Climate Change Education and Awareness
Education and awareness-raising enable informed decision-making, play an essential role in increasing adaptation and mitigation capacities of communities, and empower women and men to adopt sustainable lifestyles. Climate change education is part of UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) programme. In 2014 UNESCO launched the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, the official follow-up to the UN Decade of ESD, with climate change as a critical thematic focus. Through the UN Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness, UNESCO supports and guides countries to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement and UNFCCC Article 6 on education.
UNESCO supports schools, including UNESCO Associated schools (ASPnet) and training institutions to implement climate change education through a ‘whole-school approach’. Dedicated teaching and learning resources, such as Climate Change in the classroom: UNESCO course for secondary teachers on climate change education for sustainable development and many other climate change education resources are freely available on UNESCO’s Clearinghouse on ESD.
Through the provision of capacity-building for journalists and broadcast media on climate change, UNESCO enhances public awareness on climate change, and of what countries and communities can do to adapt. This also aids reporting on what governments and companies do, or do not do, to respond to these threats. An example is Climate Change in Africa: A Guidebook for Journalists.
As part of its work on Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO supports countries to integrate climate change into their education systems, and facilitates dialogue and exchange of experiences on climate change education through organizing international expert meetings. It mobilizes schools to implement climate change education through a whole-school approach whereby sustainability principles are also integrated into the management of school facilities and the governance structures of learning institutions. It develops technical guidance material and teaching and learning resources, such as a six-day online course, ‘Climate Change in the classroom: UNESCO course for secondary teachers on climate change education for sustainable development’. UNESCO’s clearinghouse on climate change education provides stakeholders with free access to hundreds of climate change education resources.
Through the provision of capacity-building for journalists and broadcast media on climate change, UNESCO is assisting Member States to enhance public awareness and understanding of the cause and effects of climate change, and of what countries and communities can do to adapt to the impacts ahead. This work also aids reporting on what governments and companies do, or do not do, to respond to these threats. An example is Climate Change in Africa: A Guidebook for Journalists.
Together with thirteen other UN agencies, UNESCO promotes climate change education and public awareness at high-level events such as the annual UNFCCC-COPs through the UN Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public Awareness.
