one government to another because what is happening now is that we have a lot of deniers in the space and those denials are making the environment space polluted when somebody starts something to protect nature protect the environment somebody comes in and spoil everything and we started facing the consequences of the world the environment is going to give to us so this is things that we need to start
looking at if we really if really want to grow our economy it is very very important and that is why we see that the word poor people live in rural areas are depending upon the forests depends on the water depends on wetlands and all other issues for their livelihood if all these things are being taken away what do you want them to use in producing or getting sustainable living for themselves so it is very critical for us to start looking at ways to protect our about biodiversity ways we need to
start looking at to make sure that we make the government being accountable and transparent in supporting the growth of our biodiversity so biodiversity support Community is Key by diversity support to you know economic benefits is key and we also need to start looking at how can we ensure food security and all these can be done with Collective efforts with collaboration and with the development of every society that believes in growth and that is the only way we can have a future that is just
a future that is free from future security for food insecurity a feature that has clean air and water a feature that can appreciate natural resources and the food stocks and the future that prevent us from diseases and pests this is how we can build the quality of life for people and the planets let me just bring it down to we the younger generation that we are facing one of the consequences of this issue and I want to urge everybody on this call whether you're young whether you're old that the
time to take action may not even be now it was yesterday because today is also yesterday and tomorrow will be yesterday and the future we have is now so it is better for us to start looking at what action can we invest in that will be continue our process that can build a continuity not a process that will just tackle the problem now and we live there and nothing happens after that after that because the more we approach different communities to solve problems the more problem comes up in differ
ent communities so the only thing we can start doing how to protect our biodiversity is to build attitudinal change in the people we talk to in the people we relate to so that everybody will not be only looking at the academic part but they'll be looking at the reality parts then the academy part can now supplement the kind of research that will take us to have the outcome that we want to see in the people will live in the community mind you and let us know that even the people we are also a pro
blem to our biodiversity so we need to start changing the attitude for them to know that there are set of actions their set of attitude we need to put into our biodiversity for us to see a better future for everybody and we talk about the UN biodiversity convention all those things are meant for the governance policy but when it comes to the Grassroots I'm sure everybody know about this adage they say when two elephants are fighting is the grass that suffers it when the UN is demanding from the
government when the U.N is demanding from Institution who is demanding from the local community for a sustainable growth nobody rather the government in each country is responsible for the development of their local community so we the local people we people living in the community we are seeking for just transition in every look and training of biodiversity so that we will find ourselves in a space whereby we can breathe clean air we can have clean water and we can be able to associate with a l
ifestyle and quality life we want to live as people and the planets and various lifestyle and cultural costume cannot actually survive without the nature that depends on them so it is very important that you and I as an individual to understand that this conversation is more than treaties this conversation is more than a U.N biodiversity conversion this conversation is more than that budget you set aside for biodiversity is about you and I to take action that will lead us to a future that we wan
t to see ourselves and that will make us to protect our biodiversity for the betterment of the society thank you very much and I look forward to your questions and answers thank you thank you so much olamide for your passionate speech and beautiful uh call to action for everybody and also for reminding us that these issues are not just in the hands of others and of leaders or people in you know positions of authority but these are issues that are actually in our hands right and so the power is i
n the Grassroots thank you also for reminding us about attitudinal change I think somebody once said if you want to make a small change you can change the way you do things but if you want to make a big change you would change the way you see things right and then a lot more can change from there um thank you so much again it's no wonder that they call you Mr climate uh we're so lucky to have your voice and your leadership and your inspiration to guide us all in taking action on climate change a
nd biodiversity issues so thank you so much again thank you very much thanks for having me okay let's go to questions everybody uh so I think just to start with um one question for both of our speakers uh the thing of that's I think exciting for for people potentially about focusing on biodiversity is that it's all about where you are right so biodiversity varies by region varies by uh area of the planet and is all about understanding uh the natural system the ecosystems around you so let's firs
t ask both of our speakers how we can start with Dr Besson then we'll go to omide uh what are some of the uh the key actions that you're taking on biodiversity where you are so first we look at Ghana and then we'll look at Nigeria so what are some of the key ways to preserve to preserve biodiversity in both of your locations this is just going to give us some idea uh and ground us and and and show us how this is really a place based strategy that we have to take so first we can start with Dr Bes
sa how are things in Ghana thank you Kevin um key actions you know I was talking about girl I'm saying it's it's a national problem in Ghana now and the Major Impact is our biodiversity that is our forest resource and our water bodies they are degrading at a very fast rate So currently my action what I'm doing is to find out what are the benefits from these systems that are not for sale and because of that we are neglecting them so I have couple of researches that are looking into how much would
clean air from a forest cost assuming I'm going to buy it until and around the world from the scientific Community we've not been able to come up with a concrete or specific approach of quantifying these things so that that is what I'm doing now and on the action part I engage a lot of families one of my project students is looking at how the local communities local families conserve diversity through the affirming activities it's an ongoing project now and through that we'll be creating awaren
ess training the Farmers on how to live some trees on their Farm not just for the benefit of getting a Wood resource but the other non-timber resources or benefit also on water um there are in climate change we're also looking at how Farmers would benefit from this ecological um what do you call it indigenous knowledge how they use ecological indicators to determine what happens around them it's also another project that we are doing so we've trained Farmers we've given them mobile phones and uh
daily they look at the environment what is happening and based on that they are able to predict the changes in the climate and how it will affect the activities and so when the farmers have come to realize that because of the changes in the ecology they are not able to get their prediction right so it's it's creating that awareness that destroying what is around them is limiting the ability to know what will happen tomorrow So currently beside the personal ones I'm doing for myself on the proje
ct skill these are what we are doing in Ghana there are other National ones but personally that's what I'm involved in thank you thank you so much that's great and how about you only need it okay sorry my mic was so yeah thank you very much I thank you Dr I think uh looking at the two uh country I think we both have some set of challenges and threats when it comes to diversity yeah but you know biodiversity in Nigeria is actually seriously under the threat you know of Extinction from people from
climate change economic development land use change from agriculture invasive species and even you know pollution like crude oil exploration and exploitation these are really you know a big threat even to mainly Our Man groups our deforestation desert encroachments you know that is over hunting even a lot of land use Road residential buildings constructions you can see when I started my presentation I actually making passes on three different things which is the source of livelihood and these a
re the things that we're actually facing when it comes to the Quran looking at our biodiversity again the challenges in Nigeria in the northern part of the country we will see the level of the deforestation level of desert encroachments and when you come down to the South South you will see the level of the issue of gas flaring issue of oil spillage and when you come to the Southwest that's where you start seeing a bunch of land use problem Road and residential building construction if you are i
n the news for a couple of months now you see a building collapsing and everything so this is affecting the people a lot and let me tell you one of the biggest thing that I think we need to start doing and which we have been advocating for a while and you know there are many governmental agencies in charge of environmental matters that they work at you know that cross purpose to the extent that a lot of actions that need to be taken within themselves is not working Synergy that's supposed to be
happening between them to have a a solution that is inclusive it's not working so they need to take responsibility to actually put that measure of sustainability in place and even conservation projects are seriously threatened by Economic Development so all these things are very very you know key because we cannot continue like this the the Civil Society organization across the country are clamoring helping the government to come up with different actions different stakeholders engagement for th
em to understand what the communities are going through but the problem is they are not ready to put that in check and we will not stop we will continue to speak so that the threats of climate change or threat to climate change will be will continue to decrease so that we can have maximum and understanding of the problem and be able to give a sustainable solution to it thank you very much foreign thank you so much olamide I think we can see the importance of having Environmental Education at the
country level because even you're talking about in the northern part of Nigeria versus the South the southern part there's different issues that we're facing so you can see if we have one curriculum that's you know Global or Regional then it's not going to be able to capture those localized issues I think you can also see how there are so many different factors so you're talking about what are some of the drivers of biodiversity you have land use change you have gas flaring you have Economic De
velopment you have climate change there are a lot of different factors that are interconnected together one other question that comes up out of that which is for both of you again is is really when we're talking about just transition Economic Development um and uh not you know by and biodiversity preservation and sustainability uh are oftentimes kind of clashing in the in the strategies that we have for them and people are uh it's not that they're they don't know you know the importance of prese
rving the area around them it's that they're um in a tough spot right where they have limited um they have limited options in terms of what they can do and they they end up getting forced to use their resources around them to achieve what these basics of life that you're talking about so food shelter clothes right these are some of the basics that we can't live without so when people get forced into uh difficult positions right poverty uh lack of options lack of resources and they get forced to
use the resources around them um because they have no other option what can we really do about that so how can we start to uh ensure that we're creating options for people and really turning you know this kind of negative Cycles into positive Cycles uh because as you're saying um you know by building biodiversity is really building the base for human life to be able to thrive as well so how can we really turn some of those negative Cycles um uh what Dr best is talking about with people coming to
do mining on the rivers this is out of necessity right as well so Environmental Education will add to uh the land use and uh to natural resource use but it's also for a limited uh from a lack of options so the question is really how can we create options for people to be able to start that positive cycle that's a big long question I know but maybe uh maybe you both have some thoughts on that do you want to start go ahead thank you very much you know uh let me quickly let you know that biodivers
e sorry uh just transition is a broad conversation on its own and we also need to understand that biodiversity along with climate protection is also a labor issue like we know and just transition is the way to tackle it just transition is just being moving from one place to another and making sure that it is a just movement and as a community because I love talking about Community you'll be able to understand that all jobs depends on every environment and the protection of nature and that is the
only thing everybody wants to hear that is the only thing Community want to listen to provide us a job that is sustainable give us an environment that is just so for you to now start looking at that kind of action then we need to also understand that a just transition leads to a social and environmental justice so environmental justice is also you know that a situation that builds up that can build Our Hope and can be a trust in the future that puts people and nature as a priority but looking a
t what people need to start thinking about is very very key number one social justice that serve as a drive to our uh what they call it our ecological transition and that is why when I was talking about in south south east of Nigeria we're talking about ecological transition that can transform the society or the environment to be just and that is why our biodiversity conversation in the higher level need to start looking at ecological thinking building massive attention in people so that we can
see the social justice we are talking about and you should also know that it just transition should also be able to uh we call it underscore a new social contracts that you need to have a dialogue you need to have a community a conversation with people in the community before you take action or you take any any responsibility on their land on their space it is very very key that there should be a dialogue with such community and we also need to start looking at how can we uh uh uh uh control the
demography and so that the the the the Democratic issue can be a common ground for everybody because when you are taking decision let me give you a very good example when you are taking a decision I remember cop 21 in Paris my country take a took a decision about joining the Paris agreement for instance but there was no consultation in the local country to even understand why you are taking decision on behalf of people so we keep going on and on and taking decision on behalf of millions of peop
le back home without having a consultation with them and that is why you see that when it's time for implementation it's always a problem because the community don't even understand what you are trying to invest into so it is a big problem for us and that is why the role of society here is to help the government to complement their efforts in building that just or building that just transition they want to see in such community so it is very very key that you don't leave the community behind whe
n you want to decide on them you know people say and give us the table no we have been getting the table for years we want to be part of the implementation now let us know how you are investing we call it investment opportunity that is the only thing that the community wants to see when it comes to biodiversity issue so that is my contribution another thank you very much thank you so much Olu absolutely right Dr Bessa do you have anything you want to add to that um yes thank you uh my stand is t
he answer is in all-inclusive Environmental Education all inclusive Environmental Education not just awareness creation you know awareness creation is just that there is just a tick when people are informed or educated about environment no matter how difficult the situation they find themselves in they will not go for an option that will destroy their future it's just like um what we call you know sustainable development uh there's a course I teach environmental impact assessment you would alway
s think about an option that will not deny the future your opportunities they will need to have in meeting their own needs so because you are not eating today you are destroying the water bodies to eat today what about tomorrow that is because the person is not educated about the environment Environmental Education is the solution at the policy we think that people who are in policy know about it no if they know about it they'll be practicing it it's all until that five components of the Environ
mental Education is seen we shouldn't think that people know about it they don't know they've heard about it doesn't mean they know about it and it should be all inclusive through co-learning where the indigenous people are brought on board the scientific the policy makers we are learning together that is how we become sustainable and solve these issues else it will be only from one angle and we'll be just talking talking talking talking though no action that that that's what I think thank you t
hank you Dr Bessa yes good points I think we have time for one more question before we wrap it up so we've been talking about the Grassroots action and the importance of individuals uh learning and also through your efforts in teaching Environmental Education um but we also have the the reality that uh there is uh biodiversity loss being driven by other actors so we have companies we have governments contributing to biodiversity loss so the question is how can we encourage businesses and governm
ents to adopt this more sustainable practices and support biodiversity conservation and Environmental Education could factor into that so your thoughts to both of our speakers on how businesses are contributing and how we can also encourage businesses to adopt more sustainable practices you know businesses are contributing to climate change mitigation through what they call carbon crediting and this is how it works a company in China or in the U.S would be polluting the environment and that comp
any will pay um a community in somewhere else where they have forests that be involved in real forestation grow trees measure the amount of carbons that Forest is sequestering from the environment then we pay you so we released we released carbon you secreted carbon through your activities then we pay you credit for what you are doing on our behalf I think those programs and policies should be extended to cover Environmental Education not only the credit not only paying credit for carbon that ha
s been captured by activities of let's say Farmers or tree growings but those who are being trained there should be facility available through those policies for training educating empowering people to know what to do if only we are focusing on how much carbon the person is sequencing from the environment through biodiversity restoration then only those who have learned those directly involved in agroforestry will be benefiting and for instance educators will be neglected we need to include them
into these programs and also there should be facility available in every country to support Environmental Education like companies have social responsibilities it shouldn't be building of schools providing water uh carbon water like mining companies in Ghana in Africa or oil companies or we've done this for this community we have done that we've built this only physical facilities what about the ones that can obviously mental facility it should be included in those policies that want to know ho
w many people have you trained what is the evidence that these people are trained and if they are trained it should be shown by their attitude their skill they have in their community we should go to the level of adding these things to what we already have thank you okay great so broadening it out finding ways for everybody to be able to participate uh in these new um credit schemes for ecosystem services and carbon credits and not just measuring a transactional things but measuring you know att
itudinal change in people's skill development that's great thank you Olu over to you yeah I I don't think I have much to say because Dr Avatar Ali I think I've learned the second part of this conversation also because the same thing happened in my country in Nigeria through their social responsibility that a lot of company are just doing something just for a media purpose but when it comes to the to what are the outcome of that action they've carried out how do we see it changing The Narrative o
f our environment or Narrative of the education we want to see and another thing again that I think stands out is majorly Environmental Education is is just is like a bedrock of building your future environment and it's only helps when you understand something then you'll be able to relate to it so the issue of businesses and whatsoever need to be inculcate for people to understand that Environmental Education actually helps you when you want to even think about Investments where you want to thi
nk about our production and we want to think about action that you need to take to grow or to you know or to develop the community you want to find yourself so I think doctor said it very well but I just want to add that education is critical then Environmental Education is more important so that every one of us will be well informed and will be able to understand what these businesses are bringing to us whether it's green washing or not so that we'll be able to leverage on the understanding we
have as from Environmental Education point of view and to be able to grow the the community economy thank you yes absolutely thank you so knowledge is power and the more informed we are the more that we can uh hold companies accountable uh and make sure that they are showing up uh and really when they're making commitments that they're following through on those and taking them very seriously uh because uh all of our well-being and the well-being of those other species that depend on the biodive
rsity around us uh depends on that so thank you so much to both of you I think we'll bring this to a close here I would try to keep these sessions as short and very informative so because of both of your wonderful presentations I believe that people will uh know that they can come to you as a resource and as environmental Educators and as Leaders on topics of climate change and biodiversity so thank you again so much Dr Enoch Besa and olomide or Mr climate we encourage everybody to find them aft
er their a session and to keep connected as you go on your own journeys of Environmental Education and also action so I think that's the theme from today is that not only do we need to educate ourselves and those around us but we need to move towards action we are a community so we're not taking action by ourselves we're doing it together and that's really what pack policy is all about uh so that brings us to thanking our team so we have a big team behind this webinar Series so thank you so much
we want to give some thanks uh to the people who helped to put this together Angie Rachel Bismarck Faith Tim Jervis Sean ewe awudu Salam and of course thank you so much to the team you can see them all coming on now thank you guys very much I think uh we'll just close with what's a step that we can take uh in terms of action going from today at the beginning Dr Bess has shared with us that the UN International biodiversity day is on May 22nd so that's coming up that's in less than one month so
you can look online what's happening for that day May 22nd and think about what can you do in your community to take action around that so thank you so much to our great speakers we learned a lot today and we will be following along with your work as we go forward uh thank you everyone and wishing you a wonderful rest of the morning afternoon or evening bye goodbye thank you and good luck with the rest with uh with your work from here forward thank you thank you thank you everybody
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