Environment subject of leadership programme
THE decisions we make today will shape the world for future generations.
So the Blake Inspire programme has selected five southern secondary school pupils, among 60 nationwide, to learn about critical environmental issues facing New Zealand, and ways they can take action to tackle these challenges.
They are Logan Park High School year 13 pupil Cristina Barriga, Otago Girls’ High School year 12 pupil Jemma Bezuidenhout, Otago Boys' High School year 12 pupil Luke Geddes, St Hilda’s Collegiate year 13 pupil Madeline Bilkey, and Fiordland College year 13 pupil Jessica Willans.
Run in partnership with the Ministry for the Environment, the environmental leadership programme will be held in Waikato for five days, starting on Monday.
Blake chief executive officer James Gibson said the programme aimed to kickstart environmental passion, leadership and action in young New Zealanders, and this year it would focus on four key environmental issues facing New Zealand — climate change, biodiversity loss, and marine and freshwater health.
He said young people were ‘‘acutely aware’’ that urgent action was needed, to address these issues to protect the environment for their own future and for generations to come.
‘‘Blake Inspire gives these young people the opportunity to develop action plans, expand their leadership skills and empower them to feel confident to tackle these issues and start making a positive difference as soon as they leave the programme.’’
Ministry for the Environment strategy and stewardship deputy secretary Natasha Lewis said the Covid19 pandemic had shown how connected human wellbeing was to our environment.
‘‘What we do affects our water, our air, our land and our climate — and those changes in turn affect our lives.
‘‘The decisions we make today will shape the world for future generations. More than ever, we need to support young leaders to help create a sustainable future.
‘‘Leaders must be resilient and agile. They must be able to draw on knowledge and expertise from across disciplines.
‘‘Most importantly, they must be able to collaborate.’’
She said Blake Inspire would support 60 young New Zealanders in this journey.