There Is Still Hope For Birds and The Environment
Zambia is home to over 780 bird species. These species play different roles in the environment and the ecosystem. However, despite their critical role, these beautiful creatures face a number of threats most of which are human-induced.
To try and reduce the threats faced by birds including plastic pollution and habitat loss, BirdWatch Zambia is dedicated to promoting interest in birds and biodiversity conservation through public awareness campaigns and educational programs over the past decades. BWZ does this by engaging pupils in education programs and awareness-raising activities.
As we continue from last year’s activities, our activities this year will be in response to the theme; “Action for Bird and Environmental Conservation”, which highlights the importance of acting towards bird and environmental conservation, and what we need to do in order to see the change that we all desire to see.
Last month, the BWZ team visited Chaisa School, Lumuno School, and Pinewood School in Lusaka, to conduct educational talks with learners on “The effects of plastic pollution on birds and their habitats.”
From this particular visit, a total of 248 learners and 18 teachers from all three schools combined. Further to that, we distributed a total of 15 term 1 Fish Eagle newsletters and introduced the Junior Birders Club as a way of encouraging young learners to participate in different bird conservation activities. This is a step towards our goal for 2022, which is to engage over 2000 learners in bird and environmental conservation activities.
We remain committed to our environmental education program which we conduct within Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), in surrounding areas and across the country. We continue working with different schools and with other stakeholders across the country as we build bridges between conservation and education.
A very big thank you to Elephant Charge for the continued support towards our environmental education program.
