Promoting Environmental Awareness and Participation

Environmental awareness and participation is critical to environmental conservation and management. It is with this recognition, that the Education, Information and Training Division, was established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to plan and conduct programmes to promote environmental literacy in our society.
Beginnings
During 1998-2000, while still in its early stages, the EPA implemented an Environmental Awareness and Capacity Building Programme, with funding from the UNDP. This programme laid the groundwork for the EITD, raising environmental awareness of local government, media, and schools. Local government, specifically, RDCs and NDCs in the ten administrative regions of the country, participated in numerous workshops to increase awareness and understanding of environmental management and conservation. Several interventions were made in schools, including the promotion of environmental clubs; conduct of inter-school quiz competitions; teacher training workshops; and introduction of environmental education curricular material. Recognizing the influence of media, journalists were also engaged through workshops aimed at raising their awareness of, and interest in environmental issues.

Annual Activities
Building on the groundwork laid in its early stages, under the UNDP funded Environmental Awareness Programme, the EITD began to implement an annual programme which is funded by the Government of Guyana. The annual programme comprises the development of materials, outreach, media activities, and capacity building components. The focus of the annual programme, is generally guided by the international theme of the year, while activities for each environmental day, follow a specific international theme. So what does a typical year of activities look like? Annually outreach activities are centered around eight (8) environmental days each year, with the International Biodiversity Day and World Environment Day being given strongest emphasis. This is because the EPA is the national focal point for the Convention on Biological Diversity and is the principal agency responsible for the environment in Guyana.

Outreach
The EPA organizes and conducts a range of environmental awareness and education activities. Among these activities are youth seminars, coastal-clean-ups, walks, rides, exhibitions, classroom sessions, and poster competitions.
Youth seminars generally involve a cluster of 10-15 schools, each of which is required to deliver a presentation, poster exhibit, or artistic item on the theme of the seminar. It is typical for two seminars to be organized annually, one in observance of Biodiversity Day and the other for International Ozone Day. Seminars are rotated so as to give the opportunity to schools in all the regions of the country.
Coastal Clean-up activities are organized annually to mobilize the public to participate in removing debris that ends up on our shores. Initially, organized in Georgetown, Coastal Clean-up has been done in Regions 2, 3, and for many years now has been sustained in Region 6 and Georgetown.
The Green Walk was an activity usually organized to herald World Environment Day (WED). It was first started in 1999 and continued for 14 years to 2013, enjoying great support over the years, and on occasion was even extended to Regions 6, 10 and 7. The Ride-for-the-Environment was another activity that was usually organized in observance of WED, with the first one taking place in Region 10; it was since repeated in Regions 2 and 6.
Environmental exhibitions have also been successfully organized from time to time to engage the public on various environmental issues, their impacts and potential solutions. It is usual for exhibits to be interactive and to offer tokens as incentives to encourage participation by the visiting public. An important factor for the success of exhibitions is the participation of various sector agencies, private sector companies, and NGOs in hosting booths to showcase their link to the environment.

Media Activities
Media has a wide reach and influence and is an important vehicle to spread environmental awareness and information. As such, the EPA as far as is possible, utilizes TV, radio discussions, and newspaper to inform the public of its work, and positive environmental behavior and action. Panel discussions are usually organized and aired on TV and radio in observance of environmental days with panelists drawn from relevant organizations and agencies. Similarly, newspaper features are published to inform the public of environmental issues and how they can play a part in the solution.
On a weekly basis, articles are published in the newspaper which seeks to inform the public on environmental issues, environmental days, EPA’s processes, etc.

Capacity Building
A range of activities are conducted to build capacity of specific target groups. These activities generally focus on environmental education, climate change, and composting.

Environmental Education
To give young people experience at outdoor education, the EPA has organized annual camps for schools. These camps are held at camping grounds along the Linden Soesdyke highway where they are able to learn experientially in a natural setting. This activity has enjoyed very positive reviews from participants over the years.
The EPA has also been holding environmental education workshops for trainee teachers annually. These workshops are also held at camping sites along the Linden–Soesdyke highway, introducing teachers to learning in the forest and to techniques that utilize the natural environment as a laboratory. The main objective of these workshops is to enable teachers to develop lessons that integrate environmental protection and conservation. Like the students, teachers greatly enjoy the hands-on activities and the experience of the outdoor classroom provided by the camp sites.

Climate Change
The EPA has for several years now, been conducting activities to build knowledge on climate change and its impacts in primary schools. Classroom sessions are conducted using a workbook developed by the EPA, which allows students to test their knowledge gained from presentations done by the EPA training team. This is an ongoing activity and so far sessions have been conducted in schools in several regions of the country e.g. regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9.
Also on the EPA’s annual programme, are climate change workshops targeting women. These workshops are conducted with organized women’s groups, whether religious or social in nature.

Through collaboration with various partners the EPA has been able to expand its reach to many hinterland communities, to raise awareness of the need to prevent water pollution and to conserve water in the face of climate change. Also through partnership, the EPA has been able to do work with youths in regions 7 and 10 to enhance understanding of climate change so as to be better prepared for its consequences.

Solid Waste Management
Addressing the burning issue of solid waste management in the country, the EPA has conducted numerous workshop sessions with communities and schools to bring attention to the Litter Prevention Regulations e.g., last year, in collaboration with a partner, workshops were held for several schools in New Amsterdam, Region 6.
A trash to fashion activity was introduced last year, with assistance of a JICA Volunteer attached to the EPA. This activity involves training in techniques of reusing trash as fashion with students’ talent being presented in a fashion show. The event was held last year in Georgetown and attracted participants from 12 schools. This year, it was held in Bartica, with more than 10 schools participating. This location was chosen in view of Bartica having recently gained the status of being a town, hence the need to address solid waste management, at all levels including that of schools.
The EPA has also held training workshops in composting at Anna Regina and St Cuthbert’s Mission. These workshops utilized the services of a very experienced local consultant and sought to illustrate to participants how different models of composters can be constructed and used.

Going forward
As the EPA continues with its environmental awareness and capacity building programmes, it will continue to utilize partnerships and collaboration to increase activities and expand its reach in the country. Our outreach efforts have received good response wherever we go and we look forward to public participation in our activities and in positive environmental actions.