St. Vincent Treelympics - 2015




ENO Treelympics 2015 St. Vincent and the Grenadines

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Thank You

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2. The St. Vincent Climate

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Compliance Conference

3. ENO Treelympics 2015 in St.

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Vincent

4. Registration of the Schools

5. Educational Sessions at each

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school

6. The Treeplanting Exercise

7. Certificates

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8. Media

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9. Measurable Results

10. How the Money was Spent

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THANK YOU!

The ENO Treelympics 2015 Project was carried out by the Richmond Vale Academy, The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, The Ministry of Agriculture, The Ministry of Education, The Mustique Charitable Trust, the teachers and headmasters of all schools in St. Vincent, various community groups and passionate individuals.

Richmond Vale Academy is a Non-profit organization that believes in green, sustainable living and that improving our planet is necessary, fun, popular and accessible for all. We believe in inspiring a more conscious, inclusive movement through tree planting projects, education, social media and volunteerism.

Richmond Vale Academy is grateful for the support granted by The Mustique Charitable Trust. The Mustique Charitable Trust has awarded Richmond Vale Academy with a grant of 48,040 XCD for carrying out the project. Without the financial support this project would not have been possible.

Richmond Vale Academy is grateful for the support granted by the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education for supporting the tree planting initiative.

Richmond Vale Academy is grateful towards all participating schools, their headmasters, teachers and students for making this project into a success.

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THE ST. VINCENT CLIMATE COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE 2012-2021 St. Vincent and The Grenadines is one of the world’s most disaster prone countries. During the past few years hurricanes and floods have affected St Vincent. Hundreds of people lost their homes, jobs and loved ones. Major damages have been done to bridges, roads and buildings.

Thousands of trees and many acres of agricultural soil have been lost.

With a 10 year perspective, Richmond Vale Academy launched the St. Vincent Climate Compliance Conference in 2012, aiming at forming the future of St. Vincent into that of being a Climate Compliant Country, one of the first of its kind globally. The Climate Compliance Conference works with a small group of people from Richmond Vale Academy together with the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines,various community organizations,schools and volunteers.

TREEPLANTING Since the launch of the Conference, more than 25,000 trees have been planted with over 150 beneficiaries including schools, communities, prisons, organizations as well as deforested areas.

Vincentian school children, students, farmers and volunteers from all over the world have planted the trees and learned about Global Warming at the same time.

THE ENO TREELYMPICS 2015 - ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES The Treelympics is a worldwide tree planting competition for schools and community groups.

ENO (Environment Online) has pledged at the Rio+20 Conference to plant a 100 million trees by 2017 and is organizing this yearly competition in order to involve youth in the planting of trees. In 2014, St. Vincent and the Grenadines won the Gold Medal in the category “Most Active Country”.

The ENO Treelympics 2015 Project was successfully carried out by the Richmond Vale Academy, The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, The Ministry of Agriculture, The Ministry of Education, The Mustique Charitable Trust, the teachers and headmasters of all schools in St. Vincent, various community groups and passionate individuals.

In November 2015, ENO Treelympics announced St. Vincent and the Grenadines as winner for the second year in a row in the category “Most Active Country” with a participation rate of 80% of all schools.

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REGISTRATION OF THE SCHOOLS AND FOLLOW-UP 2014 An important part of the participation in the ENO Treelympics 2015 competition, all participating schools and groups should register themselves on the oďŹƒcial website of the competition (www.treelympics.org).

Teachers, students and volunteers from Richmond Vale Academy assisted in the registration of all the groups and schools. Every school and group was paid a visit and together the registration was submitted.

At the same time, and as a follow up on the Treelympics competition of 2014, all participating schools were personally thanked and congratulated on last years’ participation, which had resulted in receiving the Gold Medal and the Certificate of Most Active country in the global competition.

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EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS AT EACH SCHOOL As an integral part of the Tree Planting Actions, all participating schools and community groups have received a lesson about the importance of trees. Teachers, students and volunteers of the Richmond Vale Academy visited all participating groups and taught about Global Warming and Climate Change, the importance of trees and protection of the environment.

The basic science of the Greenhouse Gas Eect was explained, accompanied by an interactive lesson about the importance of trees in mitigating the eects of climate change and in adapting for the future. The impact of deforestation on soil erosion, the nutritional and medicinal values of trees, the connection with the water cycle and the role of trees in mitigating climate change were highlighted.

2000 pamphlets were distributed, which contained information about climate change, the importance of trees and about community mobilization. All schools and groups have also received posters with the same information.

Teachers, students and volunteers of the Richmond Vale Academy organized in smaller groups to reach all registered schools in September and October, before the deadline of the ENO Treelympics 2015. 90 Primary, Secondary and Tertiary schools and 8 other Community Groups where reached with the information included in the lessons.

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CONTENT OF THE PRESENTATIONS The Group of volunteers, teachers and students from Richmond Vale Academy had prepared 3 variants of the lessons aimed at 3 different age groups, children, youth and adults. The 3 lessons varied in degree of difficulty and content but the messages about climate change and the importance of planting trees were the same.

For Children:

The Focus of the presentation was to explain what Global Warming is, what the visible effects are and what the reason are for it. Another main element of the presentation was to explain simply all the role of trees in our environment and the benefits of planting them. Other elements were the basics of what biodiversity means, how the water cycle functions and what the Tree Planting competition was. The presentation came in two shapes, one with a powerpoint presentation and one with a series of posters.

For Youth:

Besides a deeper explanation of the elements of the children’s presentation, the focus in this presentation was on what we use trees for, deforestation and in regards to those the importance of planting new trees. The presentation contained some more statistics and facts about trees and their role in our eco-systems.

For Adults:

The adult presentation contained next to the above mentioned elements a deeper explanation of human’s role in Climate Change and what else we can do besides planting more trees.

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THE TREE PLANTING EXERCISE

The main goal of ENO Treelympics is to plant 100 million trees by 2017, as pledged at the Rio+20 Summit 2012.

In September and October 2015 a group of teachers, students and volunteers from Richmond Vale Academy, together with representatives from The Ministry of Health, Wellness and The Environment went on the road to reach all registered schools and groups.

The group planted trees along with students and teachers at the various schools in St. Vincent, Bequia, Union Island, Mustique and Mayreau.

A variety of trees was purchased at the Forestry Division of The Ministry of Agriculture. The majority of the trees were fruit trees such as Sour Sop, Mango, Sugar Apple, Almond and Papaya, and a variety of other trees such as Moringa, Neem and others.

After having received the educational session, school children and other participants planted trees.

On average, a number of 10 trees was planted with each school and each group. The number was depending on the amount of space the schools had available for planting. Some of the schools planted in a nearby area as they had no available grounds for tree planting. A number of approximately 1,500 trees was planted together with the participating young activists.

A list of all participating schools, groups and the amount of trees planted is added to this report.

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CERTIFICATES Each school that has participated in the ENO Treelympics has received two framed certificates.

Richmond Vale Academy, with the support of the Mustique Chartiable Trust, was able to provide a certificate for winning last years’ Golden Medal in the category of Most Active Country and a certificate for participating in the ENO Treelympics 2015 competition.

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MEDIA Youtube Documentary A 10 minute high quality documentary was produced about the tree planting actions. The documentary features images of the lessons, the planting actions, the certificate ceremony and interviews with several of the stake holders and partners who participated in the ENO Treelympics 2015 action in St. Vincent. The documentary can be viewed on Youtube on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXyqxYFb8F4

Media Coverage Written Press Press releases about the tree planting campaign and about the victory in ENO Treelympics 2015 have been sent to the 3 major newspapers.

TV

The Tree Planting campaign in the schools and other groups was documented and broadcast on SVG TV News and by the Agency for Public Information (API). The news items showed the presentations, the tree planting exercise and interviews with participants.

Radio Participants and teachers from Richmond Vale Academy were interviewed in radio shows, twice on NBC Radio and once on WE FM, spreading awareness about climate change, trees and the tree planting campaign at hand.

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MEASURABLE RESULTS Schools in St. Vincent that participated (78)

Rose Hall Government School, Richmond Vale Academy, Chateaubelair Methodist, Fitz Hughes Government, Petit Bordel Secondary, Troumaca Government, Spring Village Methodist, Troumaca Secondary, Buccament Government, Layou Government, Buccament Bay Secondary, Leeward District Seventh Day Adventist, Barrouallie Technical institute, Barrouallie Anglican School, Barrouallie Government, West Wood Methodist, Bethel High School, Clare Valley Government, Campden Park Technical Institute School, Lowmans Leeward Anglican, Kingstown Preparatory, Dr. JP Eustace Memorial, Kingstown Government, Girls' High School, Lodge Village Government, Intermediate High School, St. Joseph's Convent Kingstown, St Mary 's Roman Catholic, St Vincent Grammar school, Windsor Primary, Thomas Saunders Secondary, Petersville Primary, West St. George Secondary, Sion Hill Government, Gomea Methodist, Belmont Government, Belair Government, Fair hall Primary, Tourama Government, Langley Park Government, Georgetown Secondary, Georgetown technical Institute, Georgetown Government, Dickson Methodist, South Rivers Methodist, Pamelus Burke Primary, George Stephens Sr. Secondary, New Grounds Primary, North Union Secondary, Colonarie Government, Cane and Government, Emmanuel High School Mesopotamia, St Joseph Convent Marriaqua, Marriaqua Government, Mountain View Academy, Richland Park Government, Sugar Mill Academy, Park Hill Government, Diamond Government, Greggs Government, Adelphi Secondary, Lauders Primary, Lowmans Windward Anglican, New Prospect Primary, Biabou Methodist, Argyle Primary, Evesham Methodist, St Clair Dacon Secondary, Stubbs Government, Brighton Methodist, Calder Government, St. Martin's Secondary, Bishop's College, Kingstown Anglican, School for Children With Special Needs Kingstown, Dorset shire Hill Government, Fancy Government, Owia Government, Sandy Bay Government

Schools in the Grenadines that participated (13):

Bequia Anglican Primary, Bequia Community High, Paget Farm Government, Bequia Seventh Day Adventist Primary, Bequia Seventh Day Adventist secondary, Union Island Primary, Union Island Secondary, Mayreau Primary, Pelican Primary, Stephanie Browne Primary, Sunshine School for Children with Special Needs

Trees will be sent to our partners in Mystique to distribute in the schools there.

Other Groups that participated (2)

Inivershall Rastafari Movement, The Heartbeat Drummers

Total Trees planted: 1100

Total Educational Sessions: 92

Production of Youtube Documentary

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HOW THE MONEY WAS SPENT For the Treelympics 2015 edition Richmond Vale Academy has received financial support from the Mystique Charitable Trust, who granted a sum of 48,040 XCD to implement the project activities. Without the grant, this project would not have been possible. Below is an overview of how the money that was received, has been spent.

Item

Expense (XCD)

Purchase of Trees

4,000

Educational Materials

6,000

Resource Educator

1,000

Framed Certificates

8,000

Transport

19,040

Administration and Documentation

1,000

Project Coordinator

9,000

Total

48,040

Comparison to Original Budget - The expenses for transportation were higher than budgeted (+5,000 XCD)

- The expenses for production of educational materials were higher than budgeted (+1,000 XCD)

- The expenses for Trees were kept lower than budgeted (-6,000 XCD)

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