Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa Interview

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In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 sustainable development goals, and the principle behind these goals is to leave no one behind. And today we’re going to talk about how to reach two of these goals, maybe more. The goals we’re going to start focusing on is the goal of number four, quality education and goal number 11, sustainable cities and communities. And to understand how we actually can do that on a practical term, we have invited youth leaders from WESSA’s Management Committee and the first leader is Cindyi, who is in charge of the WESSA International School programs. So I want to say welcome to Cynthia.

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Thank you, sir, it’s good to be with you. You are in South Africa, right? Yes, I’m in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Thank you. And the second leader is Sifundo, who is working in the WESSA Bush Pigou Education Center to help raise the inventor of our mental awareness for the students. That’s at least my assumption here. So welcome to this Sifundo.

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Thank you very much for having the spirit. Where are you right now? I mean, South Africa in Limpopo, right, so you’re in different cities.

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Yep, yep. OK, so.

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I want to start to sing to you by kind of establishing what you guys say is the problem, the the problem that you’re trying to solve.

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But they are perfect. OK, great.

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Well, it’s pretty clear that globally we’ve reached a point where environmentally we cannot turn back anymore. And that is basically influenced by a lot of the climate change contributing factors that we basically are engaged with on a daily basis in different parts of South Africa and the world. And the main problem that we are trying to do

address through our cause and through the work that we do, is for people to get a better understanding of. First of all, what are the issues that we need to tackle, to be able to, like, bring the world back to a more sustainable way of living and also to include more sustainable ways of economically and transforming the way we live on that daily basis. And people, as the custodians of the Earth, have a huge role to play in how we actually get to a point where we can holistically, socially, environmentally and economically live in harmony with our natural surroundings again. So the main issue that we want to address is, is basically like getting people to understand that environmentally we are at a point where we cannot turn back anymore, but we need to be able to put systems in place that includes everybody in a more sustainable future.

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Thank you. That helps to clarify and I.

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You guys live in South Africa? I live in Sweden. I see the same picture that you’re painting here that we can’t. There’s no turning back. Right now, we need to work together to solve this all.

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Could you help us to understand where WESSA is and where does your organization kind of fit into the puzzle of helping to solve this issue?

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Yeah, I mean, it’s quite evident that we are facing a lot of issues right now. Environmental issues are on the rise. Habitat destruction, depletion of natural resources, pollution of animals are affected because of fresh water, which is getting depleted and affected. And I mean, even the communities are also affected. I mean, human beings, the same people that are affecting the environment, they’re also getting affected by all these other issues that we’re facing. So how is it that we are trying to reconcile people with nature, men in the environment? Because I think we’ve been separated for a long time and a lot of people are not aware how they can actually contribute to sustain the environment that we’re living in. So, yeah, I mean, that’s our role. And the main I mean, the key with it is awareness, because most people are doing things because they know the way. So we’re coming in as a very strong pillar within the society to try and support the people and open their eyes and let them see the wrong things that they’re doing to the environment without knowing, because I think there’s a lot that has been done in terms of policies and legislation. But you cannot enforce the legislation without educating people. People will not follow those policies and they won’t abide. If you haven’t been educated, you haven’t told them why they shouldn’t do it.

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And so it’s important to just to add to what the saying it’s important for people out there to know that, you know, WESSA is a ninety four year old youth and environmental organization, you know, and the main initiatives that that we basically drive are environmental education initiatives to support and enhance conservation efforts for a more holistic, sustainable present and future. And we do that through the work that we do across South African schools and conservation education work to become part of the teaching and learning processes at a school level. We believe that learning about nature and our connection to nature is just as important as learning about math and science because it’s also interlinked to each other. The work that Sifundo is doing his staff is doing at the WESSA Education Centers are really exemplary in bringing learners and youth and teachers, community members into a space where they can actually reconnect with nature. A lot of the talk these days are about reconnecting, reconnecting with nature, but it’s also really about the connection of that nature. We can’t just like, say, the nature of that connection. We can’t just say we must put people into nature and teach them about nature because people know about nature.

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It’s really about how they can see themselves and their everyday lives, realities within that natural environment and how they use it. And we also asked for well researched and well designed, accredited, non accredited, environmentally and environmental literacy courses where even companies can learn more about their impact and how they can contribute to the environment, even if they’re, for example, an engineering company. How can we bring the environment in? It thinks the buildings that they built every day, you know, the construction that they do, how can we make that more environmentally sustainable? These days? We talk a lot more about the circular economy rather than a linear economy, and the entire economic sector can learn about how they can contribute to a more sustainable future. And then lastly, just to to end off in how best to basically contribute to this mission and vision that all of us are striving towards is through harnessing the potential for an inclusive, sustainable tourism development sector in South Africa.

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So opening that up also to communities across the board for them to be able to use our environmental heritage, to be able to like, you know, contribute to a more sustainable tourism development sector in the country.

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Let me try to summarize, if I understood or a foundation of what you guys are doing, you’re reconnecting humans towards society, towards nature.

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I mean, and by doing that, you start to reshape how society kind of looks at sustainability and cannot implement that in all sectors of society. So that could be the end goal that you guys want to help.

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It’s definitely a part of a spirit, you know, as WESSA, myself and Sifundo, we’re not trying to turn anybody into what people call it, really.

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It’s really about seeing how you are as an individual, whether you’re a lawyer or whether you’re, you know, someone working in early childhood development.

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What is your role in basically bringing that connection with the people that you work and your business closer to a more sustainable future? And so so you’re right in saying that we are trying to, like, make the connections between people, what they do, what they are passionate about and their natural environment, what is their role and their connection to their natural environment and how can they basically contribute to making it a more just and environmentally just society food for everybody who lives in that community?

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Yeah, I mean, you don’t have to be a conservationist and environmentalist to make a difference. I mean, a lot of people are becoming lawyers or engineers, but a well-informed lawyer will make wise decisions towards the environment for the benefit of the future generations. Imagine if you had a president who understood conservation. I mean, even if you are a person who did engineering. But if you understand what you should do for nature, that will actually play a huge role in conserving.

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Yeah, so it’s all about all the different professions to actually work together in this. I actually had an interview with CAPE, which is Canadian Association for Physicians, and they have started to see that the environment is their big and biggest problem for human health. So we’re talking doctors who want to help people and they have started to focus on the environment because there’s so many people coming in and feeling sick from the pollution, then it makes sense to actually address the environment. So, yeah, I really see the point of what you’re doing there with educating the whole society on this issue. Second, I want to go back to you a little bit about what I read on the website that it says that you guys are revolutionizing the way that you’re learning or teaching. Do you understand what I’m referring to when I say that? Can you help us understand what is it that, um, yeah, what does that symbol, the revolutionizing of the education that you guys want to implement?

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Yeah, we’re moving in the 21st century, so education is changing.

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We bring in technology. We’re bringing in new ways of learning. We even have a new method of teaching called The System, where we are solving environmental issues using science, technology and engineering. So we’re bringing in different dimensions to try and get everyone involved and get people to understand. I mean, you learn how to calculate and those using a tree. So we’re not actually stuck in the old ways of learning. We bring in new ways of learning. Back in the days, a lot of people used something called rote memorization where it gets into the classroom and a teacher comes in, they become the authority, they teach the learners and they don’t really have a say. But now we’re trying to get learners into the journey in the journey of discovery. Well, in actually finding answers themselves. So it’s more hands on. It is constructivism. We’re getting learners to construct their own knowledge so it stays with them. They’re not really memorizing so they can regurgitate in the later at a later stage just to write a test and possibly move to the next grade. So that’s that’s basically the way that we’re trying to, I mean, the direction that we’re taking is education centers to make learners understand better.

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Hmm, maybe I can also. Sorry, go ahead.

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Yes, thank you. If you want to elaborate more on the way that you see learning.

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Yeah, I just want a very important point. That’s a fund raising. And I also want to say that’s also where, you know, the impact of our work really comes. And the first thing for all of our projects and programs is the fact that they are conceptualized from a point of skills development. So does this focus on skills development really ensure the sustainability of social and environmental action that is taken beyond the lifecycle of a project that we basically implement? You know, but also it significantly contributes to the holistic growth, development and understanding of the youth and the people that did participate in our projects. And that is why as an organization, we believe that environmental education is one of the greatest tools to achieve inclusive, long term environmental, social and economic benefits. So it’s really about how we do education differently to be able to lexically do this is for them to be able to take action rather than just like doing something because they have to like, say it again to someone else or regurgitate it to someone else for a test. It’s really about that skills development component. And for them to be able to, like, start to like, think differently, think innovative innovatively about how to solve environmental problems in their community, but also for them to be able to have that skill. It’s a lifelong and practical skill that they will have once once they’ve done the programs with us. So that’s really what we what we mean when we say revolutionizing education through the work that we do.

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Then I understand better, sir, instead of seeing something that instead of feeling the students with knowledge is more how to help them develop the skills, that is the mindset shift. And you’re saying sustainability is a skill with different skills. I guess it’s not what would sustain building if you would break down sustainability to different skills. Could you elaborate on what that would look like?

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Yeah, yeah. I mean, the skills and the competencies that we would want to learn as youth teachers, community members to go away from our programs, which is really about thinking differently about, you know, let’s say, for example, Problem-Solving. How do we solve a problem in a way that basically benefits everybody that that problem affects? So it’s about problem solving. It’s about thinking more critically about our issues that we have. So as an example, I can make an example. One of our learners in the program, they whenever you ask them, you know, what’s the biggest environmental issue? They always say pollution, you know, and that’s an isolated thing for them. And through the program, we try to let them think about the way this pollution comes from. Is it the fact that we don’t have municipal services that come and collect your weekly waste that you generate at your house and that immediately brings in a political issue. Right. Is it because people are not aware of it or is it because there’s another issue within your community that basically creates a pollution problem. And that really is where we want them to start to think about the multi dimensional kind of influences that bring about environmental challenges. And similarly, for sustainability, we want them to be able to like, focus on different skills, critical thinking, you know, research skills, like asking questions, you know, not accepting the status quo in your community anymore. And that’s that all of those not only for the sustainability of the environment, but the sustainability of the growth and development of that particular individual. And that, for me, is what sustainability is. It’s not one specific thing saying we need to do these things for the environment, but we need to be able to have a more inclusive and holistic approach to the environment to be able to really, truly realize sustainability.

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I see an image stuck in my mind, one of Sherlock Holmes, the curiosity of a detective and the integrity of Nelson Mandela. And then you combine those two, you have a Nelson Mandela detective and then you have an army of children who just want to help the world.

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That sounds very interesting.

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And one of the things that I also read that you’re doing, which for me was kind of cool, is that you see the classrooms, us also being outside. So then you would naturally connect towards the outdoor environment. So maybe some, though, could you help us understand what an outdoor classroom looks like?

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So basically, when we use the environment to teach the learners, so environmental education is about the environment in the environment, through the environment, so you get a lot of learners doing natural sciences or life sciences from a classroom set up. So what happens is a teacher opens a textbook and teaches them about the transverse section of a leaf or teaches them about a stem or transpiration or evaporation. So we take them out of the classroom and then we expose them to more practical lessons so that becoming Hands-On, they are involved. They do experiments and are guided on walks where they get to see diversity of plants. And while learning about the photosynthesis or transpiration, evaporation and all those scientific components or concepts that they learn in a classroom set up.

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So, you know, you see when learners come to our senses, when they visit our centers, teachers will tell you that this learning looks to behave differently in a classroom. But outdoors, you get the best of the child. A child gets to be themselves. Children want to be outside. So in a confinement confined room, like a classroom, a teacher becomes more scary. You know, we grow. We all went to school. It’s scary to have we have someone standing in front of you teaching, opening a textbook. But our learning is based on fun. So learners get to engage in lessons while they’re having fun. So we have fun. We put games, icebreakers when and get to learn without realizing that they’re learning. So we can actually have something like a treasure hunt where lenders will be collecting data, for instance, scientific data writing on bicycle’s, but they’re not really aware that they are collecting data. At the end of the day, when an environmental educator comes back and consolidates, everything wraps up and then realizes that they’ve learned a lot. So outdoor becomes very effective because at the same time, you’re revising what they learn in the classroom set up. And we are then also teaching them other ways of learning about scientific concepts.

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And really see why that would be powerful and much more fun to learn in the river, to learn it and for us to learn around animals.

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The time is starting to go towards the end. So what I want to understand here also is we’re using the if you would help us to and is there and if where you would recommend people to continue investigating or searching for more answers, if, um, where would you recommend people to go after hearing this into.

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Yeah, I would encourage people to actively participate in local campaigns, you know, environmental social campaigns, we are striving to become a more climate and environmentally and socially just world. And through that, we can really learn a lot from different people. So I would encourage people to go to your neighborhoods, in your community, find local ways to contribute to a more environmentally friendly, environmentally safe and a more just community for you and the people in that specific area. If you’re in South Africa and listening to this, I would really encourage you to get in in touch with myself if anybody had reached out to see one of the things that you can do to contribute to a more sustainable South Africa. If you’re a parent, if you’re a teacher, get involved and see how we can incorporate your school and your learning processes into the wasta programs and how you can basically actively play a role to be a part of the movement. Climate justice is environmentally aware, and it’s a movement that basically fight for a world with future generations and will be able to enjoy the same benefits that we have today.

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And lastly, I just wanted to say that, you know, the way the different programs and projects really complement each other. One example that I can make as an 11 year old girl who visited the West Bush Center, we scaffolder is and was so delighted and so excited about what she learned about her natural environment that she came back and she said to her parents that she definitely wants to, like, make a change in her community for for a cleaner environment. That was in 2019 this year, in 2020, that same goes into the, I would say, young reporters for the Environment program. And she made a video where she basically highlighted the different ways that people can take all the different things that people can do to keep the Johannesburg rivers clean. And she won the National Young Reporters for the Environment Competition in South Africa went on to represent West and South Africa at the International Young Reporters Environment for the Environment competition. And she came in second internationally. And that really is the power and the impact of our environmental education programs here at risk.

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And we want more children, more parents, more schools to be involved in these programs for us all to basically contribute to what we will that we want to see. And we have to take charge and take action for that.

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Yeah, and if I can add to that, I like the way you mentioned parents, she went back and told the parents there’s a book called Becoming Brilliant or Science tells us that tells us about raising successful children, that parents become agents of change for children, children’s success when they natus six critical skills, which is collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence.

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So I feel like parents should collaborate with us more to raise these children.

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And the main thing here is if we collaborate, we raise a better society. I mean, you cannot divide one. If we all together, it becomes stronger together. So that’s sort of the perfect example that Cindy just gave. Parents should support us in this and send the children to education centers or any other environmental education center that’s around them, don’t get involved and make a change.

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Thank you very much for taking the time to clarify how to reach those United Nations sustainable development goals that the world has agreed upon that we’re going to reach. And this is one of the players who are doing this.

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I know if I understood. Correct. You are also partnering with a foundation for environmental education, which is also providing the world with eco schools and just understanding that there’s eco schools and the vessel schools teaching education, environmental cannavaro awareness around the world. So. Probably whatever you are in the world, you could probably find these canel education centers to learn more about sustainability. So thank you so much for taking time to be here. And, um, yeah, I, um. I just hope that. We get to see a radical improvement and, um, where the world is going. Do you want to seem to do want to say any last? Is there anything that you want people to understand and for more people to understand, that’s the last thing here in this entire.

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Yes, so thanks for it and thank you for inviting both of them tonight to have a chat with you today.

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I think our last message would just then be that environmental health, social health, economic health is really for a better quality of life for all. Today, we’re talking about a just transition towards renewable energy and ways that are more beneficial for both planet and business.

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And the one thing that Subfolder and I are really passionate about is leaving no one behind. Everybody must be equally benefited. Everybody must equally benefit from that just transition. Everybody must equally benefit from a

higher quality of life because we have a better environment, because we are all better educated and understand how each of us play a role in that quality of life that can reach everybody.

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So we want to encourage people across the world in Sweden, where you are in South Africa here where we are to get actively involved in social environmental issues, in their community, to be able to, like, make a way for that quality of life to reach everybody.

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