Principal honoured for campaign to clean up the environment

A Kenyan college principal has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to environmental conservation in technical, vocational education and training institutions (TVET).

Dr Edwin Tarno, the chief principal of Rift Valley Technical Training Institute in Eldoret, received the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Mitigation (SETPOM) Fellow 2018 award for his outstanding contribution to greening TVETs in Africa.

Dr Tarno was awarded during the SETPOM International Conference, 2018, held at the University of Lagos, Nigeria on October 24 and 25.

In an interview with theSaturday Nation in his office last Thursday, Dr Tarno said the culture of greening should be entrenched in all TVET institutions in Africa.

“In Kenya, we are doing very well as we have already trained over 100 greening champions. Banning of plastic bottles should be the next dimension we need to move to,” said Dr Tarno, who studied the greening of TVET institutions in Germany in 2016.

“We should have the right balance between economies and politics of environment. Protecting the environment should be our key focus,” added the principal.

His institution has been at the forefront of environmental conservation efforts including garbage collection and distribution of litter bins in estates in the region.

RVTTI has been running training on greening and it recently trained over 30 lecturers from West, East and South Africa.

The institution has been serving as the focal point for data collection for all TVETs in the region.

GREEN CAMPUS

In his keynote address at the conference in Lagos, titled "Environmental Advocacy Policies and Sustainable Pollution Management," Dr Tarno cited encroachment into ecosystems as a major threat to greening in Africa.

“In Kenya, for instance, some people were opposed to the ban on plastic bags arguing that industries will close. But the impact of plastic bags on the environment is worse,” said Dr Tarno.

He acknowledges that TVETs are the biggest polluters owing to training, which is industrial in nature, which sees a lot of industrial waste produced.

“We as TVETs must be environmentally friendly by mitigating on waste management as we train,” he said.

He lauded Nigeria for involving learners in primary and secondary schools and universities in environmental conservation.

Dr Tarno now has the duty to continue tracking the impact of all the efforts made in greening by TVETs in Africa and report progress annually to the UNEVOC headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

The UNESCO-UNEVOC-sponsored project is dubbed ‘Nurturing Green Champions for TVET in Africa.' The greening project has four key pillars — green campus, green curriculum, green community and green research.

“We want our learners to embrace green culture and inculcate greening. If one in the 40 million Kenyans do one activity to protect the environment, the impact would be massive,” Dr Tarno told theSaturday Nation.

CONSERVATION

He, however, said many African countries have given lip service to environmental conservation but said there is now need for a paradigm shift.

“One of the interventions for governments is to remove taxes on products important to environment mitigation,” said Dr Tarno.

Other SETPOM fellows recognised during the conference included Prof Anthony Ogbeibu (Department of Animal and Environment biology, Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Benin), Mrs Ijeoma Otionyeri (deputy director and head of downstream monitoring and regulation division), Prof Daniel Olorunfemi (Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, University of Benin), Prof Daniel Jerome Agada (operations controller, department of petroleum resources (Nigeria), Dr Olukemi Oyelola (Department of Chemical Science, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos) and Sir Hon Tope Tokoya (former executive chairman, Ogun state, Nigeria.

The SETPOM Fellows Award is the highest grade of membership in the society and is a distinct honour signifying recognition by peers.

The nomination of a Fellow is based on prominence, authority and seniority in the field of environment studies.

To attain the designation, a candidate must have contributed exceptionally to the field of environment protection and pollution management.