Voluntary Planning Youth Engagement
Across Nova Scotia, a number of very talented individuals and organizations engage in environmental education; exploring our natural world and laying a foundation of ecological literacy within the next generation. Already we can see primary students recycling and composting, and high-school students car pooling and turning off the lights to conserve electricity; the youth want sustainability. At the same time, decisions are being made today within our political system that directly affect the future of our province`s environment, decisions that will shape the environmental landscape for youth to inherit.
Our province is currently defining itself for the many unforeseen environmental changes it will face in the near future, witnessed by the growing number of provincial policy strategies being created such as those for Heritage, Natural Resources, Water Resources and Sustainable Prosperity to name a few. A core necessity to ensure that this period of self-reflection creates an accurate vision of what the inheritors of our province hope to see is representation and accessibility for all Nova Scotians, especially for the youth. Luckily, a commitment has been made to shape these policies upon the values of people through a process called voluntary planning that will see community consultations before provincial policies are created.
As the voluntary planning process for Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Strategy is set to commence, The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Nova Scotia Chapter is embarking on a new education and outreach initiative to ensure the result is reflective of the conservation concerns of youth. Our goal is to engage youth across the province and encourage their participation in the upcoming public consultations of the voluntary planning process; to offer resources and support for youth contributions to the entire policy formulation over the next two years and to set a new standard for youth environmental engagement.
The Natural Resources Strategy will outline Nova Scotia`s policy goals for minerals, forests, parks and biodiversity until the year 2020. The voluntary planning process is THE opportunity to get the voices of Nova Scotia youth heard. Through this project, CPAWS-NS hopes to lay the foundation for a totally new approach to environmental education, one that offers direct engagement and allows for real results to be seen now and in the future.
To learn more about the CPAWS-NS youth engagement project,or to get involved, email our education coordinator at
educationATcpawsns.org
