Nature Trust (Malta) has launched Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE), an environmental educational programme supported by the HSBC Cares For The Environment Fund and the Rural Affairs and the Environment Ministry, with the launch supported by the Corinthia Hotels. YRE is a programme for secondary students, run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), and represented in Malta by Nature Trust.
Currently, 500 schools from 14 countries across Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa participate in YRE, whose network functions as a press agency specialised in producing and delivering journalistic articles about the environment. Students may investigate a number of issues that include agriculture, cities, coastline, energy, waste, water, transportation, desertification, industrial pollution, forests, and population.
Sally Robson, Director, HSBC Cares For The Environment Fund said: “The more inquisitive young people get, the more we can ensure a culture of enquiry and challenge; a future generation that is aware of the threats to a sustainable environment, and that will take action to protect our planet. Young Reporters For The Environment will help instill in young students, a sense of exploration, investigation and awareness on matters related to the environment.”
YRE may be integrated into existing educational programmes involving a team of different teachers. Disciplines such as the physical science, history, geography, languages, computer science and earth and life sciences can be approached from the angle of environmental issues. In the meantime, pupils acquire new capabilities in communication and the use of new technologies.
The main innovative technique put forward in YRE is the development of project teaching as a way of introducing an open, flexible, topic-oriented and inter-disciplinary approach to education.
Schools interested in participating in the YRE programme may contact Annick Cassar at [email protected] or Nature Trust at [email protected]. More information on YRE may be accessed at www.youngreporters.org.