Environmental and biodiversity preservation is a main concern for youth. At the front lines are teachers and educators: they can immensely contribute to shaping youth understanding and resilience towards biodiversity conservation and preservation. But they need to be equipped with the right knowledge and pedagogical tools. In fact, more than 45% of national curriculum frameworks made no reference to climate change.
Part of UNESCO’s commitment to biodiversity is mobilizing education towards the youth and bringing awareness and understanding to biodiversity conservation. Antonio De Sousa Abreu, Director of Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences and Secretary of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme, reiterated that the decline of biodiversity is the decline of our economic and social systems. We cannot think of social and economic development without biodiversity. Education remains essential for the sustainable preservation of biodiversity.
The concern about biodiversity among the youth comes in the form of eco-anxiety. Sophie Palmer, Executive Assistant and Community Coordinator, Force of Nature defined eco-anxiety as a sensation “lacking a strict formula but based on a fear”. Better said, we can define it as a host of feelings in face of the ecological crisis. To deal with it, especially with young people, she advised on focusing on opening places to talk and share feelings, “getting that you are not alone is part of a solution”. Engaging young people passions and emotions can help develop appealing lessons.
Kimberly Preshoff, a Science Educator for over 34 years shared her passion creating teaching strategies about science and biodiversity. A great way of discussing biodiversity to students is to start with definitions and from then onwards introduce engaging classes. A variety of lessons can include videos, reading materials, sketches, graphing, lectures and guest speakers. Outside activities of collecting, sorting and surveying can give the students the will to engage and motivate commitment.
Just as biodiversity provides resilience to an ecosystem, diverse teaching strategies and lessons provide a stronger education to your students.
Beyond formal education, experience is a great pedagogical tool to pass on to young students. Geoffroy Mauvais, Coordinator of the Program on African Protected Areas & Conservation (Papaco), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) promoted the use of online resources such as Youth Conservation among students to understand the challenges of biodiversity conservation. The use on online resources can be mobilized to develop different kind of lessons plans and facilitate on-the-ground activities.
Felix Matschie, Team Leader, Green Academy Africa shared his experience on green school. The central idea is to change the concept itself of school to transformer it in a place vector of environmental awareness. Setting up eco-responsible schools means giving these places a strong emphasis on green infrastructures. This kind of initiatives takes what is locally available to implement actionable change, building a stronger link between students and local communities.
Involving young people in taking action for biodiversity, and how to provide them with reliable information at school and in everyday life are essential to creating awareness about biodiversity. Garrette Clark, Programme Officer of Sustainable Lifestyles at UNEP discussed with the attendees how daily decisions has an impact on world biodiversity. The amount of stuff people has in many parts of the world has shot up, while in other areas, many people still struggle to meet basic needs. Educating the youth about our daily consumption is an integral part of biodiversity education, thus of its conservation.
Don’t underestimate the power of daily decisions. Our future depends on how we eat, move, live and play.
Teachers and educators responded and interacted richly with the speakers, trying to find new ways to make biodiversity education tangible for young students. Whether it is formal or informal education, its implementation in classrooms and communities is not only essential but imperative for everyone’s continuous enjoyment of our rich biodiversity.
This event was realized with the support of the Engie Foundation and the collaboration of 6C-Conseil.
