Sustainable Development Crucial For The World's Future

She made this statement at the opening ceremony of a one day workshop held at the NEA's main office in Kanifing last week.

 

The workshop has objective to educate and enlighten the public on environmental issues and facilitate cooperation between The Gambia and the Birmingham T.I.D.E. group, who were at the workshop to share their knowledge with the NEA.

Mrs. Bakurin, stressing the role of education in attaining sustainable development, said education and development are mutually reinforcing; which would support sustainable livelihoods for people and the societies.

She further said that education is at the heart of any model of sustainable development and it must be meaningfully rooted in real life situations and social and cultural experiences while being viewed as a life-long process which involves the active engagement and participation of the learners and those around them.

“We live in a globalized world and the cultural dimension is more important than ever. This dimension crosses all areas and is a vital aspect in cooperation for development,” she said.

Drawing attention to the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), she said: “ESD has developed nationally and internationally and it has had an impact on learning and education in different parts of our world.

 

The demands on education have been thus widened and deepened and this partnership between education and sustainable development is playing its role at various levels.”

According to her, the products of a meaningful education process, as it relates to the environment, will be people who respect the relationship between themselves and the nature.

She further said all the challenges facing mankind in present times which have been brought on by the progressive degradation of the environment over the years, demands for greater support for ESD, which she posits is the only real panacea for problems like global warming and the greenhouse effect.  

“It is a golden opportunity for all of us and this partnership will continue to contribute in strengthening international partnerships on ESD and this is of special significance because it is part of North-South cooperation.

“It is thus my sincere hope that this workshop will produce highly concrete results to be followed up by different activities at the different levels of this unique partnership,” she concluded.

The National Environmental Agency was established to manage day to day environmental concerns in order to achieve satisfactory progress in that area and help further the developmental process as a whole, ensuring that the environmental activities pursued by government bodies and agencies are complementary and integrated.