WINDHOEK- The 12th edition of the national youth week scheduled for next week will focus on conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Activities for this year’s edition will be geared towards education, community services and fun activities aimed at educating participants on their contribution to wildlife conservation. Young people who will participate in this event are from the country’s 14 regions.
The theme for the event that will take place in Kamanjab in the Kunene region is “Namibian youth-united for wildlife conservation”.
One of the organisers of the event, Brian Prince of the National Youth Council (NYC) said the purpose of this year’s event is to encourage stakeholder engagement in wildlife conservation, poaching, and trafficking of protected species.
The event is also aimed at sensitising young people on the importance of wildlife conservation, combating wildlife crime, illegal wildlife trading and human-wildlife conservation, and promoting conservancies as one of the viable economic opportunities that offer sustainable livelihoods to young people living in rural areas.
Prince said this would be achieved through planned activities such as educational game drives, seminars, workshops as well as community services, which will include the construction of elephant protection walls and repairing part of Etosha National Park fence.
The National Youth Week has been taking place since 2008. Through those years, the event took on different approaches including centralised and decentralised, as well as combined approaches targeting issues surrounding the Namibian youth.
The overall objective of the event is to contribute to the national and international goals of environmental sustainability including increasing the capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities.