(Posted 05th June 2023)
Lapalala Wilderness School (LWS) has a thirty-year legacy of excellence in the environmental education of the youth of South Africa, and naturally, the upcoming World Environment Day on 5th June 2023 is an important date on this school’s calendar.
World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1974. Now 22 years since LWS started supporting this important day, the management has identified a need to reiterate its importance to the local communities and reinforce the LWS ethos. “Our actions on this day must become a way of life. Here at Lapalala, for both the school and the reserve, every day is World Environment Day”, says the School’s Director, Mashudu Makhokha.
The theme adopted by LWS for the 2023 World Environment Day is ‘Solution to Plastic Pollution’, addressing the global scourge that is negatively impacting every aspect of the natural world.
The Lapalala Wilderness Foundation and the LWS have strong links with local communities within the Limpopo province and often embark on joint project partnerships.
Preparation for the upcoming World Environment Day started a few weeks back, when Mashudu Makhokha and his team of educators visited communities and their tribal leaders in the Lephalale district of Limpopo for educational sessions and discussions.
This included the Shongoane village, whereupon the decision was taken together with LWS, to host an event within the village on World Environment Day on the 5th June. Close to 500 attendees are expected who together will commence the day by cleaning up the rivers and streets between 6 am and 9 am. Then, assisted by the local municipality, they will take the rubbish to a landfill site. Learners from the primary and secondary schools in the area will also conduct clean ups to remove plastic pollution and litter from the river source.
The Palala River and its tributaries are the primary water source of many of these communities. This river joins the Limpopo River, which eventually flows into the Indian Ocean. Keeping it pollution-free, especially of waterborne diseases, has benefits that extend beyond these small villages.
LWS is encouraging each community to adopt a section of the river, which LWS will continue to monitor even after the event.
As part of the programme, two inspiring speakers whose passion for conservation was kindled when they attended the LWS’s Programme and Man and Biosphere Programme during their university studies will relate their success stories to the audience.
- The first speaker is Talifhani Tshitwamulomoli, an Environmental Science graduate from the University of Venda. Talifhani grew up in Vondo village under the Tshivhase dynasty and attended Tshanowa Primary School and Luphai Secondary School. In 2019 he was recognized by the National Department of Social Development as one of the top nine young people who are contributing towards youth development in the Republic of South Africa.
He is currently the Chief Operations Officer at the Green Development Foundation and was recently listed in the prestigious “Forbes 30 Under 30 in Sustainability”.
- Phathutshedzo Mudau was raised in a village called Tshikuwi, in the Nzhelele region of the Vhembe district. He saw the dire effects of deforestation and garbage dumping on the biosphere Reserve and identified the need for fuel among the local communities. Phathutshedzo is the founder of Dziphathutshedzo Green Surfacing. The company uses plastic bags and bottles to make paving bricks, road surfaces and tombstones.
Using waste material from local sawmills, wood char and ashes and other agricultural waste materials, he produces charcoal briquettes called “Hasha Mulilo”. They provide a cost effective solution to the fuel needs of the communities, and the ashes can be used as organic fertilizer to enrich the soil.
The LWS would like to thank the Ford Wildlife Foundation for their continued support. “Their vehicle donation enables us to connect with our communities and carry out not only our World Environment Day initiatives but the many other projects we manage on a daily basis,” concludes Mashudu Makhokha.
