A school in an arid area of Zimbabwe that has been transformed into an “oasis” featuring a rehabilitated forest, fruit trees, edible garden and livestock, has been awarded a UN-backed sustainable development prize.
The Sihlengeni Primary School was announced the winner on Tuesday of the 2017 UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) thanks to its longstanding permaculture project.
Permaculture is a form of agriculture that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings in order to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems, according to UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Students, teachers and parents at the school plant exotic and indigenous trees, grass, millet and maize.
They have also implemented measures to mitigate land degradation and deforestation, in addition to rehabilitating a forest and raising chickens and pigs.
Some of the food produced is used to feed infants while the rest is sold locally.