Earth Day is a day to raise awareness of current environmental challenges and celebrate progress in environmental protection over the past decades.
On Earth Day 2018 we celebrate the ingenuity of those who are rising to the many challenges to protect our environment and natural heritage – here you’ll find just some of the many recent collaborative U.S.-Samoa projects in this area.
- Climate Change & Environment Education Project- Educate the Younger Generation Today to become Environment Champions in the Future
The Leadership Samoa 2016 cohort’s Climate Change & Environment Education Project is designed and planned in line with Goal 13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The Leadership Samoa Class of 2016 see this Project as the opportunity to contribute to this mission while targeting the young generation who, if educated and informed well of the current situation and its impact in the future, will undoubtedly impact greater and positive change in the future.
Funded by U.S. Embassy Apia, the project is a competition and development exercise amongst primary schools, concentrating on the Two Key Focus Areas – Recycling and Replanting – to nurture and maintain a positive attitude in children towards a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. It encourages and recommends the involvement of everyone in the community, the school, village committee, parents & families. The project facilitates partnerships between the schools and respective organizations within their focus areas to provide support, lessons and materials or equipment for the project.
- Collaborative Marine Research Across the South Pacific
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regularly conducts oceanographic, atmospheric and marine research across the South Pacific, often taking Samoa scientists onboard for participatory research.
NOAA’s CAPSTONE project, which visited the waters of Samoa, Republic of Kiribati, Tokelau, and the Cook Islands to help map and understand deep-water geography and conditions, coordinated with Cook Islands’ elders and cultural leaders on the naming of newly discovered underwater features.
- Sustainable organic farming for unemployed youth
The Women in Business Development Incorporated (WIBDI) works to empower and equip rural families to cultivate sustainable businesses that maximize farm-based resources. WIBDI’s commitment to provide essential services to small farmers such as organic agriculture training, certification, and linkages to both local buyer and international markets, is an environmentally friendly and sustainable project that Embassy Apia strongly supports.
One of WIBDI’s projects is known as the Organic Warriors Academy. This academy targets unemployed youth to take up organic farming by equipping youth with the knowledge and skills to cultivate their land into a profitable business. The training focuses on organic farming practices and climate change, but also has a strong emphasis on business planning and budgeting.
On Earth Day 2018, U.S. Embassy Apia salutes all who are working to tackle today’s environmental challenges.
