The beginning of the 2023/2024 academic year was marked with the civic week under the theme “Climate Action Now”, which involved, among several initiatives, a climate march.
The civic week, under the theme “Climate Action Now”, aimed to raise awareness among the school community about the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as the initiatives of the Government and society to face the increasingly greater challenges, risks to biodiversity and ecosystems, society and the economy of Cape Verde.
On September 22nd, several Integrated Basic Education (EBI) schools and kindergartens participated in the march that closed the civic week, and which aimed to draw attention to human actions with consequences for climate change and the environment, as well as increasing Cape Verdean society’s perception of a topic whose awareness is still relatively low. The initiative involved the National Directorate of the Environment and the National Directorate of Education, and included the participation of 1st and 2nd year students from schools Nova Assembleia, Eugénio Tavares, Nova Presidência and Escola Central, as well as children from preschool in Achada Santo António.
During the march, Gilberto Silva, Minister of Agriculture and Environment, welcomed the initiative and highlighted his Ministry’s full support so that schools can develop more activities to address climate change issues. “These are very important initiatives that allow us to build a society that is more sensitive to these issues and that is more participatory in the design and implementation of everything that contributes to combating climate change. For us, it is great to be able to contribute” to these activities, “involving all layers of society, not only schools, but organizations, the private sector, public institutions at all levels, including the political class”.
The official highlighted that, although Cape Verde is a small country, and its contribution to global warming is almost insignificant, the archipelago already suffers from climate change. “We have to do our part, with our activities to be an example” as a relevant country in implementing policies “and, obviously, invest heavily in implementing measures that can help us better adapt to climate change”. Gilberto Silva added that “climate warming, erosion and rising sea levels, among other consequences of climate change, are increasingly reflected and have a greater impact on life”.
Adriano Moreno, national director of Education, stressed the need to continue to introduce climate-related topics into student education, in a transversal way, across the various subjects, and to raise awareness so that younger children can also be channels of support in defending the environment. “It was a happy initiative to dedicate this week to the environment, specifically climate action: it made it possible to raise awareness among children – who are an important vehicle for reaching their parents, and the community itself – about climate change and its consequences. It was very well achieved: from Santo Antão to Brava, all municipalities joined”.
With a view to raising awareness, a set of activities was designed and a range of materials were produced to support teachers and educators, monitors and advisors, in the production and dissemination of relevant information about climate action in Cape Verde.