COP21 Klima March

In the build-up to this year’s COP21 in Paris, various events will be taking place in support of this mutual effort towards a political response to climate change. The Global Climate March  aims to mobilise people all over the world, call for climate justice, and help bring an end to carbon pollution.

Find an event near you: http://globalclimatemarch.org/en/join-an-event/

The Climate Action Denmark network, formed by a number of environmental NGOs across Denmark, has taken responsibility for the organisation of the Climate March here in Copenhagen on 29 November. This network is built upon four principles:

• producing 100% renewable energy
• a change towards sustainable green economy
• forward-looking policies on climate and the environment
• climate justice

The Foundation for Environmental Education would like to openly support this effort to bring people closer to the issue of combating climate change. Furthermore, we would like to express our true hope for a fruitful and constructive COP in Paris towards positive government actions, sustainable development, and a legally binding and universal agreement on climate.

Check the Facebook event for the programme of the demonstration on 29 November 2015: https://www.facebook.com/events/1632204977029248/

Conference at COP21: Climate change as part of the curriculum from kindergarten to university

During COP21/CMP 11, the Foundation for Environmental Education will be hosting a Conference titled “Climate change as part of the curriculum from kindergarten to university”, at the Climate Generations Area on 4 December 2015, from 15:00-16:30.

The conference is meant to provide debate rooms for civil society events accessible to the public. The civil society area is seen as an international space for debates and exchanges linked to the ecological transition on the one hand, and the discovery of solutions to address climate disruption, provided by civil society, on the other.

In accordance with the wishes expressed by the French presidency of COP21/CMP11, the Climate Generation Area will be open to the public, free of charge, from the 1 December until the 11 December, with the exception of Sunday the 6 December, from 10:30 to 19:00.

Full security will be ensured throughout the area.

The conference:

There is little or no doubt any more that Climate Change is the most important, urgent and complex challenge facing humanity. This challenge requires each and every one of us to act responsibly, make changes in our perception and behaviour and be willing to make sacrifices for the good of those who will follow us. Education is recognised as an essential part of any process that looks to inform and empower people to better understand any issue and to change their behaviour based on the understanding they have achieved. This behaviour change is far more likely to be achieved if the educated are truly involved and are taught through practical, hands-on and positive action-based methodology. Hence it is essential that climate change is embedded into educational systems, that it clearly becomes part of the official curriculum and that the methodology used is not only one that informs but rather a methodology that will increase positive change in people’s behaviour.

Students of all ages are powerful agents of change: their education can impact how people make use of natural resources to move towards more sustainable lifestyles, to increase the level of activism and help them to adapt to the consequences of climate change. We would like explore how this could be achieved at different educational levels, highlight some best practices, address the difficulties facing efforts to embed climate change in the curriculum and make suggestions on how to overcome these hurdles.

The Conference will be based on a presentation and panel format, where each one of the four panel members will represent experience and expertise focusing on one education age group: kindergarten, schools, higher education and informal education.

An open panel discussion and an interaction session with the public will follow.

The speakers:

Morgan Phillips, Programme developer

Insights on early years education

Education manager of Keep Britain Tidy, a leading environmental charity in the UK and the NGO responsible for delivering FEE programmes in England, particularly Eco-Schools. Dr. Phillips holds a PhD in Environmental Education and has worked as an environmental educator, community engagement manager and lecturer, representing expertise on how environmental education is embedded into the national curriculum.

Ugo Leenhardt, Secondary education professional

French science teacher at a public secondary school involved for years in the local implementation of the Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes, creator of several projects on climate for students and of a growing network of teachers and persons in charge of economic and social development.

Hilligje van’t Land, Higher education expert

Director of the Membership and Programme Development at the International Association of Universities, Dr. van’t Land is in charge at IAU of thematic priorities as sustainable development and intercultural dialogue and runs the project on the Changing nature of the Doctoral programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.

Rizwan Jaffar, Representative for the informal education sector

Mr. Jaffar is the founder chairman of the Youth Parliament, National Commissioner for Youth Affairs at the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association and member of the program sub-committee Asia-Pacific Region of the World Organization of Scout Movement.

The Conference will be facilitated by Daniel Schaffer, CEO of the Foundation for Environmental Education, and will be held in Conference room number 3. Please note that the room capacity is limited to 100 people.

Full Guide

Programme - The FEE Conference is listed on page 32

COP21 / CMP11 Host country website: http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/ 

Please help us tweet this news using the hashtags #FEECOP21 #FEEClimateEducation

For any further information about FEE’s Conference, don’t hesitate to contact us at elisabetta@fee.global

'Replant the Planet' Denmark

In November, 15,000 students from 200 schools all over Denmark planted 33,000 trees for a better climate. Together with foresters, the students planted trees in their schools and in the forests in the hope that these trees will grow into school forests and green schoolyards. 

Rachel Boyle, International LEAF Director, was thrilled to attend the launch of 'Replant the Planet' at the Naturcenter Herstedhoje Albertslund, Denmark. Replant the Planet is an annual event, organised by our Danish LEAF National Operator, Malene Bendix and LEAF member organisation in Denmark, Skoven i Skolen. 

Replant the Planet was launched, in the finest possible way! The Danish Crown Princess Mary planted the first tree of the campaign, an Oak tree, the first tree in the new forest “The Forest of the Princess”. After planting the Oak, the Crown Princess continued planting a long row of beech trees together with many proud students. Click here to watch a short movie of the Crown Princess Mary planting and speaking about Replant the Planet. 
 
120 students, 4 Mayors and many other guests planted trees and engaged in four different workshops. They learned about photosynthesis, sketched climate drawings, carved nameplates for their trees in wood, planted young trees in pots they made from newspaper and pressed apples into juice.
 
As a part of Replant the Planet, new teaching material about forest, wood and climate was developed, a booklet and poster called “Replant the Planet: The Tree Circle – and the Climate”. Participating schools were given 50 trees and the new teaching material. 

Green Key Hotels in Madeira support reforestation initiative

The Four Views Hotels Group and the Madeira Natural Park together with students from Caniço School joined hands and set up a reforestation project.

3 November 2015 was marked by an Environmental initiative, the Reforestation in Cais do Sardinha, an area set in the protected zone of the Natural Park in Ponta de São Lourenço, the area more to the east of our island of Madeira, Portugal.

It was a joint activity between the Four Views Hotels Group and the Madeira Natural Park, with the partnership of students of Caniço School and with the special support of Hotel Quinta do Lorde, which provided an area to organise a barbecue offered to those involved in this initiative.  The Travel agency Mbtravel, provide the entire transportation logistics to the site of Reforestation.

This was undoubtedly an activity marked by noble sentiment of everyone wanting to contribute with something positive to the ecosystem of the Island and it engaged young people to take responsibility to protect what belongs to us and what surrounds us ... Nature!

The success of this activity increased the desire between the organisations involved, to engage in more initiatives for the sake of the good ecological health and nature of the Island.

International Conference 'Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals'

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) has demonstrated that education can play a vital role leading to sustainable development. The UN DESD closed with an International Conference in Nagoya, Japan in November 2014 with the declaration of the Global Action Programme (GAP). The GAP has identified five priority areas to advance the Education for Sustainable Development agenda and enable strategic focus and foster stakeholder commitment. CEE is a key GAP partner to the priority area ‘Advancing Policy’. Every country and region would need to develop their own GAP agenda bringing in local perspectives and initiative.  

In September 2015, the UN also launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an outcome of global consultative processes. It is important for ESD communities to look specifically at each goal and determine how education can play an effective role in helping achieve this.  

An international conference entitled 'Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals' is being organised by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), in partnership with UNESCO, UNEP and the Government of India. 
The Conference will be organised from January 11-13, 2016. It aims at bringing together global experience and expertise to highlight and strengthen the role of education in realising the SDGs. It will be an opportunity to build upon the learning from the UN DESD and recognise Education as a key enabler.

The SDGs are applicable to the world as a whole. Increasingly, the emphasis has moved away from a solely economic view of development to a larger view that includes the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social and economic. With this new emphasis comes also the recognition that policy instruments or technological solutions are not going to be enough and that behavioural change is crucial in achieving Sustainable Development. Thus the role of education in its broadest sense including training and capacity building, communication and creating public awareness, scientific research, sharing and access to information and networking; and partnerships become a key strategy for achieving the SDGs.

The objective of the Conference is to bring together the global experience and expertise of using Education as a way of achieving SDGs and showcasing the India experience in doing so.

Expected Outcomes

• To apply the learning of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development to develop programmes to achieve the SDGs

• To look at how the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD can play a major role in the SDG strategy

• To develop synergies and partnerships

For more details, contact Conference Secretariat at 
Email: esdgconference@ceeindia.org
Website: www.ceeindia.org/esdg