I am pleased to have presided over the opening of Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) environmental education centre [last Wednesday].

I commend the work that LWT and its partners to deliver environmental education lessons to our learners both here at the centre and also in our local schools.

We are all aware of the many conservation challenges Malawi is facing with issues such as droughts and floods, deforestation, human-wildlife conflict and the illegal wildlife trade.

It is important that we ensure that our children and young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills to protect the environment.

I see this as an essential part of the education our schools are providing and I very much welcome Lilongwe Wildlife Centre’s support in achieving this.

It is wonderful that LWT is delivering lessons full of fun activities in this beautiful environment. Playing is a great way for children to learn. So, with the forest as a playground and classroom, I can imagine lessons here are an inspiring and a memorable experience!

As well as learning about how to protect different wild animals and wild habitats, I know the lessons at the new centre also include topics such as water and waste management, which are vital to ensure that we have a healthy environment for people and wildlife.

We need to all learn how to manage our waste better, so we don’t have rubbish in our rivers and lakes and we can all have clean water to drink.

We can all do small things like trying not to use plastic bags or plastic bottles and making sure we always put our litter in the bin. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep the environment clean.

I understand that the lessons here involve lots of drama, games and learning new skills. So, as well as learning about the environment and spending time in nature, our learners can also develop important skills such as teamwork and leadership.

As such, I encourage all of the teachers here today to use this new facility and work with our colleagues at LWT so that as many learners as possible can benefit from this exciting programme.

I am also pleased that my colleagues in the Malawi Institute of Education and Directorate of Quality Assurance Services are developing a new source book on the environment and wildlife for our young primary learners and we appreciate the support of LWT and several donors to achieve this.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the completed books and delighted that this important resource will be available to teachers, so environmental education will be a central topic in our national primary curriculum.

LWT shared a quote with me from Baba Dioum, a famous conservationist from Senegal who lived a long time ago.

He said: “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught”.

I think this quote is fitting today.

First, we need to love our environment and we can only do that if we really spend time in natural settings such as LWT forest right in the capital city.

Then we must understand our wildlife and wild places. As such, we all need to be taught and to learn together.

Our wonderful teachers in schools and at the new centre are working hard every day to teach learners and I am sure that our learners often teach us too!

So, education, really, is at the heart of making sure we conserve our environment for all of us to enjoy and benefit from.

Finally, I know one of the activities learners do at the LWT centre is to write their own ‘wish for Malawi’s wildlife’.

As such, I wanted to share mine with you.

My wish is that our young learners gain the knowledge and skills they need to become dedicated citizens and protect Malawi’s wildlife and wild spaces for generations to come.

The work of everyone involved, from various government departments to donors, conservationists, teachers and children show that we are well on course to achieve this.

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