UN Side Event on Formal Climate Change Education                   

"Learning to live with climate change - accelerating climate change education and awareness-raising"
4 December 2015, 13:15 - 14:45, Le Bourget, Blue Zone, Hall 4, Room 4          

As part of the Education Day at COP 21 / CMP 11, a number of UN Agencies hosted a side event on climate change in the formal education system. 2015 is the year in which major sustainable development (SD) agendas and agreements are being revised and new goals for more peaceful, equitable societies and a healthier planet will be set. Education is a key vector to prepare societies for global changes and plays a critical role in achieving SD goals and putting into practice a global agreement on climate change.

The heads of UNFCCC and UNESCO agree that “we have no choice but to move forward, together. For this, agreements between Governments are vital. For them to succeed, we must embed the aims and the goals deeply within societies, in the minds of women and men. This is why we need to educate to restore the Earth’s balance and deliver a prosperous future for the many rather than the few. It is the message that education ministers must take forward into the last lap of negotiations that will testify to our shared resolve to set the balance right, for people and for our planet.” (Bokova and Figueres Open-Ed, 2015)

At COP 20 last year in Peru, Ministers and heads of delegation adopted The Lima Ministerial Declaration on Education and Awareness-raising. This Declaration calls on governments to include climate change into school curricula and climate awareness into national development and climate change plans.

More and more governments follow this call and have integrated education strategies, tools and targets into national sustainable development policies and integrated sustainable development issues such as climate change into their education policies and plans. These trends and processes need to be accelerated and scaled up which requires strong partnerships and collaboration among many actors including educators, communities and learners. This side event highlighted the key role of formal education and highlighted partnerships and opportunities for scaling up education on climate change and effectively engaged all the stakeholders in transformation towards sustainable societies.

Speakers: The event provided a platform for speakers from a wide range of expertise, including Minsters of Education, NGO's, representatives of UN agencies, relevant practitioners and experts as well as other stakeholders.

Participation: The side event was open to participation by Parties, representatives of relevant bodies established under the Convention and relevant experts, practitioners, other stakeholders as well as the private sector and the media registered for COP 21 / CMP 11.

Venue: Le Bourget, Blue Zone, Hall 4, Room 4   

The agenda is available here (430 kB)

Photo: UNESCO