AMAGEP calls for extension of Environmental Campaign among Immigrants

By Cliff Botha

In South Africa, there are communities that preserve their cultures from their regions of origin. Those people are sharing with all other citizens the same space. There is a need for collective responsibility to preserve our environment. That is possible through education of mass and especially those that have fewer chances to learn about those issues through existing governmental structures. Education will have to be redefined and changed so that it goes towards healing nature, bringing harmony between man and nature.
Sensitization on environmental issues needs to be inculcated deeply at the local business in n Johannesburg and school levels, and education needs to be redefined and oriented towards driving greater harmony between all people living in the economic hub of South Africa and nature. Natural resources or items that have environmental consequences should not be artificially priced or wrongly subsidized and their prices, in fact, should reflect their true cost to drive people towards cleaner alternatives.
AMAGEP insists that seminars and workshops are being organized to sensitize people about environmental issues and emissions, efforts need to be made to utilize the school years to create greater awareness around the environment, and sustainability. For AMAGEP, every person on this planet is a captive listener in a long workshop or training and that’s called schooling. So the cleverest thing would be to have this kind of sensitization already at the school level. And again, schools have to change also, because our schools are still based broadly on the same principles and visions that we had at the time of the industrial revolution when the aim was to maximize the production and extraction and exploitation of nature.
It is imperative for all business organizations and migrant communities to act upon climate change responses, while adding engagement of corporates with their suppliers and markets should also reflect strong environmental values.

The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on one health, one planet, one future and one community in Johannesburg. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in Johannesburg, especially vulnerable communities; the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as hand washing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focusing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realized the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival, climate change. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.