Guest column

ALTHOUGH youths need education in order to demonstrate intellectual competency, scholarly attributes and behaviours, they also require networking, collaborative and capacity-building skills to confront challenges associated with climate change. By so doing, they can sufficiently survive, adapt and provide climate-proof solutions during difficult times.

Youths’ opportunities for survival are abound, if and only when they can appreciate the role of sustainable forest management so that they are able to deal with the vices of deforestation and land degradation among others.

This is significant in that the youths would participate in low carbon economies and emission reduction strategies for sustainable mitigation. In this regard, youths require capacity building in climate change innovations and green technology compliance.

Engaging and orienting the youths in sustainable forest management practices require proper forestry knowledge, understanding and management skills for sustainable lives. As such, knowledge of school orchards, forest plots, tree-planting and sustainable seeds and seedling projects are appropriate life-long skills. To succeed in all these, youths need training, relevant culture and specialised skills in order to fill information, knowledge and procedural gaps — some may be institutional while others are traditional or redtape related.

These would lead to overall understanding of the ecological frameworks and environments, so that they will be strategically situated and engage in relevant climate action