This video highlights the efforts of a Tanzanian community to restore their local environment and farmland through pruning and protecting bushes and protecting tree saplings.
The video provides an example of the positive impact Kisiki Hai, a tree preservation method, can have on small-scale farmers and communities living in areas heavily impacted by deforestation, drought, and climate change.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource is a great way to learn about the importance of community-driven climate solutions and community education.
The video provides a first-hand account of the effects of climate change and human actions on a small farming community, their livelihood, and their health.
Additional Prerequisites
It is important to clarify that Kisiki Hai is not a tree-planting method but rather a way of improving the survival and growth of a tree or shrub.
Although the video is in Swahili, subtitles are presented in English and are available in other languages.
Differentiation
This resource can also be used in civics classes during lessons about inequality.
Biology and environmental science classes can use this resource to reinforce the importance of forests, trees, and ecosystem services, particularly regarding their effects on the water cycle.
Have students consider why protecting trees is important for solving and adapting to climate change.
The video mentions the effects of droughts, which can be expanded upon in class through this reading.
Scientist Notes
This video introduces us to a handful of village members from Lyenge, Tanzania who care for the local trees. They discuss how the climate in their village has changed and how that has impacted their lives. They also introduce us to the Kisiki Hai method for restoring trees in an area and how it is giving them hope for the future. As a note, the video is not spoken in English but is completely captioned in English. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
HS-ESS3-3 Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.4.6-8 Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
D2.Geo.6.9-12 Evaluate the impact of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions.
