Youth, use Mandela Month to lead preservation of the environment

In the month of June we celebrate the legacy of Nelson Mandela, the father of our democracy whose birthday on July 18 is known as Mandela Day.

“Freedom alone is not enough without light to read at night, without time or access to safe water or, without the ability to catch fish to feed your family.”

These immortal words by former president Mandela should inspire young people to roll up their sleeves to work at various community projects across the country.

Contributing our 67 minutes to society to uphold Madiba’s legacy, it's important that we address social injustice through initiatives that focus on food and water security as well as caring for our beautiful natural environment.

Recognising that today’s youth are the leaders and decision makers of tomorrow, it is important that youth play their part in protecting water resources. Access to water remains a huge problem for billions of people in the world.

Finding solutions to the water supply challenges need big decisions. However, people and their leadership at community level can play their part towards finding the solutions, and this include being watchful towards the healthy state of natural water bodies near them, such as streams, wetlands and lakes.

The quality of a river is a reflection of the way of life within a community through which it flows. Pollution of water resources is embarrassing. Its presence or absence is an indicator of the socio-economic conditions and environmental awareness and attitude of users of those resources.

Everything that happens in a catchment area is reflected in the quality of the water that flows through it, because the results of human activity and lifestyle ultimately end up in rivers, through runoff.

Healthy streams, wetlands and rivers support a great variety of water life. Rain water and tumbling mountain streams contain high levels of oxygen. Much of the oxygen comes from the atmosphere through rain, tumbling water in fast-flowing streams and photosynthesis.

Polluted water is not safe for people and animals to drink or to wash in. In SA, scarcity of fresh water is made worse by  increasing levels of  pollution of rivers and subsequently catchment areas, caused by industrial activity, urbanisation, deforestation, mining and agriculture.

The department of water & sanitation connects South Africans to their sources of water, which is crucial for water-secure future through the Clear River Campaign. This campaign is done annually, where citizens are called to clean up rivers and water ecosystems. Citizens can use this period of Mandela Month to offer their 67 minutes of goodwill towards cleaning up rivers or other water resources near them.

Fostering volunteerism among communities is actively encouraged as part of a proactive approach to protect our water ecosystems and the natural environment at large. This is where young people should use their energy and leadership to play active roles in improving the environment where they live.

Youth are the backbone of the nation. They can change the future of the society with their wellbeing and courageous behaviour. Unfortunately, today the youth are more interested in activities which are not useful to them as well as society at large, such as substance abuse and long hours playing video games in the place of reading to improve their knowledge.

Youth have a role to play in environmental and conservation efforts that will improve livelihoods.

• Ngcobo is a communicator at the department of water & sanitation