WEDNESDAY,
22 FEBRUARY 2006: With just two months to go before government
adopts a National Strategy for Sustainable Development,
the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will
tonight launch a “ My Strategy” campaign to be popularly
known as the NSSD Youth, Art & Essay Challenge. The
challenge forms part of an awareness raising campaign about
the strategy and is targeted at school children, high school
students and youth who are required to express their understanding
of the sustainable development in a creative format through
an essay, a business plan or in a visual artistic expression.
The need for governments to develop a National Strategy
for Sustainable Development is one of the milestone targets
agreed to at the Johannesburg Worlds Summit held in South
Africa in 2002 and reaffirmed at the 5-year review of the
Millennium Summit held in New York in 2005.
Whilst acknowledging that government had taken too long
to develop the strategy, Mr Blessing Manale, Director for
Sustainable Development Cooperation at DEAT, said that “
South Africa’s key strategic framework for development,
the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), included
many elements of sustainability, within the context of addressing
the inequalities of apartheid and the NSSD will build on
that and other major policies and initiatives currently
unfolding”
The Deputy Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi said, “This Challenge is an extension
of work commenced when the World Summit on Sustainable Development
held here back in 2002 and is aimed at engaging our youth
to be participants and not just recipients of the outcomes
of sustainable development.”
The Challenge is divided into three categories targeting
lower grade school children, high school students and youth
and youth organisations and has received financial support
from the Danish Government through its foreign development
agency – DANIDA.
The campaign runs from February to April 2006 and will
result with the winning categories receiving a total pool
prize of R100 000 towards their own studies, their schools
and their community youth projects
Ms Mabudafhasi concluded that, “We are satisfied that through
conscientising our youth about matters relating to sustainable
development they will grow up to be sensitive creating a
balance between human and environmental needs.” |
