International Environment Day 2024 _Celebrations at St. Joseph Vocational Training Centre Kamuli

Every year on 5TH June, people across the globe unite to commemorate International Environment Day. This significant day designated by the UN General Assembly in 1972, serves as a platform to raise awareness on the problems facing our environment such as air and plastic pollution, illegal wildlife trade, sustainable consumption, sea level increase, food insecurity among others. This year’s theme: ‘Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience’.

Members of the Green and Gender Club marked the day by starting with an awareness session on environmental conservation and gender aspects around the environment. The patron Green Club Mr. Twijukye John called upon the students to preserve the ecosystem for the current and future generation. He further noted that as technicians, they must be mindful of their actions since they directly interact with the environment. The Gender Officer Madam Nanyonjo Lydia highlighted the relationship between gender and environment according to this year’s theme. She observed that irrespective of one’s gender, we all have a role to play to conserve the environment since adverse effects affect all.

The event ended with setting up a Green Club zone through planting of 50 trees in an effort to conserve the environment and serve as an example to the students to do the same in their families and communities. Students noted that the green zone will be very important as it will serve as a future reading and resting place for them to interact and share with one another. This was emphasised by a student -Wafula Humphreys Okwomi, noted that the “tree planting session will serve the current and future generation, I will implement this by planting a wood lot at our home.”

The celebration of this year’s International Environment Day at St. Joseph Vocational Training Centre Kamuli was possible with funding from Austrian Development Cooperation and Jugend Eine Welt. This is part of the broader Gender Matters for Green TVET programme; a four-year initiative (2023-2026) implemented in five Don Bosco TVET Centres across Uganda and Rwanda.