Some 60,000 Belgian pupils will make sure they devote one square metre of their school premises or grounds to biodiversity on Wednesday. Almost 280 schools will then be involved in the 5th and last action day, as part of an awareness-raising campaign for the environment organised by the GoodPlanet group. Nursery, primary and secondary schools which subscribe to this movement will be mobilised to “give biodiversity a boost” by choosing to set up either a mini-reservation or an animal shelter, sowing flowers, or planting trees and indigenous bushes, explains the non-profit.
A total of 88 schools are taking part in Wallonia, 46 in Brussels, and 145 in Flanders, which adds up to 60,000 pupils making a practical gesture for nature on the same day.
For example, in Gilly in Wallonia, pupils in their 3rd and 4th year at the Royal secondary school plan to build an “insect hotel” measuring 2 square metres, to encourage pollination in the school’s orchard. In Brussels, a 1st year class at the King Baudoin college will add to their seedbeds in the kitchen gardens set up around the playing field, and will inform other pupils.
The day marks the end of an action campaign started in October and punctuated by 5 thematic action days around local consumption, waste disposal, energy, water, and biodiversity.
Schools were encouraged to join one or more activities as they wished. Over 500 schools answered the call in Belgium, aiming to “mobilise a maximum number of children and make them think of the effect of everyday actions,” explains the NPO.
(Source: Belga)
