WNPS Youth Wing continues its inspirational journey through Education for Conservation
By Ananthabairavy Arumugam
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; we will understand only what we have been taught”
- Baba Dioum
The above quote captures the importance and purpose of the WNPS Youth Wing’s Education for Conservation initiative, which inspires and empowers school students to be the change for a better tomorrow for Sri Lanka’s environment and wildlife.
The Youth Wing of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), established in 2017, has in the space of four years, worked with more than 80 schools in 16 different districts, reaching more than 20,0000 students with the financial support and collaboration of NDB Bank.
In 2019, this programme was officially endorsed by the Ministry of Education due to the understanding of its value, which can shape environmental conservation by educating schoolchildren. The journey of Education for Conservation continues to 2022, and in the past six months alone, the Youth Wing has worked with 21 schools in seven districts.
To celebrate World Environment Day and World Oceans Day, the Youth Wing conducted a week-long school awareness programme series at Anawilundawa from 6 to 10 June. We worked with 10 schools near Anawilundawa International Ramsar Wetland Sanctuary for this programme series. Anawilundawa is a unique ecological setup, including mangroves, coast, and freshwater tanks. This is the largest Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka, and it is a breeding ground for many bird species.
More than 1,000 school students engaged in this programme from Aththanganaya Kanishta Vidyalaya, Welipalassa Kanishta Vidyalaya, Muththupanthiya Kanishta Vidyalaya, Baththuluoya Maha Vidyalaya, Korayapura Kanishta Vidyalaya, Dembatapitiya Kanishta Vidyalaya, Mahama Eliya Maha Vidyalaya, Wijayakatupotha Maha Vidyalaya, Karukkuliya Kanishta Vidyalaya, and Pankulawa Maha Vidyalaya.
Students were motivated to protect their beautiful motherland via knowledge enhancement on the value of Sri Lanka’s ecosystems and biodiversity. The lectures enriched knowledge amongst the students regarding Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity, endemism, endangered species, climate change, pollution, deforestation, and the impacts of human activities on the ecosystems. There was a particular focus on the importance of mangrove forests and the protection of biodiversity in a wetland ecosystem.
The Youth Wing publication, Finding the Mighty Little Girl in the Land of Machines, a handbook on environmental rights and
responsibilities, and toolkits on beekeeping, reforestation, waste management, organic farming, and bio-fencing were provided to the children. This will give them the tools and guidance to become environmental leaders and initiate sustainability projects within their schools and communities. The Youth Wing will provide seed funding to the schools to help initiate the projects after reviewing, refining, and approving project proposals given by the schools.
These awareness sessions truly inspired the groups of students; they came up with creative ways to reduce environmental pollution and agreed to minimise lunch-sheet usage. The students at Muththupanthiya Kanishta Vidyalaya students were very sad about the heavy use and poor disposal of single-use plastics, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Hence, they have started using these discarded plastics as flower pots and a beautiful small fence in their schoolyard. These sustainable initiations by school students indicate many young environmental heroes in our next generation.
The Youth Wing programme continues to be transformative and highly impactful in nature. It stimulates students to think and be innovative and creative in solving environmental issues. Most importantly, we are proud to generate enthusiasm among the children about the importance of protecting the environment and implementing solutions to address challenges.
(Ananthabairavy Arumugam is the WNPS Youth Wing Project Co-ordinator. She works with the Youth Wing team and supports the setting up of projects and work, especially in the North, East and Central Highlands of the country)
The history of wildlife protection in Sri Lanka is almost synonymous with that of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka. At 128 years old, the WNPS is the third oldest non-governmental organisation of its kind in the world and was responsible for the setting up of the Wilpattu and Yala National Parks in Sri Lanka, and of the formation of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
