Education and climate change
A specific goal for educators lies in teaching children and adults about the environment — how it functions, how they depend on it and how they affect it. Children give a particular respondse to these lessons. The seeds of understanding planted now will produce concerned citizens in a generation time. Teaching students about the environment merely extends the understanding of citizenship to encompass their responsibilities as citizens of Planet Earth.
Nowadays, education is crucial for fostering climate action. It helps people understand and cope with the effects of climate change by providing them knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to act as agents of change.
The international community is aware of the importance of education and training in tackling climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and the related action program call on governments to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders in climate change policies and actions. Unfortunately, however, recent UNESCO surveys in 100 countries show that only half of the national education programs worldwide mention climate change. Italy is the only European country to include such a program as a compulsory subject, along with a number of climate change activities to be carried out in schools. For example: activities related to nature protection, such as cleaning activities, visits to farms and nursery gardens to first-hand learn how to care for animals and plants, courses and seminars on waste recycling, etc.
As part of its commitment to education on climate change, the UN emphasizes that, in addition to making significant progress in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is particularly urgent to develop educational and information activities aimed at the widest possible audience. In this regard, experts point out that key topics related to global warming, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, carbon footprint, deforestation, recycling, green jobs, green taxes, water footprint, circular economy, sustainable food, etc., must occupy a much more important place on the agenda of modern society.
In the autumn of 2021, education on climate change was included in the agenda of COP26 in Glasgow. In the joint session of Ministers of Education and Ministers of Environment, more and more representatives of governments, organizations and activists recognized climate change education as a key component for a sustainable future and a fair transition. In dialogue with a number of actors, including politicians, teachers, students and civil society representatives, it was emphasized that teachers and educators around the world are motivated to teach and train on climate change and sustainable development, but they need political environment, including curriculum reform, training on climate change teaching, appropriate textbooks and multilingual teaching materials.
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