By Khanyi Xulu – Genuine Media*

DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) “One mosquito can’t do anything against a rhino, but a thousand mosquitos together can make a rhino change its direction,” said Kjell Kuhne of Global Plan Foundation under the Plant For The Planet Academy.

The academy has been doing many workshops in and around Durban, including in townships such as Inanda and Chatsworth, where they have been working at primary schools and other public institutions to expose children to be aware of the environment.

Climate justice ambassadors. Children plant trees while the adults negotiate. Credit: Khanyisile Xulu/TerraViva

Their aim is to expose children to what the future might hold for them so that they can become more environmentally conscious and fight for their future.

Plant For The Planet Academy has been explaining to children what climate change is, how it is caused and what they can do to slow it down. Planting trees is an important part of this process.

Once the children have completed the course, they become “climate change ambassadors” said Khune. As such, they are also allowed to be voted onto the board.

“Worldwide, we are already active in over 100 countries. We want to have empowered one million children in about 20 000 academies to become Climate Justice Ambassadors by 2020. As a large network of global citizens, we can change the world,” he said.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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