Delegations from nine environment conservation schools in Central Africa, on Monday, began a five-day training to develop strategies to harmonise their curriculum. The workshop, in Kigali, has attracted mainly officers in charge of curriculum development in the institutions from Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Rwanda, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, DRC and Chad.“We need to collectively join hands in bridging the existing gaps in the protection of our natural resources considering their evident contribution to the development of our economies, especially through tourism,” said Richard Nasasira, Acting Principal, Kitabi College of Conservation and Environment Management (KCCEM).Operating under Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the school is charged with promoting and producing skilled labour in environment conservation and management.Nasasira pointed out that confronting the destruction of natural resources calls for professionalism which he said will base on sustainable programmes to resources management.He added that the training will also involve field work during which participants will visit various areas including Nyungwe forest, to ascertain management and conservation measures.Participants told The New Times that the training will also serve as a platform to share challenges based on experience and that this will help them come up with measures to promote environment protection and natural resource conservation.“The programmes we want to come up with are of great importance as this is a step towards producing or passing out fully qualified persons in the industry who will significantly impact the tourism industry,” said Dr. Hermine Dameni from the University of Dschang in Cameroon.She pointed out that the lack of qualified people to professionally handle or serve the industry causes great losses through resource destruction.
