الاستدامة في التعليم.. خارطة طريق أجيال المستقبل للتعامل مع أزمة المناخ

The UAE attaches great importance to consolidating sustainability among the various aspects of the educational process, including students, teachers, academics, and educational supervisors, out of the country’s belief in the centrality of the role of education in confronting the repercussions of the climate crisis, as it is a major factor in shaping the environmental culture of society’s members, and establishing a generation that understands the importance of the concept of sustainability. In various fields and aspects of life.

Therefore, the UAE is working to include climate and sustainability issues within the educational system by developing curricula that enhance environmental awareness, creating programs to train and qualify teachers and educational officials, and establishing environmentally friendly schools that constitute an engine for building sustainable green communities.

Building environmental culture and awareness is one of the most prominent themes focused on in the UAE’s national strategic plans aimed at confronting climate change, exploring the best ways to reduce its effects and repercussions, and being flexible and efficient to deal with its current and future challenges. To this end, the state has intensified community awareness campaigns and has developed programs that ensure the inculcation of environmental culture and concepts of sustainability in the hearts of generations in a systematic manner, by enriching the educational system and strengthening it with theoretical foundations and practical steps.

Sustainability initiatives in the education sector are consistent with the “Impact” axis, within the “National Sustainability” campaign that was recently launched to coincide with the preparations for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be held during the period from November 30 to December 12 of the year. Taking place in Expo City Dubai, the campaign showcases the results and positive impact of UAE sustainability initiatives in various fields. The campaign also aims to spread positive behaviors towards the environment, enhance awareness of environmental sustainability issues, and encourage community participation.

• Green Education Partnership Initiative

The UAE has launched many initiatives and programs that demonstrated its keenness to mobilize the energies of generations to confront the effects of climate change, the most prominent of which was the Green Education Partnership Initiative, which was announced by the Ministry of Education, and is based on four axes covering various aspects of the educational process: “Green Education,” “Green Schools,” “Green Communities,” and “Green Capacity Building,” so that this road map outlines the features of the future and strengthens the country’s efforts to achieve climate neutrality. The UAE has been keen for the road map to be practical and applicable in other countries. This is based on its awareness of the importance of coordinating efforts at the international level to confront the issue of climate change.

The road map set clear environmental and climate goals that the Ministry seeks to achieve before the launch of the COP28 conference, including a commitment to make half of the schools and universities in the country green with the launch of the conference, and training and qualifying more than 2,800 teachers and 1,400 school principals. And launching a group of initiatives and programs aimed at providing appropriate climate training for students, teachers, and educational staff, and including climate issues within educational curricula, in order to build an environmental culture among all members of society, including those outside the formal education system.

• Local partnerships and international cooperation

The UAE has been keen to lead efforts to consolidate international cooperation in the field of green education, especially in terms of establishing partnerships with international bodies, organizations, and local institutions concerned with youth and education issues, as the Ministry of Education announced a partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to launch a number of programs. The initiatives are within the framework of the “Green Education Partnership” with the aim of spreading climate awareness and conveying the voice of youth, adolescents and children to decision-makers on environmental and climate issues.

The Ministry also announced joint cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with the aim of mobilizing efforts on education and climate issues during the “COP28” conference, where UNESCO, under the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, will support the organization of a high-level session that brings together leaders of member states on The role of education in addressing the climate crisis. Cooperation between the two sides also includes holding the first joint meeting to establish the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Environmentally-Friendly Education.

The Ministry of Education strengthened its environmental initiatives by launching the “Teachers’ Voice” initiative during the current year, in cooperation with the Office of Climate Education (OCE) and Alef for Education. It is an initiative aimed at highlighting the efforts of educational personnel in enhancing awareness, confronting climate change, and preparing for its potential impacts.

The cooperation with the Climate Education Office comes with the aim of enhancing the participation of teachers to showcase their climate projects from all over the world, and organizing side events related to climate action in the education pavilion that will be opened at COP28, for the first time in the history of the Conferences of the Parties, as well as consolidating a distinguished legacy for this stage. Post-COP28 by translating all of the Climate Education Office’s resources into Arabic to be widely used and disseminated in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The initiative includes organizing the third edition of the “COP” competition for teachers, which was established by the Office of Climate Education (OCE), and is considered an international event aimed at informing international officials and decision-makers about the work that teachers do and the role they play in confronting challenges and enhancing the global response to climate change.

The Ministry of Education also seeks to raise environmental and national awareness through awareness workshops targeting the local community, in cooperation with the Abdullah Al Ghurair Foundation for Educational Programs.

The Ministry of Education intends to build on its extensive network of local and international relations to launch more programs and initiatives aimed at enhancing the presence of sustainability in various aspects of the educational process, including supporting research and development efforts in the field of green education, before, during and after the COP28 conference.

• “A Legacy from the Land of Zayed” at “COP28”

With the country hosting the “COP28” activities during the current year and what this hosting reflects of the country’s distinguished global position in global climate action, the Ministry of Education revealed the opening of the “Legacy from the Land of Zayed” pavilion at “COP28”, which is the first educational pavilion in the history of the Conferences of the Parties. .

The pavilion aims to provide a platform for local and international bodies and educational experts to emphasize the centrality of the role of education in confronting climate issues, and to agree on practical and applicable solutions that various countries can benefit from in including sustainability and environmental culture within their educational systems.

The “Legacy from the Land of Zayed” pavilion will contribute to linking education and climate finance in a way that supports the mobilization of resources, efforts, expertise, investments and community energies to launch global initiatives and partnerships that support the presence of education in achieving sustainable development goals.

The Ministry seeks for the “Legacy from the Land of Zayed” pavilion at COP28 to leave a lasting positive impact and a sustainable legacy that the countries that will host the next editions of the Conferences of the Parties can build on to continue working on developing climate education in a way that responds to the needs and aspirations of countries and contributes to building generations that set the climate agenda on the agenda. Top of its list of priorities in various countries of the world.

• Sustainable initiatives

UAE schools sought to confirm their presence in the field of protecting the environment and reducing climate repercussions, as the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi announced last July, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Emirates Foundation for School Education, and the Department of Education and Knowledge – Abu Dhabi, the commitment of all schools in the emirate to reduce their environmental footprint by joining the An internationally recognized sustainable schools initiative, with the aim of promoting a culture of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices.

During the past years, the educational community’s initiatives that encourage sustainable practices among students, in schools and universities have not stopped, and the Green Education Partnership initiative was not the first in this regard, but rather it was a link within a continuous and continuous series of initiatives adopted by the state, until environmental education became one of the most prominent elements. In the mechanisms of developing school curricula, and directing efforts to include environmental content in various curricula at all levels of education.

In 2009, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi launched the Sustainable Schools Initiative, which is considered one of the pioneering projects in the field of environmental education, due to its role in promoting environmental sustainability in schools. Today, more than 152 schools participate in it, and it also provided training to more than 4,646 teachers, while the total number of projects reached Community outreach to 2081, 97,200 kg of CO2 reduced in sustainable schools.

In the same context, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi launched last year the “Green e-Learning” platform, which is considered the first free e-learning tool dedicated to environmental topics in the region and which aims to enhance knowledge and environmental awareness. Since its launch, the total number of beneficiaries has reached 712 users, while… Issuing 194 certificates to participants.

The Environmental Marathon is one of the annual programs that the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi has been keen to organize since its launch in 2001. It aims to enhance linguistic and environmental skills and increase awareness of the types of local plants and animals and local environmental issues among Abu Dhabi students through organized academic practices. More than 91% of students participated in the program. Abu Dhabi schools, where it succeeded in reaching about two million students. In October last year, the Authority, in cooperation with the Emirates Foundation for School Education, launched a challenge that encourages Abu Dhabi schools to adopt environmentally friendly patterns by recycling single-use plastic water bottles.

Last year, the Ministry of Education also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Emirates School Education Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center – Tadweer, and Bee’ah Group, to launch and implement the “Waste-Free Schools Project” within 63 government schools selected at the state level. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment launched during This year, in cooperation with the Expo Schools Programme, the Climate Ambassadors Program initiative prepares school students from all over the UAE and trains them to assume their future environmental responsibility by experiencing dialogue to address climate change challenges similar to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28). ).

Green education has a good place within the strategic development plans of many countries around the world in light of the growing interest in environmental issues and the keenness to involve young people in confronting the repercussions of climate, and providing them with the opportunity to exercise their civilized role in confronting the phenomenon. This was clearly reflected in many countries of the world including This type of education is included in its curricula, at different educational levels.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has indicated that there is a need for a rapid and radical transformation at all levels and in many aspects of our lives, with education as a central and powerful means to support adaptation and enhance the resilience of students and communities, and to ensure that education systems become more resilient in the face of climate change. To create safe and climate resilient schools.

UNESCO confirmed that through the “Partnership Framework for Green Education,” the school can play an important role in addressing the “environmental anxiety” felt by younger generations, pointing to a study it conducted during the year 2021 on 100 countries’ national curricula, which showed that only half of them mentioned something related to climate change, and the other half did not mention climate change.