t
The success of Lupani Primary
School in Zambia shows how
education and conservation
can go hand in hand.
"If you're a community
that lives with wildlife,
then through African
Wildlife Conservation
Schools, we will
give you access to
the best educational
services"
I
n the coming decades, population growth
and economic transformation will put
unprecedented pressure on land wherever
people must exploit natural resources
for income. Education disrupts the cycle
of poverty and degradation by providing
students with sustainable employment options.
Instead of clearing land for farms or hunting
wildlife, educated adults have access to
modern careers.
AWF is therefore initiating a new conservation
program, AWF Conservation Schools (ACS),
that builds local capacity from the ground
up. The first systematic approach to linking
conservation with primary education, ACS
will build modern school facilities, provide
appropriate technology, and offer teacher
training and incentives in regions of high
conservation value.
ACS will ensure that local children have a
foundation for more prosperous lives. As
AWF CEO Patrick Bergin notes, "If you're
a community that lives with wildlife, then
through ACS, we will give you access to
the best educational services." In return,
these communities will agree to certain
conservation targets, such as using resources
sustainably or setting aside land for wildlife.
AWF has already piloted this approach at
Lupani Primary School in Zambia. Since
the school's opening, land clearance and
resource abuse have plummeted around
the conservation area that was created in
exchange for AWF support. The school's
progress underlines ACS' goal of fostering
a culture of conservation for the future.
AWF is currently developing systems that
will ensure effective implementation of
ACS, but Lupani School's ongoing success
is already illustrating that conservation and
socioeconomic progress are not mutually
exclusive, but mutually reinforcing.
A Better FUtUre
For AFricA's
chiLDren
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