Wildlife Clubs Can Help Children Develop Care For Nature

Mr Eric Lartey, the Executive Director of the Wildlife Society Council (WSC), has urged educationists and community leaders to imbibe in children, good environmental activities through wildlife clubs.

Mr Lartey noted that the experiences and values of childhood in environmental activities were able to stay with an individual throughout life, which helped in protecting and saving nature.

He, therefore, urged the Club leaders, who were also teachers, to nurture their pupils and students to adopt environmental preservation conduct.

Mr Lartey was addressing a workshop held for Wildlife Clubs Ghana (WCG) leaders to the review the past 30 years activities of the clubs in schools and development of a roadmap for a better future.

In attendance were selected representatives from the Eastern, Greater Accra, Volta, Western, Central and Ashanti Regions, who were taken through presentations on the topics; 'Wildlife Clubs, 30 years on', 'The successes, opportunities and the challenges as a WCG leader', and 'Fund-raising for club activities'.

Mr Lartey said: 'We need to engage them through environmental outdoor activities such as excursions, camps, hiking and bird watching'.

Hr explained that there had been a decrease in pride, enthusiasm and vibrancy associated with the wildlife clubs over the years, which he said, the society was taking steps to resolve.

'The Spirit of dedication and volunteerism has weakened over the years; There have been instances where it became extremely difficult to find a replacement for dedicated old club leaders transferred to new schools,' he said.

On the challenges faced over the past 30 years, Mr Lartey said there had been ineffective coordination on the part of GWS, lack of pro-activeness of club leaders and lack of funding.

For her part, Ms Louisa Kabobah, the Conservation Education Officer at GWS, said the society was taking proactive steps to revamp all the 245 clubs in the schools across the country.

She said the Society would within next year, visit all the clubs to know them and bridge the communication barriers that had existed in the past years.

Mr Charles Adjei Sefa of the Ashanti Region, was elected as the GWS Council Representative' while the Reverend Anthony Benibengor, was elected as the Greater Accra Regional Coordinator of GWS.

The Society is a non-governmental, non-political, non-profit making environmental organisation, which seeks to conserve wildlife in all its forms to ensure a better environment and improved quality of life for all people.

GWS aims at initiating and supporting projects, which address specific problems; create public awareness and education through conservation programmes; promote the conservation of wildlife-protected areas; and encourage research on wildlife, environmental protection and conservation.